Mark Stoyle
One of the most bizarre consequences of the English Civil War of 1642â€“46 was the celebrity status attained by a â€œdog-witchâ€ named Boy, the loyal companion of Charles Iâ€™s nephew, Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Like his master, Boy was held to possess supernatural powers and gained popular interest through artistic renderings and sensational literature, where he was frequently portrayed as a devil or a witch. This compelling new book from Mark Stoyle sets out to uncover the true story of Boyâ€”and in the process sheds new light on a fascinating series of collisions and interactions between polemic and traditional witch-belief in the troubled 1640s.
History
The Black Legend of Prince Rupert's Dog: Witchcraft and Propaganda during the English Civil War