In the two drawings, one woman soars through the air on a broom the other flies aboard a plain white stick. The earliest known image of witches on brooms dates to 1451, when two illustrations appeared in the French poet Martin Le Franc’s manuscript Le Champion des Dames (The Defender of Ladies).
READ MORE: 8 of Halloween's Most Hair-Raising Folk Legendsīy the time of Edelin’s “confession,” the idea of witches riding around on broomsticks was already well established. His confession came under torture, and he eventually repented, but was still imprisoned for life. He was arrested in 1453 and tried for witchcraft after publicly criticizing the church’s warnings about witches. Edelin was a priest from Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris. From the beginning, brooms and besoms were associated primarily with women, and this ubiquitous household object became a powerful symbol of female domesticity.ĭespite this, the first witch to confess to riding a broom or besom was a man: Guillaume Edelin. It gradually replaced the Old English word besom, though both terms appear to have been used until at least the 18th century. The word broom comes from the actual plant, or shrub, that was used to make many early sweeping devices. Bryan Lowder writes, this household task even shows up in the New Testament, which dates to the first and second centuries A.D. It’s not clear exactly when the broom itself was first invented, but the act of sweeping goes back to ancient times, when people likely used bunches of thin sticks, reeds and other natural fibers to sweep aside dust or ash from a fire or hearth. But the actual history behind how witches came to be associated with such an everyday household object is anything but dull. The evil green-skinned witch flying on her magic broomstick may be a Halloween icon-and a well-worn stereotype.
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