The Jus Primæ NoctisAuthor(s): P. K.Source: Folklore, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Dec., 1898), pp. 366-368Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1253734 .

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366 366 Correspondence. Correspondence.

KITTY-WITCHES.

These were, I assume, simply loose women. The East Anglian Glossary (Nall) gives derivation from (Sc.) Kiddy, wanton, and Witch. Nearly every work dealing with Great Yarmouth gives

a similar account of these. I quote from Forby (Vocab. of East

Anglia, I830), who says: " It was customary, many years ago, at Yarmouth, for women

of the lowest order to go in troops from house to house to levy contributions at some season of the year, and on some pretence which nobody now seems to recollect, having men's shirts over their own apparel, and their faces smeared with blood."

Is anything known of a similar custom which prevailed in other seaport towns ? This species of Saturnalia might not be confined to Yarmouth. The ceremony doubtless had at some remote period an especial significance. Can it be that it alludes to some medi- eval attack on the town wherein the women, in the absence of the men, fought with and beat off the invaders? The wearing of men's shirts might simply be symbolical, or have been actually worn on the walls to deceive the enemy. The account of any such invasion is unfortunately not forthcoming, I fear; the only semblance of such which I have been able to trace was the attack by the followers of Kett in 1549, but the story is probably very much older than this.

W. B. GERISH.

Hoddesdon, Herts.

THE Jus PRIME NOCTIS.

Antiquaries well versed in the social habits of medieval Europe have lately seen reason to deny that the seignorial right of jus primce noctis ever really existed in any country under Christian rule, and have begun to ask where the slightest proof of the custom is to be discovered.

What I desire to learn is, how the tradition concerning the

practice originated. In writing on the subject in his Evolution of Marriage,

KITTY-WITCHES.

These were, I assume, simply loose women. The East Anglian Glossary (Nall) gives derivation from (Sc.) Kiddy, wanton, and Witch. Nearly every work dealing with Great Yarmouth gives

a similar account of these. I quote from Forby (Vocab. of East

Anglia, I830), who says: " It was customary, many years ago, at Yarmouth, for women

of the lowest order to go in troops from house to house to levy contributions at some season of the year, and on some pretence which nobody now seems to recollect, having men's shirts over their own apparel, and their faces smeared with blood."

Is anything known of a similar custom which prevailed in other seaport towns ? This species of Saturnalia might not be confined to Yarmouth. The ceremony doubtless had at some remote period an especial significance. Can it be that it alludes to some medi- eval attack on the town wherein the women, in the absence of the men, fought with and beat off the invaders? The wearing of men's shirts might simply be symbolical, or have been actually worn on the walls to deceive the enemy. The account of any such invasion is unfortunately not forthcoming, I fear; the only semblance of such which I have been able to trace was the attack by the followers of Kett in 1549, but the story is probably very much older than this.

W. B. GERISH.

Hoddesdon, Herts.

THE Jus PRIME NOCTIS.

Antiquaries well versed in the social habits of medieval Europe have lately seen reason to deny that the seignorial right of jus primce noctis ever really existed in any country under Christian rule, and have begun to ask where the slightest proof of the custom is to be discovered.

What I desire to learn is, how the tradition concerning the

practice originated. In writing on the subject in his Evolution of Marriage,

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Correspondence. 367

Letourneau shows that several varieties of the rite have flourished in various parts of the globe; and he evidently holds the opinion that it has been actually observed among Christians, for he says:

"Under the feudal system in Europe this right of prelibation, or marquette (designated in old French by the expressive term droit du culage), has been in use in many fiefs, and until a very recent epoch. Almost in our own days certain lords of the

Netherlands, of Prussia, and of Germany still claimed it. In a French title-deed of 1507 we read that the Count d'Eu has the

right of prelibation in the said place when anyone marries.1 More than this, ecclesiastics, and even bishops, have been known to claim this right in their quality of feudal lords. 'I have seen,' says Boetius, 'in the court at Bourges, before the metropolitan, an appeal by a certain priest, who pretended to claim the first

night of young brides, according to the received usage. The de- mand was rejected with indignation, the custom unanimously pro- scribed, and the scandalous priest condemned to pay a fine.' "

It is obviously unlikely that "the received usage " was ever put into force after Christianity gained a real hold. No doubt, the

legal right would be bought off by a money payment. But is it not possible that the custom did survive for a short time subse-

quent to the nominal conversion of Europe, and that the memory of it lingered in men's minds long after it became morally impos- sible to make good any such claim ?

Another well-known belief: that which relates to the walling-up alive of erring nuns, and other sinners, seems to be based on the faint recollection of a time when the pagan practice of enclosing living creatures in the structure of a building still survived.

Such a habit would, it is to be imagined, soon die out after the

spread of Christianity; but there is some reason to believe that the immuring of human beings while alive may have been modi- fied into placing the corpse of a person who had died at a con- venient season in any erection which appeared to need the presence of a protecting spirit. In the blood-stained days of feudal govern- ment dead bodies would be easily procurable if the purpose to which they were to be applied was deemed meritorious. In some

very old churches unmistakable traces of wall-burial have been

found. Yet it would be unreasonable to assume that the bones

Lauriere, Glose du droit Franfais, at the word Culage ou Culiage.

