Two Northern Grimoires: TheTrondenes and Vesteralen BlackBooks

ROALD E. KRISTIANSEN*Department of History and Religion, Faculty of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education,

University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway

ABSTRACT The so-called Black Books (grimoires) contain collections of conjurations andcharms which provide instructions on how to make magical objects such as protective amulets andtalismans. Two such Black Book manuscripts were recently rediscovered in the archives. Theywere part of the source material used by Bishop Anton Chr. Bang, who published excerpts fromthem in his book on magic formulas from Norwegian folk tradition. The two manuscripts are fromca. 1760 and 1800, and derive from the parishes of Trondenes and Bø in Vesteralen, respectively.This article will examine the two manuscripts with regard to their content and how they differfrom each other. The use of grimoires is then discussed in order to clarify how we might interpretsuch books in their historical and social context in which Christian norms were taken for grantedas the foundation of society.

KEY WORDS: Black Book, Folk medicine, Grimoires, Magic, Religion, Worldview

Two handwritten grimoires (in Scandinavia commonly called ‘‘Black Books’’)were recently recovered from Norwegian library archives after they werethought to be lost for a long time. Both manuscripts had been used by BishopAnton Chr. Bang1 for the publication of his book, Norske Hexeformularer(Bang 1901�1902).2 Bang collected many such manuscripts himself, but healso had access to other collections, such as one belonging to his friend andcollaborator, folklorist professor Moltke Moe. In recent years, folkloristshave studied such manuscripts with a renewed interest on an internationalscale.3 In Norway, a group of researchers at the department of cultural studiesat the University of Oslo are seeking to compile a list of all preserved BlackBook manuscripts. In late 2011, the list included 126 items.4 When scanningthis list to look for material from Northern Norway, I noticed that two itemsmentioned by Bang in his Hexeformularer as ‘‘P’’ (from Trondenes) and ‘‘Y’’(from Vesteralen) were missing. The grimoires list included three books from

*Corresponding Address: Roald E. Kristiansen, Department of History and Religion, Faculty of Social

Sciences, Humanities and Education, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway. E-mail:

roald.kristiansen@uit.no

# 2013 Taylor & Francis

Acta Borealia, 2013

Vol. 30, No. 2, 209�222, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08003831.2013.813779

Northern Norway (no. 5 from Beiarn, no. 20 from Leirskar in Hemnes andno. 107 from Vefsn). What had happened to Bang’s P and Y manuscripts?

Based on the description of the manuscripts given by Bang, I madeinquiries to two libraries where I thought the lost manuscripts might belocated � and sure enough, the manuscripts were soon found, digitalized andmade available to the public. The Trondenes manuscript belonged to theStoraker collection5 in the National Library in Oslo (Ms.fol. 580),6 andthe Vesteralen manuscript was found in the manuscript collection at theUniversity Library in Trondheim (Gunnerus XA Oct. 120). These two BlackBooks were probably written at the end of the eighteenth century and arequite different. The purpose of this article is to analyze the content of the twomanuscripts in order to interpret this difference, and to reflect from a churchhistorical perspective on the religious worldviews that they represent.

The Black Book tradition

Grimoires are well known from many countries. According to Owen Davies,such books can in general be characterized as,

[. . .] books of conjurations and charms, providing instructions on how to make magicalobjects such as protective amulets and talismans. They are repositories of knowledgethat arm people against evil spirits and witches, heal their illnesses, fulfill their sexualdesires, divine and alter their destiny, and much else besides. (Davies 2009: 1)

Norwegian grimoires usually consisted of small, handwritten notebookswhere the owner wrote down the formulas that he had acquired. They weresometimes named ‘‘Konstbog’’ (art of skills). Most of the manuscripts knowntoday date from the middle of the eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenthcentury and were collected during the late nineteenth century when the earlycollectors of Norwegian folk traditions searched the countryside for oldtraditions and customs. In this period, such material was consideredinteresting because the researchers believed that they contained valuableinsights into pre-Christian beliefs that had been preserved as the secretknowledge of various ‘‘cunning-folk’’.

Some Norwegian grimoires were printed as curios after the terror that hadformerly been connected with such books had faded and their magic hadcome to seem less real. This happened to a part of the Vesteralen manuscript,which was published as a leaflet in Fredrikstad ca. 1860.7 Many of the recipesin the Black Books has to do with the art of healing, how to protect one’sproperty and farm animals, and how to obtain luck in one’s daily chores.However, there was also information on how to use magic for both good andevil assisted by supernatural powers or by the power inherent in the remediesused (e.g. spells, ritual drawings, animals, plants, etc.).

