Prince Rupert's Dog
During the English Civil War, the Royalist general Prince Rupert was in the habit of taking his large poodle dog named Boye into battle with him. Throughout the war the dog was greatly feared among the Parliamentarian forces and credited with supernatural powers. As noted by Morgan, the dog was apparently considered a kind of familiar. At the end of the war the dog was shot, allegedly with a silver bullet.
Read more about this topic: Familiar Spirit
Famous quotes containing the words prince and/or dog:
“The last public hanging in the State took place in 1835 on Prince Hill.... On the fatal day, the victim, a man named Watkins, peering through the iron bars of his cell, and seeing the townfolk scurrying to the place of execution, is said to have remarked, ‘Why is everyone running? Nothing can happen until I get there.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The dog is mentioned in the Bible eighteen times—the cat not even once.”
—W.E. Farbstein. Quoted in “Hundkeit,” Mondo Canine, ed. Jon Winokur, Dutton (1991)