It was also believed that on the spot where the mark was left, the marked person could feel no pain. The mark could be used as a proof to determine that the pact was made. But according to some witch trials, an oral pact left evidence in the form of the Witches' mark, an indelible mark where the marked person had been touched by the devil to seal the pact. An oral pact may be made by means of invocations, conjurations, or rituals to attract the demon once the conjurer thinks the demon is present, they ask for the wanted favour and offer their soul in exchange, and no evidence is left of the pact. It is usually thought that individuals who make a pact also promise to demons that they will kill children or consecrate them to the devil at the moment of birth (many midwives were accused of this, due to the number of children who died at birth in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance), take part in Witches' Sabbaths, have sexual relations with demons, and sometimes engender children from a succubus, or an incubus in the case of women. Ĭopy of a written deal by Christoph Haizmann from 1669. In Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, "Bargain with the devil" constitutes motif number M210 and "Man sells soul to devil" motif number M211. Immune to the death penalty, he commits murder, but is sentenced to life in prison).Ī number of famous works refer to pacts with the devil, from the numerous European Devil's Bridges to the violin virtuosity of Giuseppe Tartini and Niccolò Paganini to the "crossroad" myth associated with Robert Johnson. The person making the pact sometimes tries to outwit the devil, but loses in the end (e.g., man sells his soul for eternal life because he will never die to pay his end of the bargain. Conversely, it may have a comic twist, in which a wily peasant outwits the devil, characteristically on a technical point. The tale may have a moralising end, with eternal damnation for the foolhardy venturer. The bargain is a dangerous one, as the price of the Fiend's service is the wagerer's soul.
It was also believed that some people made this type of pact just as a sign of recognising the minion as their master, in exchange for nothing. According to traditional Christian belief about witchcraft, the pact is between a person and the Devil or another demon, trading a soul for diabolical favours, which vary by the tale, but tend to include youth, knowledge, wealth, fame and power.
Engraving of Faust's pact with Mephisto, by Adolf Gnauth (circa 1840)Ī deal with the Devil (also called a Faustian bargain or Mephistophelian bargain) is a cultural motif exemplified by the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles, as well as being elemental to many Christian traditions.
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