The concept of ‘‘Black Books’’ is connected with another term often used,namely the sixth and seventh Book of Moses.8 In Germany this title was usedextensively � to the extent that Davies calls it ‘‘the grimoire supreme’’ (Davies2007: 130). The reason why Moses was connected with such books is

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connected with the idea that the church had chosen to hide part of the Biblefrom public view because it contained dangerous information. The first fivebooks of the Bible were thought to be written by Moses himself, who wasknown to be a powerful magician who outwitted the Egyptian wizards in hisstruggle to free the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt (see Ex. 7 : 8�15).Peoples of antiquity saw Egypt as the locus of occult and esotericknowledge,9 and even early Christians connected Moses with wizardry:‘‘Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful inboth speech and action’’ (Acts 7 : 22). The notion of Moses’ wizardry wasthus a common idea in medieval times, and in the aftermath of the religiousupheavals of the Reformation period, the success of the Protestants could beassociated with the use of magic. According to popular beliefs, theReformers had made use of Moses’ secret knowledge in the ‘‘original bible’’which contained the complete revelation that God gave to Moses. Someassumed that the new Lutheran priests had studied this Bible, which wassupposedly secretly kept in Wittenberg.10 Those priests who had studied thesecret books containing information on Moses’ wizardry were commonlycalled ‘‘black book priests’’ and it was believed that they were capable ofperforming magical feats, such as healing the sick, protecting people fromdangerous forces and even using demonic powers to gain personaladvantages.11 The grimoires may be understood as locally producedversions of what was believed to be the secret books of Moses. Such beliefsbecame very popular and can be found even in recent times.12 Oneresearcher (Lily Aall) came across a book called the sixth and seventhbook of Moses in Kautokeino as late as in 1963. It was very similar to aSwedish book found in 1952 and a Finnish edition preserved at theUniversity of Helsinki. Printed editions of such books are known frommany countries. The authorship was not only attributed to Moses, but alsoto other persons related to the biblical tradition, e.g. King Solomon who‘‘was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth’’(1.Kings 10 : 23) and therefore was believed to be able to provideinformation on how to gain wealth, love and power. The Scandinaviantradition often ascribed the authorship of Black Books to Christiansassociated with the practice of wizardry. One of the most popular ‘‘authors’’was the legendary figure ‘‘Cyprian’’, perhaps reflecting popular traditionsconcerning the second-century bishop Cyprian. According to tradition,Bishop Cyprian (d. 258) had been a magician before he became a Christian.With the aid of demons, he had attacked a Christian woman, Justina. She,however, countered the attacks by using the sign of the cross. In despair,Cyprian made the sign of the cross himself and thus was liberated from thedevil. He subsequently became a Christian and later on priest and finallybishop. Justina became the head of a convent. According to the LegendaAurea, they were both beheaded under the Diocletian persecutions.13

Access to books was very limited for common people in earlier times, andthere was a widespread belief in the power of the written word. Those withaccess to books were therefore believed to have superior power. The clergybelonged to this privileged group. When at the end of the seventeenth century

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the clergy was instructed to keep church registers, they also had a book inwhich the names of individual parishioners were listed in connection withimportant events in their lives. One might therefore raise the question whetherthe notion of Black Books might be connected with this introduction ofchurch registers. In the beginning, the registers were in the form of dairiesin which the clergy wrote down chronologically their daily chores. Theregisters gradually evolved into real registers with columns for baptism,confirmation and burials. Access to such books was strictly regulated, butanyone could watch the priest writing down names and dates of those whowere to partake in the church rituals. The privileged access to the churchregisters books might have given rise to speculations on their meaning andwhether the clergy might possibly be connected with magic deriving fromthese ‘‘secret’’ books.14

A classic Norwegian study on the Black Book material is the above-mentioned work by Anton Chr. Bang, who wrote a lengthy introduction tohis book based on the norms of scholarship at that time. Recent scholarshipon the black book tradition has mostly been carried out by folklorist andethnographers. Velle Espeland has written about a Black Book fromGudbrandsdalen (Espeland 1974) as well as a valuable introduction to theBlack Book genre in a 2005 reprint of Bang’s book. Arne Bugge Amundsenhas written on the so-called ‘‘Borge book’’ from Østfold (Amundsen 1987),Oskar Garstein on a book from Vinje in Telemark (Garstein 1993), and MaryRustad on a book she discovered as recent as 1994 in Elverum (Rustad 1999).Kathleen Stokker has also dealt extensively with the Black Book tradition inher work on folk medicine in Norway and among Norwegian immigrants toAmerica (Stokker 2007), whereas Ronald Grambo (1979, 1993) has focusedon the use of spells and rituals in the Norwegian tradition of folk healing,whereas Ane Ohrvik focused on the Black Book tradition as a way ofconceptualizing knowledge during the early modern period in her dissertation(Ohrvik 2012).