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Correspondence. Correspondence. Correspondence.

discovered were the remains of victims who had been thrust alive into a hollow in the masonry. It is more probable that a corpse was substituted for the living sacrifice of paganism, with the idea that the deceased might benefit from resting in the structure of a sacred edifice, while the building itself would have received the offering prescribed by immemorial custom.

P. K.

PINS AND METAL IN WELLS.

In Lafcadio Hearn's delightful book on Japan, Gleanings in Buddha Fields, there are many passages of interest to the folk- lorist.

On p. I68 I lately met with a suggestive account, which I quote here:-

"At Sakai there is the Buddhist temple of My6kokuji, in the garden of which are some very old palm-trees; one of them, removed by Nobunaga in the sixteenth century, is said to have cried out and lamented until it was taken back to the temple. You see the ground under these palms covered with what looks like a thick, shiny, disordered mass of fur-half reddish and half silvery grey. It is not fur. It is a heaping of millions of needles thrown there by the pilgrims 'tofeed the palms,' because these trees are said to love iron, and to be strengthened by absorbing its rust."

Metal, more especially iron, has been put in water of course for ages, with a view to giving it a tonic property. Was the custom of throwing pins, needles, and other metal things into Holy or Wishing Wells originally started with the idea of strengthening the drinker?

LUCY E. BROADWOOD.

ROPES OF SAND; ASSES; AND THE DANAIDES.

The occurrence of a single incident in ancient Egyptian custom, on Greek and Roman monuments, in an Arabian story, and in English folklore, provokes suspicion that some one idea, worth finding out, may lie behind the scattered facts. Such an incident

discovered were the remains of victims who had been thrust alive into a hollow in the masonry. It is more probable that a corpse was substituted for the living sacrifice of paganism, with the idea that the deceased might benefit from resting in the structure of a sacred edifice, while the building itself would have received the offering prescribed by immemorial custom.

P. K.

PINS AND METAL IN WELLS.

In Lafcadio Hearn's delightful book on Japan, Gleanings in Buddha Fields, there are many passages of interest to the folk- lorist.

On p. I68 I lately met with a suggestive account, which I quote here:-

"At Sakai there is the Buddhist temple of My6kokuji, in the garden of which are some very old palm-trees; one of them, removed by Nobunaga in the sixteenth century, is said to have cried out and lamented until it was taken back to the temple. You see the ground under these palms covered with what looks like a thick, shiny, disordered mass of fur-half reddish and half silvery grey. It is not fur. It is a heaping of millions of needles thrown there by the pilgrims 'tofeed the palms,' because these trees are said to love iron, and to be strengthened by absorbing its rust."

Metal, more especially iron, has been put in water of course for ages, with a view to giving it a tonic property. Was the custom of throwing pins, needles, and other metal things into Holy or Wishing Wells originally started with the idea of strengthening the drinker?

LUCY E. BROADWOOD.

ROPES OF SAND; ASSES; AND THE DANAIDES.

The occurrence of a single incident in ancient Egyptian custom, on Greek and Roman monuments, in an Arabian story, and in English folklore, provokes suspicion that some one idea, worth finding out, may lie behind the scattered facts. Such an incident

discovered were the remains of victims who had been thrust alive into a hollow in the masonry. It is more probable that a corpse was substituted for the living sacrifice of paganism, with the idea that the deceased might benefit from resting in the structure of a sacred edifice, while the building itself would have received the offering prescribed by immemorial custom.

P. K.

PINS AND METAL IN WELLS.

In Lafcadio Hearn's delightful book on Japan, Gleanings in Buddha Fields, there are many passages of interest to the folk- lorist.

On p. I68 I lately met with a suggestive account, which I quote here:-

"At Sakai there is the Buddhist temple of My6kokuji, in the garden of which are some very old palm-trees; one of them, removed by Nobunaga in the sixteenth century, is said to have cried out and lamented until it was taken back to the temple. You see the ground under these palms covered with what looks like a thick, shiny, disordered mass of fur-half reddish and half silvery grey. It is not fur. It is a heaping of millions of needles thrown there by the pilgrims 'tofeed the palms,' because these trees are said to love iron, and to be strengthened by absorbing its rust."

Metal, more especially iron, has been put in water of course for ages, with a view to giving it a tonic property. Was the custom of throwing pins, needles, and other metal things into Holy or Wishing Wells originally started with the idea of strengthening the drinker?

LUCY E. BROADWOOD.

ROPES OF SAND; ASSES; AND THE DANAIDES.

The occurrence of a single incident in ancient Egyptian custom, on Greek and Roman monuments, in an Arabian story, and in English folklore, provokes suspicion that some one idea, worth finding out, may lie behind the scattered facts. Such an incident

368 368 368

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