Last Magic Spell Cast in Battle? September 6, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval, Modern , trackback
For many years this blog has run a weird wars tag, some of the most bizarre story from humanities adventures on the battlefield. Beach has recently got a sniff of one story that has greatly excited him, but he can’t track down the details. He throws open the problem to readers hoping that someone will be able to do better. Johann Weyer (obit 1588), the Dutch writer on witchcraft and an all round good egg wrote a curious passage in 1563 in the third book of his De Praestigiis Daemonium. He claims that in the very year he wrote the Swedish and the Danes went to war: as, of course, they did in the Northern Seven Years War. He also claims that the King of Sweden had four magicians working for him who managed to frustrate the King of Denmark in all his plans. Beach would love to have more details of these battlefield magicians. Were they warriors appearing with the men in the fray or were they more like spies gathering information? As late as the seventeenth century the Swedish writer Johannes Schefferus denied that the Swedes had used Sami battle magic: that is the magic of the northern sub-polar peoples who we have met so many times on this blog. The very fact that Schefferus had to be wheeled out to defend Swedish Christian honour suggests that Swedish success in recent wars had been explained, in Germany particularly, by paranormal means. Christian priests and monks were brought to the battle-lines to work their Christ-like magic in the Middle Ages. And before we start to feel superior about our ancestors modern western armies have their priests, pastors and rabbis praying for victory. But if we limit ourselves to non-Christian magic, which armies were the last to call down spells on their enemies? There are several instances of battle magic from the ancient world. There are some oblique but fascinating references to druids creating magic in early medieval Irish battles: in admittedly late sources. There are hints in some Viking sources: Beach remembers a sacrificial spear being hurled over the about-to-be-‘eaten’ enemy militias. But if we are looking for the latest then the Swedish must surely be good candidates, if, of course, Weyer or even later German sources are reliable: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
Beach should note here that he is not going to include Ukrainian pagan partisans, though by all account resistance there includes magic working. He is limiting himself, like international law, to official armies.
30 Sep 2015: Bruce T writes ‘Would the Biafran Army have qualified under the standards you’re using? I had two college friends who had been little more than boy soldiers in the Biafran Army. The local Ibo priesthood cast spells and performed animal sacrifices preceding/ following battle and took part in the fighting according to them. Of course, it all depends on how you look at the status of the short-lived Biafran State. An earlier African example would be in the records collected from the Zulu’s veterans of the Battle of Isandlwana. Apparently Zulu frontline warriors smoked a combination of cannabis and other substances prepared by their priests immediately before battle. They reported that it made them “see blood” ie; everything seemed to be red and caused a furious rage towards the enemy. It was said to make them feel invincible and impervious to pain. Again it’s how it’s how the army of Zulu State qualifies under the standards you’re using.’ James demands ‘A history of Sky -Pilots before Christianity’. That would be fun. LTM ‘Game of Thrones’ is full of battle magic, and well-done. You don’t have the TV, right? ‘Thrones’ author George R. R. Martin’s books have the same. As example.
11 Oct 2015: Bruce again with some good stuff. ‘I once read a story in a magazine called “Soldier of Fortune” while waiting on haircut in the late 70’s, during the then Zimbabwean Revolution. It involved a joint Rhodesian – South African raid on guerrilla camp in Zambia. “Soldier of Fortune” was survivalist/ armchair mercenary rag of the period. My barber kept it in the pile with the huntin’, shootin’, and fishin’ magazines. The camp set on a bluff above a river. One group of the joint force crossed the river and set up in the bush behind the camp, the other group set up on the other side of the river, where a main ford emerged. The group behind the camp opened fire in the dark, infiltrated the camp and driving the inhabitants, men, women and children into the river. Once the people were in the river, the force on opposite bank opened up on them. Trapped and thrashing in panic, the splashing and blood in the water drew crocodiles in droves, who proceeded to devour the people in the water. The firing continued sporadically through the night. According to a Rhodesian officer on the raid the screaming in the river didn’t stop until well after daylight. Where the magic came in was the inability of the few survivors to recover intact bodies for proper burial. If the body wasn’t whole the spirit was left to roam the earth causing all sorts of trouble. The Rhodesian’s and the South African knew exactly what they were doing. Re; Zimbabwe; The accounts of East German and Cuban trainers in the field and in the camps could provide a wealth of information. There are numerous Afro-Caribbean religions in Cuba. Magicians from Angola were held in high esteem in the Americas. Angola isn’t that far from Zimbabwe and Cuban troops served in both theaters. If their was a connection to be noticed between Cuban rituals and south-Central African ones, Cuban soldiers would have made a note of it. Nigeria. I didn’t really press on the details with my friends. They were Christian’s from the Cross River region. What they did talk about happening during the war they referred to as the actions of “cults”. One of the guy’s cousins and another classmate is now a sacral King in a group of towns in that region. (Those poor folks.) Another good Christian boy, but he is required to perform ritual sacrifices and keep multiple wives by tradition. In that region there are sacred groves, caves, shrines, etc…… If you aren’t a member of the priesthood who maintains those sites and you violate that space, you are taken outside of the sacred precinct and killed. No excuses, no appeals.