Folk medicine has been a major subject of both folklorists and socialanthropologists (cf. Alver & Selberg 1984, 1992). Research on folk healingpractices in contemporary Northern Norway has been carried out by, forexample, Stein R. Mathisen (1987, 1989, 2000) and anthropologist AnniHenriksen (2010). The former mentions the grimoire tradition, but is overallmore interested in folk practices in an ethnic context. The latter discussesfaith healing primarily related to a Læstadian15 context.

Outside the Norwegian context, excellent treatment of the grimoiretradition has been carried out by historian Owen Davies (2007, 2009). Inrecent years, much academic work has focused on charms and other forms ofmagic in popular religion by British and American researchers such asJonathan Roper, Karen Jolly, David Elton Gay, Richard Kiekhefer andothers. An interesting approach, albeit somewhat controversial, is the work ofEmma Wilby (2005) who attempts to link traditional practices of sorcery andmagic in Britain with ancient forms of shamanism.

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The Trondenes Black Book

This book consists of 18 handwritten pages. A collector of Norwegian folktradition, Johan Theodor Storaker (1837�1872), received it from his friend,Eilert Sundt (1817�1875), a pioneer in Norwegian sociological studies. Sundthad received the manuscript while visiting the parish of Trondenes in 1863. Inthe manuscript he included a note that the owner had recently died, andthat he was a ‘‘Dreiner [and] Aarelader’’,16 originally from Storelvdal inHedmark. Based on this information it was possible to identify the book’sowner as Gudmund Pedersen (1801�1862) who came to Trondenes in 1834and settled in Storvassbotn with his wife, Oleanna Johnsdatter (1801�1848)and their five children. She later gave birth to seven more children before shedied, whereupon Gudmund married the widow Ingeborg Benjaminsdatter(1821�1890) with whom he had three children. From Gudmund’s book, Bangchose 52 formulas out of a total that may have been 249,17 leaving out only2 of Gudmund’s formulas.18

When Gudmund married Oleanna in Amot in 1825, he is listed in thechurch register as a hunter. This profession is probably the reason why hisbook contains several formulas dealing with hunting and guns. The formulasdeal with how to shoot to hit the target, how to protect one’s rifle from evil,and how to rid the gun of evil spells cast upon it by others. In order to hit atarget one may mix one’s own feces or add fragments of bones from a deadperson in the gun powder, or mix heart and liver from a bat with lead whenone makes bullets. Spells read over a heart from a crow will protect the gunfrom evil. If one wants to destroy another person’s hunting luck, one canmake a fart and say the moment the gun is fired: ‘‘it shall go in again!’’

Recipes connected with hunting are one aspect of a group of formulas wemight call spells for luck in activities. There are 12 such spells in Gudmund’smanuscript, dealing mostly with hunting, fishing and daily farm activities, butthey also deal with love, gambling and fighting. Spells for luck in fishingcould be in the form of prayer in which one refers to the luck that Jesus’disciple, Peter, had when he was told to cast out his net in the Sea of Galilee,or it may be a magic recipe where one mixes part of a beaver with humanblood, rye flour, and liquor. Luck in love is acquired by reading a magic spellover a pot of beer. Luck in gambling is secured by carrying a paper withmagic words written in the blood of a black dog, or by carrying a white stonefrom a swallow’s head. Luck in fighting is gained with magic words written ona piece of silk wrapped around the neck.

Two major groups of formula deal with protection against various forms ofevil as well as everyday dangers such as fire, theft, and predators. Against fire,Gudmund used a commanding form of prayer which alludes to Jesus’crucifixion: the fire is to cease like Jesus’ work was put to an end by nailinghim on the cross. The identity of thieves can be revealed by means of magicalrites and spells, and thieves can even be punished magically. Similarly,enemies can be stopped by a spell and they can be silenced (at court) with theuse of magic words spoken in specific ways. To protect one’s farm animals,Gudmund had ways of confusing wild animals (klomsing/fjetring) either by a

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prayer to Jesus and Mary or by looking through a hollow bone from a humanhand with a glass mounted in one end of the bone.19

Some of Gudmund’s formulas in which he calls upon the Virgin Mary mayreflect old and well-known practices in which the Catholic Church awardedindulgences for pious acts such as certain prayers.20 In post-Catholic times,prayers to Mary in which one mentions important events from her life(e.g. her seven joys and seven sorrows) became part of popular lore andfrequently used in formulas to bind or release from various kinds of evils � ananalogy to the way a Catholic priest was believed to have the power to bind orrelease penitent people from their sins.

