Cunning folk

In English history, the cunning man or cunning woman is a professional or semi-professional folk magic user up until the 20th century and, to a lesser degree, to the present day. Such people were also frequently known as wizards, wise men, wise women, witch doctors or conjurers. The term white witch was infrequently used for cunning folk until recent times, except in the county of Devon.

Cunning folk and witches

The relationship between cunning-craft and witchcraft is controversial. Historian Ronald Hutton claims there is a sharp distinction between the two, since he considers the latter to have been purely a popular fantasy of the great European witch-hunts; he uses the term "cunning folk" for folk magicians in the British Isles, as well as Italy and elsewhere in Europe. Other historians such as E. William Monter, Éva Pócs, Carlo Ginzburg and Gustav Henningsen claim that witches did exist, to the extent that many individuals had beliefs and practices largely conforming to the witchcraft stereotype, minus some Christianised diabolical elements. Monter in particular identifies striking parallels between the methods of cunning folk in England and white witches in France, and finds it likely that they originate from a common belief system.

Like many other European magic-workers, cunning folk sometimes took the role of witchfinder, identifying a witch as responsible for a client's affliction; throughout Europe there is little to differentiate "anti-witch" from "witch" though; the local trusted magician was considered an anti-witch while others outside the community were more often than not "witches".

History of Cunning folk

The historical studies of Owen Davies have shown the extent to which cunning folk were a recognised part of British rural and urban life, and in the 19th century it is estimated there were several thousand at work across the country. They could be found operating openly in towns and villages across the nation and they were a valued part of the community. Some cunning folk were so successful that they began attracting clients from many miles away. Most offered more limited services to a smaller region. Cunning folk could make a good living from their talents, and there usually was a set monetary charge for their services. The money they earned meant they were often considered, especially by the better educated, as frauds and tricksters who got money out of the gullible for parlour tricks; certainly some were caught in fraud such as spying on customers to aid their predictions, repeatedly promising vast treasure which was never found, or accusing innocent people of theft or witchcraft. By the nineteenth century when the threat of prosecution was slight, cunning folk advertised their services and wrote books.

As late as the 17th century in England, magical beliefs were widespread in both learned and popular thought. Some of this popular magic was a hold-over from the 'Old Faith' — Catholicism: Catholic priests pronounced that benefits such as protection during travel, ease of childbirth, recovery of lost goods and protection from blindness could be gained by the repetition of Latin prayers, attending Mass, or even seeing the priest bearing the Host. Pre-Christian magical beliefs and practices also survived into the early modern period. Nature spirits and pagan deities were worshipped as saints; the cult of the dead preserved ancient traditions of ancestor worship, and the most sacred events of the Christian calendar overlaid pre-Christian festivals. Many festivals and community events preserved even more thinly veiled pagan practices. Although Catholicism had been very successful in absorbing pre-Christian magic, many people in Early Modern Britain still had essentially animist world views which owed little to Christianity. In many parts of England and Scotland parishes had no resident priest, and a significant proportion of commoners seldom attended church at all. Of those who attended church, many did so without interest or understanding, and were ignorant of rudimentary Christian doctrine. At the same time, these people held a complex body of magical beliefs, particularly relating to fairies, nature spirits and ghosts.

Popularly, little distinction was made between fairy, angel, saint, ghost or devil, however fairies were most consistently linked with the dead. Fairies were held to generally resemble humans and lead very similar lives, yet lived much longer, could become invisible or change shape, and could fly, heal the sick and divine future events. People were anxious to propitiate these beings, both from desire for good fortune and from fear. The aid of fairies was also enlisted, via magical practitioners, to help with major life problems, particularly to do with health, popular belief maintaining that fairies "cause and cure most diseases".

Common people regularly performed their own magic spells and rituals, but when greater experience was needed they turned to magical practitioners, who were known by the interchangeable terms wise man or woman, cunning man or woman, witch (white or black), wizard, sorcerer, conjurer, blesser, dreamer and so on. These practitioners mostly came from the less educated or wealthy sectors of the population, but a significant minority of them were literate and even possessed magical manuals. Like witches, cunning folk seem to have often employed the services of spirits and familiars in their work, and indeed it is difficult to clearly differentiate cunning folk from 'witches', a distinction that was often blurred in the early modern period. While some cunning folk were considered wholly good, many more were seen as ambivalent and regarded with a degree of fear.

