Augustus Montague Summers is a figure who looms large in the contemporary study of witchcraft in that he was one of its most intellectually astute researchers as well as being the last of the great believers in the reality of witchcraft. Summers was a strange bird in that he was an expert on the theatre of seventeenth century England as well as the Gothic novel, but at the same time he was also deeply fascinated by what we may call; with some reservations, the occult. Indeed Summers seems to have greatly encouraged the rumours of his own status as an adept of the occult as it fitted with his dark and delightfully vicious sense of humour. This; of course, was not helped by Summers' own infatuation with the subjects of witchcraft, Satanism and black magic, which in time he became a noted expert on and is still; somewhat grudgingly, regarded as a diligent researcher into the lesser traveled highways and byways of witch-hunter lore. (1)

All that said Summers did have a dark side in that just before his conversion to Catholicism in 1909: he had been ordained as a Church of England deacon in Bristol, but was quickly accused of having sexually abused several choirboys. In spite of the dismissal of the case; which his biographer Joseph Jerome is quick to utilize to argue that the claims were unfounded, (2) doubt about Summers' sexual preferences has continued with one internet editor of his work not unreasonably suggesting Summers was homosexual. (3)

This is probable, but where I part ways with this is in that I am not quick to ascribe sexual advances on young boys to mere homosexuality; as Summers could have done that with any male of any age, but rather he chose choirboys suggesting that he was quite probably primarily attracted to male children/early teenagers rather than men in general.

This is troubling in the extreme, but it never-the-less makes sense of several qwerks of Summers' character in that he was driven by personal demons (his need to deal with his 'sins against god' in his sexual orientation), why he became so interested in the study of witchcraft, Satanism and the occult (which are traditionally linked to homosexuality and paederasty) (4) as well as his obsession with the Ancient Greeks at a time when some unfortunate Greek institutions were being used to attempt to justify homosexuality.

This was at a time when paederasty was unfortunately tacitly accepted in the British elite public school system: (5) the trial of Summers gives an idea that he was a man who was homosexual but also a paederast given that homosexuality/paederasty were otherwise quietly tolerated from families such as his (i.e. wealthy, highly religious and socially well-connected). Further evidence that Summers was likely somewhat guilty of being a paederast; and certainly what we would call today a paedophile, is also found in his first published work of the year before his trial (1907): a book of poetry that has a strong paederastic theme throughout: 'Antinous and Other Poems'.

If we understand this and acknowledge that Summers was; although not formally part of the Catholic clergy, essentially part of it as the Catholic Church never moved to dissociate itself from him or discipline him: (6) then we can see that Summers was essentially channeling; at least in part, his own sexual desires into his work on witchcraft, Satanism and the occult.

Further we may observe that throughout his work on this subject Summers had a strong tendency to only see what he wanted in sources and ignore other contradictory aspects they presented. So for example he largely ignores the legal transcripts of witch trials as source material (and the use of torture in them) instead he prefers printed sources and takes them literally.

Perhaps the most interesting and pointed issue with Summers' selective interpretation of the phenomenon of witchcraft, Satanism and the occult is the simple general lack of mention the jews are afforded.

In his works on the subject, including such as 'The History of Witchcraft and Demonology', 'The Vampire: His Kith and Kin', 'The Vampire in Europe', 'The Werewolf' and 'Witchcraft and Black Magic'. There is a singular lack of references to jews in the context of witchcraft, Satanism and the occult as well as lack of practically any mention whatsoever of jewish traditions or religious texts that would have helped bolster his arguments.

For example the Kitzur Schulchan Aruch states as follows:

'It is forbidden to inquire of wizards, unless where there is danger to human life, or if any malady came to one through witchcraft, mishap, or evil spirit; in such cases the one affected may be cured by a non-Jewish wizard.' (7)

Further at least two ground-breaking works on the subject of jewish witchcraft that Summers must have been aware of (as Summers' works have large bibliographies of both primary and secondary sources), but chose not to use that would have furnished a large mine of additional sources from which Summers could have quoted. (8) This is made even more surprising given that Joshua Trachtenberg; the author who wrote the studies, was aware of Summers and specifically attacked him in 1938. (9)

What brought about Trachtenberg's attack; although he is happy to use Summers as a source when it suits him (confirmed by a check of his numerous citations of Summers' 'History of Witchcraft'), was the following statement he attributes to Summers:

