Boy (dog)
Videos
Boy was a white hunting poodle belonging to Royalist commander Prince Rupert of the Rhine during the English Civil War. Parliamentarian propaganda alleged that the dog was "endowed" with magical power
Boy and Prince Rupert of the Rhine in a pro-Parliamentary woodcut condemning the pair
In Royalist parodies, Boy was said to be a 'Lapland Lady' who had been transformed into a white dog.
Pro-Parliamentary pamphlet of 1643
A contemporary depiction of Boy's death
Familiar
Videos
In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars were believed to be supernatural entities, interdimensional beings, or spiritual guardians that would protect or assist witches
Boy (dog)
…of Parliamentarian propaganda. Boy, who often accompanied Rupert into battle, featured heavily in this, and was widely suspected of being a witch's familiar. There were numerous accounts of Boy's abilities; some suggested that he was the Devil in disguise. John Cleveland and other Royalist satirists and…
A late-16th-century English illustration of a witch feeding her familiars
A story of "a priest who for the space of 40 years employed a familiar spirit", illustrated in Elizabeth I of England's copy of the Histoires Prodigieuses by Pierre Boaistuau
The Love Potion by Evelyn De Morgan, 1903: a witch with a black cat familiar at her feet