As mentioned earlier, Gudmund was called a healer, and the third majorgroup of formulas deals with his ways of performing such services to those inneed. He had recipes on how to heal wounds and sprained legs, get rid offrostbite and itching, and even how to heal sciatica. There are severalformulas on how to stop bleeding, mostly by using prayers that makeallusions to biblical events and recited in the name of the triune God. Lesserproblems such as tooth aches could be cured by means of magic words. Mosthealing formulas refer either to biblical events or persons (usually Jesus,St. Peter or Mary) in a commanding form of prayer, but there are also on acouple of occasions examples of the use of healing plants.

Healing words are usually in the form of commanding prayers used todrive evil away. Command words may refer to holy persons or even to naturalentities such as birds. It is not always easy to distinguish between prayer andcommand words as there seems to be no clear-cut distinction made betweenthe will of the individual and the will of God. Most Lutheran ministers thusdenounced all healing formulas as forms of diabolism. As Stokker points out:‘‘Though the folk healer’s formulas appealed for power not from the devil butfrom the Christian trinity, Lutheran doctrine rejected such direct supplicationto God and repudiated the notion that man-made rituals could influenceGod’’ (2007: 83). Such theological restrictions were not, however, the concernof the common people. They relied on the ways of their ancestor and socommand words are directly used in regular prayers, like when Gudmundwants to heal frostbites. Then he read in Jesus’ name: ‘‘Here there is no roomfor heat, not for wind, not for frost, as the body was earlier whole’’. Theformula is to be closed in the name of the triune God and to be read threetimes.21 This is typical of what was called signeri [white magic] and wasopenly frowned upon by the church representatives and usually looked uponas misinformed attempts to alter God’s divine providence, which they deemedevil and as a desecration of the sacred words of Scripture based on ignoranceand superstition. The fact that many formulas used words from the Catholictradition was offensive to many Lutheran priests, who considered them assuperstitious remnants from the old faith and its religious practices.22 Evenhealing prayers referring to Christian saints were demonized by orthodoxLutherans. Following the ban on Catholic customs after the Reformation, itis no wonder that many commoners felt a need to protect and hide theircollections of formulas from the view of others, in particular from officials ofthe state.

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Formulas that mix words of prayer with commanding words may be calledprayer magic. Formulas may portray Christ afflicted with a similar disease asthe patient and then continue having Christ utter words that drive thesickness away. When repeating Christ’s words, the words then will heal thepatient as such words are believed to have healing properties. The words worknot only on people, but even on tools. When consecrating a new blacksmith’sbellow, one is to recite: ‘‘With the same wind entering into this bellow thatblew on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus was sleeping’’. The formula is repeatedthree times in the name of the triune God (1205). Words of a commandingnature are frequently used in formulas that are read in such a way that oneremoves the final letter from the word every time it is repeated. Examples ofsuch words are kalamaris, katalibus, ratalibus and auratebul (1044, 1046,1049, 1052).23 The first three words are for removing toothaches while the lastis for protection against thieves. Gudmund also had formulas on how tobecome invisible and how to make a girl fall in love, as well as recipes on howto make amulets for protection against evil. Amulets were usually wordswritten on paper to be carried on one’s body. Words to be used maysometimes be derived from the church liturgy and are frequently quoted inLatin such as In nomine patris et filie et spiritus sancti. Latin words are oftenmisspelled (written as they were heard). The Lord’s Prayer, however, is usuallycited in the vernacular language. When quoting from the liturgy of thechurch, one might assume that it had a twofold rationale. On the one hand,the words carried a perceived power that came from the almighty God andthus had supreme power to cause the desired effect. On the other hand, itmight also protect one from the accusation that magic was performed by theaid of the devil. Christian words could not be used to create works associatedwith demonic powers. The authorities thus had to distinguish betweentrolldom (sorcery) and signeri, the latter signifying magic prayers containingwords that derive from the Christian tradition.

The Vesteralen book

The grimoire from Vesteralen consists of 33 sheets. The book is fragmentary(16 formulas at the beginning are missing).24 According to Bang’s evaluationof the manuscript, it dates from ca. 1770. The author did not know Latin, ashe frequently makes elementary mistakes in spelling. Bang believes that hewas a Norwegian since he occasionally writes words according to theirNorwegian pronunciation.

