THE RESEARCH PAPER


I. Compiling a Working Bibliography

        Nicholas Remy, Demonolatry. BF1520.R413/1974. 2 vol. Graduate Center.

        Montague Summers, The History of Witchcraft and Demonology. BF1566.S8. Brooklyn College.

       Maurice Garcon & Jean Vinchon. The Devil: An Historical, Critical and Medical Study. BT980.G3. CCNY.

 

II. Taking Notes

Source 1 (Garcon)

Notecard 1

The Devil       Queen of the Sabbath            p. 119

In place of honor by side of Devil sat a witch notorious for vices or beauty. An ephemeral favorite, she was Queen of Sabbath.

Source 2 (Summers)

Notecard 2

History of Witchcraft        Black Mass.       pp. 143-4

Climax--Black mass. Since no Chm receives Eucharist after eating, the witches (144) eat and drink. Gluttonous.

Source 3 (Summers)

Notecard 3

History of Witchcraft         Feasts             pp. 144-5

The food was unsavory and tasteless (sometimes garbage). Sometimes food furnished by Devil, sometimes by themselves. Sometimes delicious and delicate. When local head who presided for absent devil wealthy, delicious and choice wines. Poorer gathering, meal homeliest fare. (145) Salt never used--an emblem of eternity. After being filled, begin to parody the Mass.

 

Source 4 (Remy)

Notecard 4

Demonology                Feast                p. 60

Sometimes the fare given to witches is actual food; at other times Demon, in whose choice the matter rests, merely causes them to imagine that they are feasting.

 

Source 5 (Remy)

Notecard 5

Demonology                Feast                pp. 58-9

Sometimes table laid with human flesh; infants preferred. (59)  Some witches claimed the banquet in no way satisfied their hunger or thirst, but that their appetite for food and drink remained as great as before.

 

Step III: Writing the Paper: Integrating the Notes in Your Own Words

         During the banquet that followed, the Queen of the Sabbath, a witch known for either her depravity or her good looks, sat beside the devil. Because Christians take Holy Communion only after fasting, the Devil and his followers ate and drank voraciously before celebrating the Black Mass. Usually the Devil provided the food, but sometimes the witches themselves brought it. If the local president was well-off, the food was good; if the local president was poor, the food was poor. Some witches reported the food served by the Devil tasteless and unappetizing; in some cases he served garbage! (Summers, History 144). At other times, the food was delicious; human flesh, particularly that of an infant, was a delicacy (Remy 58). At some banquets, the Devil caused the eaters to imagine they were feasting; as a result, they remained as hungry after the "banquet" as they were when they began to "eat." (Because salt symbolizes eternity, it never appeared at the witches' table.) The Black Mass began after all had gorged themselves.

 

Step IV: The Final Bibliography

Garçon, Maurice, and Jean Vinchon. The Devil: An Historical, Critical and Medical
     Study.  Trans. Stephen Haden Guest. London: Victor Gollancz, 1929.

Remy, Nicholas. Demonolatry. Trans. E.A. Ashwin. 1595. London: John Rodker, 1930.

Summers, Montague. History of Witchcraft and Demonology. New York: A.A. Knopf,
     1926.