cunning folk in britain cunning folk in britain the cunning folk in britain were professional or semi-professional practitioners of magic in britain, active from the medieval period through the early 20th century. as cunning folk, they practised folk magic – also known as "low magic" – although often combined with elements of "high" or ceremonial magic, which they learned through the study of grimoires. primarily using spells and charms as a part of their profession, they were most commonly employed to use their magic to combat malevolent witchcraft, to locate criminals, missing persons or stolen property, for fortune telling, for healing, for treasure hunting and to influence people to fall in love. belonging "to the world of popular belief and custom", the cunning folk's magic has been defined as being "concerned not with the mysteries of the universe and the empowerment of the magus , so much as with practical remedies for specific problems." however, other historians have noted that in some cases, there was apparently an "experimental or 'spiritual' dimension" to their magical practices, something which was possibly shamanic in nature. a model of a nineteenth-century cunning woman in her house, at the museum of witchcraft, boscastle in england. although the british cunning folk were in almost all cases christian themselves, certain christian theologians and church authorities believed that, being practitioners of magic, the cunning folk were in league with the devil and as such were akin to the more overtly satanic and malevolent witches. partly because of this, laws were enacted across england, scotland and wales that often condemned cunning folk and their magical practices, but there was no widespread persecution of them akin to the witch hunt, largely because most common people firmly distinguished between the two: witches were seen as being harmful and cunning folk as useful. the british cunning folk were known by a variety of names in different regions of the country, including wise men and wise women, pellars, wizards, dyn hysbys, and sometimes white witches. comparable figures were found in other parts of western europe: in france, such terms as devins-guérisseurs and leveurs de sorts were used for them, whilst in the netherlands they were known as toverdokters or duivelbanners, in germany as hexenmeisters and in denmark as kloge folk. in spain they were curanderos whilst in portugal they were known as saludadores. it is widely agreed by historians and folklorists, such as willem de blécourt, robin briggs and owen davies, that the term "cunning folk" could be applied to all of these figures as well to reflect a pan-european tradition. societal role in britain in the late medieval and early modern periods, folk magic was widely popular. many individuals knew of some magical charms and spells, but there were also professionals who dealt in magic, including charmers, fortune tellers, astrologers and cunning folk, the last of whom were said to "possess a broader and deeper knowledge of such techniques and more experience in using them" than the average person; it was also believed that they "embodied or could work with supernatural power which greatly increased the effectiveness of the operations concerned." the terms "cunning man" and "cunning woman" were most widely used in southern england, the midlands, and in wales. such people were also frequently known across england as "wizards", "wise men" or "wise women", or in southern england and wales as "conjurers" or as "dynion hysbys" in the welsh language. in cornwall they were sometimes referred to as "pellars", which some etymologists suggest originated from the term "expellers", referring to the practice of expelling evil spirits. nineteenth-century folklorists often used the term "white witch" to refer to cunning folk, although this was infrequently used amongst the ordinary people themselves, as for them the term "witch" had general connotations of malevolence and evil. demographics the number of cunning folk in britain at any one time is uncertain. nevertheless historian owen davies has speculated that, based on his own research into english cunning folk (which excluded those in scotland and wales), that "up until the mid nineteenth century there may have been as many as several thousand working in england at any given time." although there was a twentieth-century stereotype that cunning folk usually lived and worked in rural areas of britain, evidence shows that there were also many in towns and cities. around two-thirds of recorded cunning folk in britain were male, although their female counterparts were "every bit as popular and commercially successful as the men, and indeed this was one of the few means by which ordinary women could achieve a respected and independent position" in british society of the time. the cunning folk of britain were often from the societal class that included artisans, tradesmen, and farmers, and as such were commonly at least semi-literate and of a higher social position than common labourers. in many cases they continued in their ordinary line of work alongside earning money as a professional cunning man or woman. in almost all cases, cunning folk worked either alone, as a solitary magical practitioner, or with one other person, such as a spouse or sibling. the only known exception was in early nineteenth-century manchester, where several cunning men used to meet in a group, centred around the most prominent of their members, a cunning fellow called rawlinson. this method of working alone was one factor that separated the cunning folk from the stereotype of witches then prevalent in britain, which often held that these witches met together in groups, sometimes known as covens, and at times flew through the air to get to their meeting points. becoming a cunning person "let me see how many trades have i to live by: first, i am a wise-woman, and a fortune-teller, and under that i deal in physicke and fore-speaking, in palmistry, and recovering of things lost. next, i undertake to cure madd folkes; then i keepe gentlewomen lodgers, to furnish such chambers as i let out by the night: then i am provided for bringing young wenches to bed; and, for a need, you see i can play the match-maker." cunning woman in thomas heywood's 1638 play, the wise