The Vesteralen grimoire was handed over to the Trondhjem ScientificSociety in 1856 by lieutenant colonel Reinhold Ziegler (1839�1918), who wasvery much interested in history and a collector of antiquities. He had receivedthe grimoire from his friend Jacob Wilse (b. 1836), the son of the parishminister of Bø in Vesteralen, Nicolay Wilse (1778�1845)25 who had found themanuscript under the alter cloth in the church. A new church was built at Bøin 1824, but the book was, according to local tradition, found in the chapel atMalnes in the same parish when it was dismantled and rebuilt at a newlocation in 1829. Bang calls it the northernmost Black Book yet known,

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although he considers the possibility that the book might have been broughtto this district by someone from another part of the country (Bang 1901�1902: xxiv).26

The Vesteralen grimoire is quite different from the Trondenes grimoire, andBang has included most of the material (a total of 127 formulas)27 in hisbook. Magical recipes and formulas dominate in the manuscript: how onecan use sand from graveyards, needles, alcohol, snake skin, part of the bodiesof dead animals (pulverized or burnt to ashes), and words or signs written onpaper. The author describes several ways in which wizardry may be carriedout, i.e. how the devil can be called upon for services or be evicted. He is veryspecific that spells and rituals are to be done in the name of Lucifer (thedevil): ‘‘Now come forth in the name of the most high and powerful Devil,Lucifer! Amen. Lucifer, the mighty Satan and ruling Master and Monarchconfirm and mightily makes possible casting spells, curses, rune and charactermaking in four ways’’ (Bang’s formula #1338).

In the Trondenes grimoire, Gudmund had only one formula for revealingthe identity of a thief which allows one to blind his left eye by stabbing a knifein his mirror image in a bucket of water. In the Vesteralen grimoire, thereare no less than six such formulas and an additional six formulas for makingthe thief return the stolen goods. Although the Vesteralen grimoire containsformulas for healing and protection with references to the benign powers ofChristianity, the Vesteralen book is much more concerned with demonicpowers and how to gain personal desires and advantages. There are a fewformulas for how to be immune to the effects of alcohol, create friendship,make people fart and cause a girl to lift up her skirts. Furthermore there aresix formulas to create good luck charms for winning in games, four to revealsecrets, seven to discern whether a girl is a virgin, and six to make her fall inlove with oneself.28

Biblical figures are often mentioned in the Vesteralen book: Adam, Eve,Abraham, Sara, Mary, Jesus, Peter, and Paul are common figures. Manyformulas are to be read in the name of Jesus to protect from wolves and bears,and many close with the words ‘‘in the name of the Father, Son, and HolyGhost’’ (the same words in Latin are also used). Various objects are used inrites and for various purposes, such as salt, plants, sand or bones from acemetery, human blood, milk from a woman, male urine, mercury, cheese,bread and lead. Even more common is the mention of various body partsfrom animals (either used as is, or burned to ashes). Animals mentioned arecow, sheep, elk, fox, mole, beaver, bat, snake, ants, goose, owl, hen or egg,lapwing, and swallow. Most common, however, is the use of spells, eitherspoken, or written on a piece of paper. The words often have a commanding(or cursing) form like when rats and mice are to be evicted from the house.Often magic words in (corrupted) Latin or German or words with noapparent meaning are used. Graphic signs or drawings are also found. Wordsare sometimes names that appeal to help from biblical persons or demonicbeings for carrying out one’s desires. There seems to be no distinction madebetween names referring to beings of heaven or hell. Divine and demonicnames may even be mixed and used in one and the same formula. In an

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introduction to the art of witchcraft, there seems to be a fourfold distinctionmade between the way the devil confirms his participation, but thisdistinction does not refer to the content of the rites performed, but ratherto the way rites are performed (silent recitation and sign-making) and thestrength of one’s attitude when performing the rites (the desires of the mindand will, and the faith of one’s heart).

A few examples will suffice to convey the impression of the typical contentof the formulas and the desires that characterize the author’s interests. Inorder to find out whether a girl is a virgin, one is to take a penis from a fox.Small pieces from it are to be mixed with beer and given to the girl. If she isnot a virgin, she will immediately pee. For luck in games, a mole is to beburned to ashes which are put into one’s shoe. A mole’s foot can also be usedas a good luck charm to win games. Likewise, the head from a bat can be usedas a charm for the same purpose. A bat’s head can also be used to makepeople tell their secrets while asleep. The uses of plants or parts from animalsoccur frequently in the Vesteralen grimoire, but rarely in the Trondenesmanuscript.