Usual services offered by cunning folk

Protection against witchcraft : One of their most important and profitable roles. Cunning folk claimed to be able to detect witchcraft and counter it by using their own charms. Often they would also claim to be able to discover the witch who was responsible for cursing the victim. After the execution of witches in England ceased from 1684 cunning folk provided the main means of neutralizing witchcraft for those who thought themselves afflicted by it.Healing : Using a combination of herbs and spells, they tried to help both people and animals. Some cunning folk had a very good knowledge of herbs and folk remedies.Property Loss : Whether things were lost by theft or by accident, cunning folk could supposedly find lost items or even identify criminals using magic.Treasure Hunting : Cunning folk were reputed to have the ability to find treasure by various spells. Some claim that one American example is that, as a teenager, Joseph Smith, Jr. was believed or rumored to have the ability to find buried treasure. By his mother's account and his own, he reluctantly accepted employment from a man searching for silver ore, as an odd job against his family's poverty (although he claimed no special ability in the effort, instead working to convince his employer against the pursuit). Even the famous Casanova once set himself up as a cunning man (albeit a somewhat upmarket one) and claimed to be able to find treasure by magical means. Fortune-telling : Simple prediction of the future using a variety of possible methods, which ranged from astrology to crystal gazing to tasseography.Love Magic : Often fortune telling played a role in this. They also offered love spells and potions. Cunning folk often specialized in, and offered variations on, these standard services. The varieties of spells they used are similar to the Pow-Wow magic used by the Pennsylvania Dutch.

The legal position of cunning folk

The spells and magic services offered by cunning folk were, strictly speaking, against the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. According to canon law, such spell casting should be punished. However, most cunning folk were not charged; indeed, in the medieval period the village priest might have been the one carrying out folk magic. After the Reformation, the situation did not change substantially; even though Puritan ministers frequently denounced cunning folk, they still escaped serious prosecution. This was true even during the great witch hunt from the Tudor period onwards. Although cunning folk were more likely to be charged than other people in English witchtrials, they still only constituted a very small percentage of the people charged, and the majority of them went about their business unhindered. Owen Davies study suggests this is because most ordinary people drew a distinction between helpful magic and malicious witchcraft. In England the common law meant that it was the ordinary people who were responsible for bringing charges against witches, and they were not interested in accusing cunning folk, especially as they formed the first line of defense against witchcraft. Indeed, it was often cunning folk who helped accuse others of being witches, as they would be consulted on the matter.

When Cunning folk do appear in trial reports, it is because of unhappy customers. When their magic failed to heal someone, or it seemed there was some kind of trickery involved, customers often went to the courts. Even after the death penalty for witchcraft was lifted, it was still illegal to claim magical powers, especially if one made money out of it, so prosecution remained an occupational hazard.

Cunning folk and religion

Most recorded Cunning folk were Christian to one degree or another. Some cunning folk were priests, others were committed, regular church goers, and others seldom went to church at all, but there is no evidence that they were pagans in the sense of worshiping ancient gods. Cunning folk in general did not worry about how their magic worked; the important thing to them and their community is that people thought it did. Of course, some of the practices and spell craft used by the cunning folk may have had ancient roots, but the original pagan beliefs that went alongside the use of old charms were long gone, and they did not use a shamanic trance during treatment. In fact, the spells they used were medieval Christian folk magic, which frequently called on the names of God, Jesus, Mary and the saints. After the Reformation, this meant Cunning folk were often accused of being Roman Catholics, with good reason; this is the only persecuted old religion they called on. Up to the Stuart period some did claim to have learned their powers from the fairies, but this concept died out later. Cunning folk were as busy as ever by the mid eighteenth century, when religious tolerance in Britain ensured that professed atheists as well as Roman Catholics could openly admit their beliefs without danger; indeed, some eccentrics did claim to worship Classical deities. There was little reason to hide pagan beliefs any more, which seems to indicate the Cunning folk did not have any.

See also

• The Cunning Man, novel

External links

• Cunning Folk Home page of Owen Davies, an authority on Cunning Folk
• Cornish Witchcraft Information on witchcraft, cunning-folk and cures in Cornwall by Jason Semmens.

References

• Owen Davies, Cunning-Folk: Popular Magic in English History (Hambledon and London, 2003)
• Jason Semmens, The Witch of the West: Or, The Strange and Wonderful History of Thomasine Blight (Plymouth, 2004)