woman of hogsdon in most cases, it seems that individuals set themselves up as cunning folk with no former basis or training, although others came from a family background of professional magical practitioners. one of the most prominent examples of a family dynasty of cunning people was the harries family from cwrt y cadno in wales: henry harries (1739–1805) was a yeoman farmer who had interests in astrology and medicine but did not practice as a cunning man, whilst his son john (1785–1839) and two grandsons henry and john instead became professionals in the field. as owen davies remarked, "there are a number of reasons why people may have wanted to become cunning-folk. the desire for money, power or social prestige, and even to do good, all undoubtedly played their part." some practitioners genuinely believed they had magical powers, while some later admitted in court that they had no such powers but were simply pretending that they did to fool people for their money. indeed, there was a great deal of variability amongst the british cunning folk, with historian ronald hutton remarking that "they appear as a remarkably heterogeneous collection of individuals, divided by at least as many characteristics as those which they had in common." "cunning-folk operated in a competitive market where reputations and first impressions were very important", and as such often worked on their personal promotion. some were known to travel relatively large distances to visit their clients as well as making calls during the night if requested. some, though by no means all, were also known to wear "striking costume or home decorations" to enhance their reputations as magical individuals-- a nineteenth-century cunning woman, for instance, might wear a conical hat and a robe with mystical signs on it, as well as hanging herbs and papers from the ceiling of her home. similarly, james "cunning" murrell, the nineteenth-century cunning man of hadleigh in south-east essex, wore iron goggles and carried a whalebone umbrella whenever he went out, whilst mother merne, the late 19th and early 20th-century wise woman of milborne down in dorset, kept guinea pigs, black hens, a black goat and a black cat; the cat would sit on her shoulder during consultations with clients. services the cunning folk typically performed several different services in their local communities, using what they claimed to be their own magical powers. opposing witchcraft a humanoid figurine with pins stuck into it: this was one method by which cunning folk battled witches using magical means. artefact at the museum of witchcraft and magic in boscastle, cornwall. one of the most common services that the cunning folk provided was in combating the effects of malevolent witchcraft and the curses which these witches had allegedly placed upon people. alongside this, they were also known at times for identifying witches, and in this manner they were "the only healers to offer a comprehensive package of anti-witch measures." british cunning folk were known to use a variety of methods to cure someone of malevolent sorcery, including tackling the witch either physically or through the law courts, breaking the spell over the individual by magical means, and by using charms and potions to remove the witchcraft from the afflicted person's body. as historian owen davies noted, "most cunning-folk employed a multi-pronged approach to curing witchcraft, using a combination of written charms, magic rituals, prayers and herbal medicines, thereby appealing to the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of the sick." one of the best known means by which the cunning folk opposed witchcraft was through the use of witch bottles; ceramic bottles containing such items as urine, nails, hair and nail clippings which it was believed, when put together, would cause harm to the malevolent witch. another commonly used method was to take the heart of an animal, and to pierce it with pins, to do harm to the witch, whilst other cunning folk preferred to make dolls of the witch out of rags and other materials and then pierce them with pins, again with the intention of inflicting physical harm on the witch, and breaking their bewitchment. amongst the common people who often went to the cunning folk for aid, these magical practitioners were seen as being very much distinct from witches; as davies noted, to the average person "witches were evil but cunning-folk were useful". some theologians and figures of church authority nonetheless believed that the cunning-folk, in practising magic, were also, like the witches, following the devil, a malevolent supernatural entity in christian mythology. such a viewpoint was not constrained to any one particular form of christianity in this period, but was found amongst the roman catholic church, the anglican church of england and also various forms of protestantism. some early quakers, a protestant denomination founded in the seventeenth century, were particularly vocal against the cunning folk, perhaps because they themselves were accused by their critics of using sorcery to attract new members, and so wanted to heavily distance themselves from such practices. locating property and criminals the cunning folk were also commonly employed to locate missing or stolen property and uncover the perpetrator: this was of particular importance throughout the early modern period, when peoples' possessions were far more valued than in later centuries as they were expensive to replace, particularly for the poor. there are recorded cases where the cunning folk would also promise to ensure that the stolen property was returned, and in some of these they did prove successful, with the thief promptly returning what they had taken, something which may have been out of their own fear of being cursed by the cunning folk. at times, such cunning individuals were also known to locate missing persons: an example of this was reported in 1617, as john redman of sutton discovered that his wife had left him, and "went from wizard to wizard, or, as they term them 'wise men', to have them bring her again". the methods used to perform this service differed amongst the cunning folk, although astrology was one of the most commonly used ways. in some cases, the cunning man or woman would instead get their client to