When one wants a thief to return stolen goods, one is on a Thursdaymorning before the sun rises, to read above running water while sitting on theknees and turning one’s face from south to north: ‘‘I bewitch [maner] you,sun, moon, stars, planets, and all the heavenly firmaments forces, never toshine above this thief who has stolen this [naming the item]. And his bloodshall make him afraid like Christ was when he suffered pain and death on thecross. And his blood shall run in his body and through his heart and he shallnever have peace like this water is running under my knee before he returnswhat he has stolen. In nomini patris et fili et speritus [sic!] sancti. Amen’’(Bang’s formula #1385).

Although the Christian blessing formula concludes the spell and includes areference to Christ, the formula does not appeal to the heavenly powers, butrather to earthly elements (sun, moon, etc.). When using spells and charms forprotection and healing, appeals are usually directed to divine powers, butwhen attempting to hurt others, the attention is directed towards earthly ordemonic powers. A case in point is the above-mentioned example of blindinga thief: the ritual is prepared four weeks in advance by making a nail on fourconsecutive Sunday mornings. The egg white is mixed with mercury and usedto draw an image of an eye. Then the nail is to be hammered through the eyein the name of the devil (Bang’s formula #1376i; see also the b-version of thisformula, which has an even more detailed explanation on the course of eventspreceding the ritual which includes the naming of nine devils for theirassistance). The contrast to Christian ideals is alluded to in the formula byhaving the nail made on a Sunday, the day in which Christians are notsupposed to work. Such reversions of Christian ideals are also obvious inother formulas, like when the Lord’s Prayer is read backwards, and in aformula which says that Christ created his own flesh and blood in the wombof Mary. This formula is for rendering an opponent’s sword unusable.

The focus on the earthly and demonic does not, of course, preclude thebook’s author from appealing to divine powers, as is often the case in

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protective and curing formulas. The shortest formula is to be found in ablood-stopping formula: ‘‘Our Lord Jesus made the wound on earth and itwas cured in heaven’’. The author seems to be free to use whatever powersavailable for obtaining his will and is largely driven by his own desires, whichcan clearly be seen from his prayer to win good luck and good will fromothers: ‘‘In the morning before you get up, you shall three times read thesewords: Within these four walls I put my trust in the hands of Jesus. Heaven bekind to me. The whole world be good towards me like to the body and bloodof Jesus. All men and women, girls and boys, young and old, young and old,poor and rich, yeah, all creatures shall bow for me, like the angels bowed forthe virgin May by her blessed son Jesus Christ. And I [name] shall win luckand good will by God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen’’.

The religious worldview of the Grimoires

The authors of the two grimoires must obviously have been two quitedifferent persons. If we assume that Gudmund (or perhaps his father) is theauthor of the Trondenes book, he seems be a person who is preoccupied withthe struggle of everyday living: hunting, fishing and protecting his property,whether it be from dangerous animals, harmful persons or spiritual beings.When necessary, he has the means of aiding those that need his services for avariety of reasons. His formulas mostly call upon the assistance of benignspiritual beings, although at times he may seek the aid of other, less benignpowers. When he encounters ill will from others, he believes that he can forcethem to silence, even at court, and he can � if he must � use the devil to hurtsomeone.

Whereas Gudmund in his Trondenes book had only one formula for callingupon the devil for help, the author of the Vesteralen book had many suchformulas, and he seems to have been much more eager to call upon the darkforces that inhabited his world. He knows many of their names, and seems tofrequently call upon them for assistance. The Vesteralen author is a manof the world who protects himself against danger, is eager to win games,please others, win the love of women, and use his power to influence otherpeople � and even cause their embarrassment.