'Jews were persecuted “not so much for the observance of Hebrew ceremonies, as is often suggested and supposed, but for the practice of the dark and hideous tradition of Hebrew magic. Closely connected with these ancient sorceries are those ritual murder.... In many cases the evidence is quite conclusive that the body, especially the blood of the victim, was used for magical purposes.' (10)

The problem with this is that I cannot find this passage from Summers in any of the editions of his works that I have and although it does read like Summers: it is rather odd that it would be his only real mention of 'Hebrew magic'. This is especially so given that Summers was not shy of using African and Caribbean witchcraft traditions (11) as well as those of Egypt and Greece. (12)

Further Summers does in fact make passing mention of a jewish tradition from the Babylonian Talmud in regards to necromancy (13) as well as mentioning Kabbala. (14) However he; uncharacteristically, quickly moves on and talks about the other subjects: it does however demonstrate that Summers was not ignorant of jewish traditions, but chose not to include them.

Even when his own evidence suggests there is a necessity to talk about jewish magical and witch traditions as well as jewish secret societies (a subject that Summers otherwise loved to discuss) Summers still does not talk about the jews and moves on to other issues. (15) What makes this even more unusual is that the very literature that Summers loved; printed sources by believers in diabolic activities and agencies, was what he was citing and such it is clear that Summers was actively suppressing mentions of the jews.

An example of just such an attitude from Summers may be found in the way he deals with the intellectual pioneer of the rationalisation for the witch-hunt phenomenon; Johann Nider, whose 1437 book 'Formicarius' (lit. 'The Ant Hill') was a heavily-used source (it was cited a total of 70 times) in Summers' favourite point of reference: 'The Malleus Maleficarum'. (16) Nider was stridently anti-jewish in 'Formicarius' and attacked jews as much as he did witches, (17) which Summers does not note in his several mentions of Nider.

Further the Malleus itself; which had been incidentally named for an earlier work 'Malleus Judeorum' by the Inquisitor John of Frankfurt, (18) contains numerous direct and indirect references to jews misleading Christians and conducting sorcery, conjuration and witchcraft.

One example of the Malleus' mentions of the jews is:

'One reads in the Lives of the Fathers, that because a certain young woman did not wish comply with a young man who was importuning her for a base act, the young man was agitated as a result of this and had a certain Jew cast a spell of sorcery against her, and when this was done, the woman was changed into a filly.' (19)

Another is:

'They have, however, been set down and recorded in documents, including the way a certain baptised Jewess persuaded other young women to act. One of them was called Walpurgis, and when, in her final moment, she was urged by the bystanders to confess her sins, she shout out, “I have handed over my body and soul to the Devil, and have no hope of forgiveness.”' (20)

Summers also doesn't describe the famous legend of Saint Theophilus in that the Saint was enticed by a jewish magician into signing a pact with the devil and that because of this he acquired magical powers. (21) This in spite of mentioning the legend of Saint Theophilus, but not telling his reader what that legend is! (22)

This significant black hole in Summers' work when it concerns jews is particularly notable in his lack of mention of the witch stories involving jews; per the examples quoted above, indicates that Summers is actively suppressing mentions of the jews in relation to witches, sorcery, Satanism and magic. Indeed the lack of mentions of this subject in Summers' work are so obvious and systematic that I am surprised that nobody; to my knowledge, has noted this glaring omission on his part (although Trachtenberg was typically quick to imply that Summers was anti-Semitic). (23)

Indeed so obvious is the connection in the source literature on witchcraft and the jews that modern authors have pointed out that the close connection between the jews and witchcraft; in at least the medieval perception, (24) is vital to understanding the subject (25) as well as the association between jews and heretics. (26) Further Summers spectacularly fails to mention such medieval traditions as the anti-Christ having a jewish mother, (27) which should otherwise have deeply interested him.

This connection would be so important to Summers in his work precisely because he mentions the Kabbala (without mentioning that it is an important element in the jewish mystical and magical tradition) on numerous occasions; and by its extension the important role the jews played as magicians and sorcerers in Christian Europe (as well as possibly among Greek and Roman pagans), as well as the similarity of the name-based magic employed by the jews based on the Torah, (28) which was then imported also wholesale into Christian thinking. (29)

Further the thought of the period from which Summers quotes extensively actively associated the jews and the devil as co-conspirators with witches, (30) which was a subject that held widespread interest throughout the Protestant (31) and Catholic (32) intellectual world. Indeed the connection between witches, Satanism and the jews is frequently still brought up by modern believers in the reality of witchcraft as well as satanic ritual abuse. (33)

If we understand this then we can see that Summers is taking the witch-hunts and the resultant literature out of their context by not bringing the jews into the equation. Indeed I would venture that the jews actually helped cause the witch-hunts by taking advantage of their perceived status as powerful sorcerers to make money out of the non-jews around them. That is however a subject that needs to be treated separately to Summers: the evidence I have thus discussed and cited is enough to indicate the scale of the connection between the two issues as well as the fact that Summers suppressed this information in his work.

