Cornwall: Death Tokens

This chapter has sections of uneven length, so I hope you’ll pardon that I use a series of long quotes, and then almost point form at the end.

The Death Token of the Vingoes

A quote from Hunt:

“WHEN you cross the brook which divides St Leven from Sennen, you are on the estate of Treville. Tradition tells us that this estate was given to an old family who came with the Conqueror to this country. This ancestor is said to have been the Duke of Normandy’s wine-taster, and that he belonged to the ancient counts of Treville, hence the name of the wstate. Certain it is the property has ever been held without poll deeds. For many generations the family has been declining, and the race is now nearly, if not quite, extinct. Through all time a peculiar token has marked the coming death of a Vingoe. Above the deep caverns in the Treville cliff rises a earn. On this, chains of fire were seen ascending and descending, and often accompanied by loud and frightful noises. It is said that these tokens have not been seen since the last male of the family came to a violent end.”

This seems to match the description of an Accuser, a type of demon that says it is a servant of the Lord, sent to punish people for their sins. They are made of flaming chains.

The Death Fetch of William Rufus

To quote Hunt again “ROBERT, Earl of Moreton, in Normandy, who always carried the standard of St Michael before him in battle, was made Earl of Cornwall by William the Conqueror. He was remarkable for his valour and for his virtue, for the exercise of his power, and his benevolence to the priests. This was the Earl of Cornwall who gave the Mount in Cornwall to the monks of Mont St Michel in Normandy. He seized upon the priory of St Petroc at Bodmin, and converted all the lands to his own use.

This Earl of Cornwall was an especial friend of William Rufus. It happened that Robert, the earl, was hunting in the extensive woods around Bodmin of which some remains are still to be found in the Glyn Valley. The chase had been a severe one ; a fine old red deer had baffled the huntsmen, and they were dispersed through the intricacies of the forest, the Earl of Cornwall being left alone. He advanced beyond the shades of the woods on to the moors above them, and he was surprised to see a very large black goat advancing over the plain. As it approached him, which it did rapidly, he saw that it bore on its back ” King Rufus,” all black and naked, and wounded through in the midst of his breast. .

Robert adjured the goat, in the name of the Holy Trinity, to tell what it was he carried so strangely. He answered, ” I am carrying your king to judgment ; yea, that tyrant William Rufus, for I am an evil spirit, and the revenger of his malice which he bore to the Church of God. It was I that did cause this slaughter; the protomartyr of England, St Albyn, commanding me so to do, ivho complained to God of him, for his grievous oppression in this Isle of Britain, which he first hallowed.”

Having so spoken, the spectre vanished. Robert, the earl, related the circumstance to
his followers, and they shortly after learned that at that very hour William Rufus had been slain in the New Forest by the arrow of Walter Tirel.”

Again, a demon is acting as an agent of the Divine: here as the punisher of a king on behalf of St Alwyn. The orthodox understanding is that this is not really how saints operate, but in a Cornish context, does that mean a demon could attack the characters and have a Divine Aura, because it really is their chastiser sent from God?

Sir John Arundell’s Curse

I’ll avoid a quote from Hunt here, by simply saying that Sir John was a good magistrate, and in the course of his duties he was cursed to die by human hand on yellow sand. As a sensible chap, he moved his home from Efford, which is on the coast, to Trerice, deep inland. He lived contentedly for many years.

Eventually, though a rebel nobleman took the Mount from the priests, and John was called to subdue him. Even though he knew he was going to fight on the beach, he went anyway, as he was a model of feudal service. He died.

I’d note that Sir John would be a perfect tame nobleman for a covenant, and that you could void his curse by having a spell turn the sand beneath his feet into grass, if only for a moment. Alternatively, if he was a foe, you could just hide sand in his mattress and cut his throat while he slept. His miraculous protection’s only a challenge until you find out the exact wording of the curse.

Minor notes

Hunt says that no-where has he seen so strong a belief that the shades of the dying are seen by their families as in Cornwall. I’m tempted to make that a free Virtue for Cornish characters: you can appear to your loved ones as you lie dying. These apparitions never seem to say much, and wouldn’t be visible to magi because the Parma Magica would prevent mental contact. They seem to only be visible to the intended recipient, but I’d stretch the point to those with the Sight.

A woman slighted by a man, if she commits suicide, will often appear in the shape of a white hare. There are stories of such a hare causing a man’s horse to shy while he is near a mine, so that he falls to his death. Such hares generally fade when their worldly work is done, but if a magician were quick, such a hare might become a familiar. Alternatively, a man may ask for protection…from a rabbit.

The hand of a person hanged has many curative properties. Some people claim a hand will only cure those of the opposite sex. Hands are available, under the counter, from executioners. Alternatively, there’s a case recorded in Hunt of a woman being led up onto the gallows to take take the cure from a freshly hanged man’s hand. This might be folk magic, or it could be a grim sort of fae.

People are not buried on the north side of the church, because it is gloomy there. Evil spirits may dwell there, which seems odd when you recall this is hallowed ground. Then again, in this section we’ve seen that demons seem to work for the saints on a freelance basis, and in the chapter on sorcerers, there were a lot of priest commanding evil spirits to do good things. Does this mean magi have better luck casting spells on the northern side of a church? If there’s a mild Infernal aura there, it could be a better location than Divine or mundane alternatives.

When people die, it is necessary to open every lock and bar of the house, to let their spirit escape. Does this include the Aegis?  Will the aegis keep annoyed ghosts inside, creating poltergeist activity, until it falls and they vanish with a sigh or a scream?

Feather beds prolong the death pains of people on them.

Corpses should not follow new roads to the church, only the traditional ones. We have seen in previous books that these old ways are faerie trods, and they hate people mucking about with the routes of processions.

If people are boiling bitumen (which is a sealant) there will often be popping bubles which throw a piece off toward the observers. If it is round, that’s a purse, if it is oblong, it’s a coffin.

If the cock crows at midnight it sees the Angel of Death over a house. Dogs and ravens also seem to have similar abilities. Does this include Bjornaer magi?