Common to them both, however, is a worldview in which the spiritualworld is absolutely real, and the spiritual beings are close at hand and can becalled upon to render their services. Gudmund, however, seems to be a littlemore cautious in the way he asks for assistance. He will usually remind themabout events that have happened before (such as in biblical times) in order tohave them help him in the moment he needs help. The Vesteralen man acts ina much more direct manner. He is not afraid to command the spiritual worldto help him, assuming that he even has control over the most dangerousspirits, including the devil himself. The common feature, however, is the factthat they have to deal with the powers that influence the fate of the world.One cannot, as in the Church, renounce the devil in order to pray to Godonly. Other powers are also real and cannot be dismissed, and for the personwho is knowledgeable, they can be employed for personal benefits. There is

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no clear distinction between good and evil � only between what is beneficialand what is dangerous, and secret knowledge gives the knowledgeable person(those who are farsighted) the means to overcome what might be a threat toordinary humans. Popular tradition thus accepted the Church’s attempt todemonize the folk tradition, but their conclusion was nonetheless differentfrom what was considered proper by the church. What was considered goodand beneficial for people’s daily living could be approached even by the aid ofthe dark (evil) powers. The devil himself could be called upon for receivingknowledge about the content of the Black Books, even if it could havedisastrous consequences for one’s eternal soul. However, those whoseknowledge really surpassed normal standards could fool even the devil andredeem what was ostensibly lost. Stories about the famous Lutheran ministerPetter Dass (1647�1707) at Alstahaug tell how he controlled the devil andcould make use of his services for the benefit of both himself and others(see Kristiansen 2003).

Stokker (2007: 89) points out that most common people found no conflictbetween folk beliefs and their pious Christian faith: ‘‘Rather than resistingofficial church doctrine, the almue [commoners] simply supplemented it withtraditional beliefs and practices that addressed the practical needs of theirdaily lives’’. I have argued for a similar view on popular religion, pointing outits double aspect with reference to a story from Lofoten (see Kristiansen1995). In my interpretation of this story, the ‘‘ideal’’ North Norwegianfisherman is portrayed as someone who needs to be both ‘‘from’’ (pious) and‘‘fremsynt’’ (farsighted). The ideal of piety is reflected in the story’s emphasison conforming to the Christian tradition for the sake of one’s eternalsalvation and performing Christian charity which is necessary in order to liveproperly according to socially accepted norms. Christianity, however, was notalways considered to be sufficient, as there were situations in which theChristian tradition did not offer efficient help. People continued to believe inan otherworld populated with spiritual beings. The Church, however, hadlittle to say about how to deal with the powers of the otherworld. In order tocope with such powers, it was necessary to learn from the folk tradition. Thisis what is referred to in terms of being ‘‘farsighted’’ in the Lofoten story. TheChurch also gave little advice on how to deal with the powers of darkness. Itis not sufficient to encourage people not deal with them, so when peoplebelieve that they encounter such forces, they have to find other means ofcoping. This need is one reason why grimoires became popular, as theyoffered practical help for a variety of situations in which the Church had noanswers. The grimoires were not overly concerned about proper morality andsocial norms. By following the directions offered by the grimoires, one couldacknowledge one’s own desires and attempt to find solutions by means ofvarious rituals and magical spells. Secret knowledge was believed to beeffective at solving problems which by ordinary Christian means seemed tohave no solutions. Some people were cautious in using such remedies,knowing that the use of dark powers might have consequences for one’seternal soul. Others were more open to handling such problems by whatevermeans available, assuming that with skill and proper knowledge, one could

Two Northern Grimoires 219

fool even the devil. So-called Black Book priests were believed to be experts inthe use of such knowledge, so why could not others also make use of thisknowledge when opportunity arose? Some did, and the Vesteralen authorcertainly believed that he was one of the skillful ones. Gudmund was probablymore cautious in his approach, limiting himself to the use of remedies thatwere more closely connected with benign powers. However, both ‘‘knew morethan the Lord’s Prayer’’, as the saying goes, and were willing to test out theirability to contact spiritual powers to obtain certain benefits. By doing so, theyhave both left an interesting legacy for posterity that allows us a glimpse intoa fascinating universe of folk beliefs and practices.

Notes1 Anton Christian Bang (1840�1913), born at Dønna, Nordland, was a reputable Church historian

(professor 1884), productive writer, and politician (Minister of Education and Church affairs 1893�95). He was appointed bishop of Oslo in 1896.

2 He also included an essay on Black Books in an earlier publication (Bang 1890).3 Many such scholars are members of The International Society for Folk Narrative Research, an

international organization for specialists in the areas of folk narrative, popular literature, folklore, and

related fields.4 The list is currently available on URL: http://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/tjenester/kunnskap/samlinger/norsk-

folkeminnesamling/trolldom-i-norge/svarteboeker/registrant-svarteboker-07022012.pdf (accessed 27

April 2012). The most recent list (7 February 2012) now contains 143 manuscripts.5 Johannes T. Storaker (1837�1872) was a collector of Norwegian folk beliefs. A large part of his

collections was published by Nils Lid in the 1920s and 1930s in the series Norsk Folkeminnelags

skrifter.6At the same time as ‘‘P’’ was discovered, another Black Book manuscript was found. It was bundled with

the P manuscript and contained 21 formulas. This grimoire is Bang’s manuscript ‘‘D’’ (Ms.fol.