I would venture that Summers; per his 'Supernatural Omnibus', (34) is actually writing in the vein of Gothic literature in his work and as such he would have been aware that the jews (particularly the jewess) were regarded as an irrationally persecuted group (i.e. to be sympathised with and aided) in a significant part of nineteenth century fictional literature (which Summers was well read in). (35) This is also true of earlier British literature as pointed by Montagu Modder. (36)

If we combine this with the knowledge that the period at which Summers was writing was the heyday of anti-Semitism: we can begin to see that Summers was very likely suppressing his own sources on the subject of jews because of his regard for the jews as the 'people of Christ'. This is indicated by the way that Summers cites the Old Testament in regard to the jews, (37) in so far as it is always in the vein of the 'prior revelation' that the jews are simply 'in error' for not recognising. (38)

Another; more material, reason for Summers' suppression of the jewish angle to the witchcraft issue is due to the fact that one of his publishers; Victor Gollancz, was a jew who ran his (major) published house for several years as a front for the Comintern! (39)

Not exactly the most sympathetic or likely publisher for stories of jewish magicians making pacts with the devil: is he?

Hence in order to publish it is plausible to suggest that Summers generalized the tales of witchcraft and diabolism he liked to edit and put forward for publication. After all Summers; in spite of his wealthy family background, was always needing money due to the heavy costs of his research and because of his occasional monetary want he returned to teaching at several different periods in his life.

This means to my mind that Summers was actively suppressing the historically perceived connection between jews, witchcraft, Satanism and the occult precisely because he wished to continue publishing and because he did not wish his work to be associated with the anti-Semitic intellectual tidal wave of the time.

This is also; I should remark, indicated by the singular lack of references in Summers' work to Catholic nineteenth century anti-witchcraft literature (Summers was fluent in French and frequently wrote risqué passages in his books in it), which also tended to be violently anti-jewish as well.

All-in-all we can see that Summers was a philo-Semite; in spite of Trachtenberg's claim, who promoted the idea of witchcraft, Satanism and the occult without a very substantial; even massive, jewish involvement and origin. This I would argued help lead to the absurd egalitarian occultism and forms of 'witch beliefs' today, which infest neo-pagan circles in the form of Wicca and other assorted invented religions.