580:14:a:2) which had belonged to the collection of Jakob Kobberstad, a teacher in Nordfjord, Sogn

og Fjordane.7 Archivist Otto G. Lundh had published an article on the manuscript in the journal Skillings-Magazinet

in 1859 after having borrowed it from the owner. The article includes 18 formulas from the

manuscript.8 A popular introduction to the theme of Black Books is found in Steen (1964).9 The Roman historian Pliny (first century) describes Moses as the founder of a magic sect (i.e. Judaism).

This idea of Moses appears in individual incantations of Late Antiquity and gets enshrined in both

Hebrew and pagan magical manuals. Some Black Books also connect their secret knowledge with the

Hebrew kabbalah.10 The Church Ordinance of 1629 made a university degree prerequisite to a Lutheran minister’s

ordination. Students were therefore sent to study in Denmark or Germany. Some studied at the

University of Wittenberg.11 I have elsewhere given an analysis of the tradition concerning the Black Book priests in which I

connected them with the popular mythic trickster figure (cf. Kristiansen 2003).12 In the mid-1990s, I interviewed an old man who lived near Alta, Finmark, who told me about his own

Black Book which he regularly consulted.13 Cf. ‘‘The Life of S. Justina’’ in The Golden Legend (Aurea Legenda), compiled by Jacobus de Voragine,

1275. Eng. transl. by William Caxton, 1483 (modernized by F.S. Ellis). E-text version: http://www.

fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume5.asp (accessed 9 January 2013).14 A common motif is that of a servant secretly reads in the priest’s Black Book and thus releases the devil

until the priest returns and drives him away, cf. the tradition on devil pacts in Olli & Bugge Amundsen

(2012).15 The Læstadian tradition is a Pietistic revival movement that originated in Northern Sweden in the 1840s

and quickly spread to the northern provinces of Finland and Norway.16 A folk healer using methods such as bloodletting (dreining) and cupping (aarelading).

220 R.E. Kristiansen

17 The manuscript may be fragmentary. The numbering of formulas is a not original (probably made either

by Storaker or Bang) and begins with no. 202. We do not know whether the manuscript has included

other formulas that are now missing, or if the numbering refers to another list of formulae.18 The two formulas not included by Bang deal with protection against evil (finne-skot) and a ritual for

making a thief return stolen goods (nos. 213 and 249 in the manuscript).19 Cf. formulas no. 217, 228 and 248 in the manuscript (Bang nos. 314, 292 and 248).20 The late church historian Oluf Kolsrud points to the fact that certain forms of medieval cult practices

with regard to the worship of the Virgin Mary survived well into the 19th century in many parts of

Norway (Kolsrud 1958: 346ff).21 Formula no. 203 in the manuscript (Bang no. 65).22 Cf. e.g. Bang (1884). His opinion that the Black Books were ‘‘remnants’’ from a bygone age, was

probably a dominant one among the Norwegian clergy, although judgments varied on whether they

were harmful.23 The first three words are used in Gudmund’s formula no. 211, and the fourth in no. 210. Here the words

are written as Kaiamaris, Katetibus, Ratetibus and Auratabul.24 The numbers given in the manuscript seems to be original, but they are somewhat erratic. Some formulas

are not preceded with a number whereas at other times several formulas with similar content are listed

under the same number. For this reason it is difficult to refer to the numbering of formulas in the

manuscripts.25 Nicolay Wilse was parish minister at Bø from 1816 and remained there until his death. He became a well-

known local figure due to his marriage to an unmarried woman with a child. She had been betrothed

to a man who drowned at sea before marriage. For a priest to marry such a woman was unthinkable at

that time, but his congregation sent a letter to the bishop where they asked for permission on his

behalf to marry the woman, which was granted by the bishop. The motif has been used by the author

Regine Normann for her novel Dengang da which was published in 1912.26 Some formulas refer to circumstances or customs that probably were not common in Vesteralen.27 The manuscript available today contains only 121 formulas, although the numbering suggests that there

many more originally (ca. 170). Bang did not always copy faithfully from the manuscript, but

sometimes split up formulas that dealt with similar topics. This has also been done with regard to the

P manuscript.28 Magic connected with the gratification of sexual desires are frequent in many grimoires, e.g. spells on

how to make women dance naked, which is found in a French grimoire (Le dragon rouge).

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