(1) Jeffrey Burton Russell, 1972, 'Witchcraft in the Middle Ages', 1st Edition, Cornell University Press: Ithaca, pp. 29-30
(2) Joseph Jerome, 1965, 'Montague Summers: A Memoir', 1st Edition, Cecil and Amelia Woolf: London
(3) http://www.unicorngarden.com/vamp01.htm
(4) Russell, 'Witchcraft in the Middle Ages', Op. Cit., pp. 161-162
(5) A. Craik, 2008, 'Mr Hopkins' Men: Cambridge Reform and British Mathematics in the 19th Century',1st Edition, Springer Verlag: London, p. 22
(6) http://www.gothicpress.freeserve.co.uk/Montague%20Summers.htm; also his biographer Jerome does not mention any such disciplining (even after Summers became famous) and argues that Summers was actually ordained in the old way (fitting with Summers' own belief system and daily performance of a private mass) in the Catholic Church rather than in the 'new way' of top down formal ordination that was a consequence of the Counter-Reformation.
(7) Kitzur Schulchan Aruch 166:5
(8) Specifically Joshua Trachtenberg, 1938, 'Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion', 1st Edition, Behrman's Jewish Book House: New York and Joshua Trachtenberg, 1943, 'The Devil and the Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jew and its Relation to Modern Antisemitism', 1st Edition, Yale University Press: New Haven.
(9) Trachtenberg, 'Jewish Magic and Superstition', Op. Cit., pp. 8-9
(10) Ibid.
(11) Montague Summers, 1946, 'Witchcraft and Black Magic', 1st Edition, Rider: London, pp. 184-188
(12) Montague Summers, 1994, [1926], 'The History of Witchcraft', 1st Edition, Senate: London, pp. 198-202
(13) Ibid, 'Witchcraft and Black Magic', Op. Cit., p. 188
(14) Ibid, pp. 122; 161; 178
(15) Montague Summers, 1996, [1929], 'The Vampire in Europe', 1st Edition, Bracken: London, p. 149
(16) Robert Thurston, 2001, 'Witch, Wicce, Mother Goose', 1st Edition, Longman: New York, p. 64
(17) Russell, 'Witchcraft in the Middle Ages', Op. Cit., p. 235
(18) Christopher Mackay, 2009, 'The Hammer of Witches: A Complete Translation of the Malleus Maleficarum', 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York, p. 7
(19) Malleus Maleficarum 60D:61A (repeated with small changes in 117B); I have used Mackay's English translation for the sake of simplicity.
(20) Ibid. 136C-136D
(21) Brian Levack, 1995, 'The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe', 2nd Edition, Longman: New York p. 35
(22) Summers, 'Witchcraft and Black Magic', Op. Cit., p. 41
(23) Trachtenberg, 'Jewish Magic and Superstition', Op. Cit., pp. 8-9; Summers does mention a jewish magician in passing in Summers, 'Witchcraft and Black Magic', Op. Cit., p. 79
(24) Karen Jolly, 2002, 'Medieval Magic: Definitions, Beliefs, Practices', pp. 6; 21 in Bengt Ankarloo, Stuart Clark (Eds.), 2002, 'Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages', 1st Edition, University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia
(25) Thurston, Op. Cit., p. 18; Jeffrey Burton Russell, 1980, 'A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans', 1st Edition, Thames and Hudson: London, p. 75; Norman Cohn, 1993, 'Europe's Inner Demons: The Demonization of Christians in Medieval Christendom', 2nd Edition, Pimlico: London, pp. 7-8
(26) Robert Moore, 2012, 'The War on Heresy: Faith and Power in Medieval Europe', 1st Edition, Profile: London, pp. 6-7; Stephen O'Shea, 2012, 'The Friar of Carcassonne: The Last Days of the Cathars', 1st Edition, Profile: London, p. 233
(27) Thurston, Op. Cit., p. 18
(28) For examples see Jacob Marcus, 1961, [1938], 'The Jew in the Medieval World: A Source Book: 315-1791', The Jewish Publication Society of America: Philadelphia, pp. 244-246
(29) Jolly, Op. Cit., pp. 52; 62; Edward Peters, 2002, 'The Medieval Church and State on Superstition, Magic and Witchcraft: From Augustine to the Sixteenth Century', pp.178-179 in Bengt Ankarloo, Stuart Clark (Eds.), 2002, 'Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages', 1st Edition, University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia
(30) Moore, Op. Cit., pp. 147-151; Carl Watkins, 2007, 'History and the Supernatural in Medieval England', 1st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York, p. 161; Nathan Johnstone, 2006, 'The Devil and Demonism in Early Modern England', 1st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York, pp. 9-10; 53; 142
(31) For example Gilbert Geis, Ivan Bunn, 1997, 'A Trial of Witches: A Seventeenth-Century Witchcraft Prosecution', 1st Edition, Routledge: New York, p. 86
(32) For example Robin Vose, 2009, 'Dominicans, Muslims and Jews in the Medieval Crown of Aragon', 1st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York, pp. 119-120
(33) Jean la Fontaine, 1999, 'Satanism and Satanic Mythology', p. 140 in Bengt Ankarloo, Stuart Clark (Eds.), 1999, 'Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Twentieth Century', 1st Edition, The Athlone Press: London
(34) Montague Summers, 1931, 'The Supernatural Omnibus', 2 Vols., Victor Gollancz: London
(35) Nadia Valman, 2007, 'The Jewess in Nineteenth Century British Literary Culture', 1st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York, pp. 83-84
(36) Montagu Modder, 1960, [1939], 'The Jew in the Literature of England: To the End of the Nineteenth Century', 1st Edition, The Jewish Publication Society of America: Philadelphia
(37) For example in Montague Summers, 1995, [1928], 'The Vampire: His Kith and Kin', 1st Edition, Senate: London. pp. 14-17
(38) Particularly obvious on Ibid, p. 16
(39) Ruth Dudley Edwards, 1987, 'Victor Gollancz: A Biography', 1st Edition, Victor Gollancz: London, pp. 277-282

This was originally published at the following address: http://semiticcontroversies.blogspot.com/2012/08/jews-witches-and-montague-summers.html