Norman War Magic at Ely

“When William the Conqueror’s army was besieging the English warrior Hereward the Wake at Ely in 1070, the Normans resorted to magic in an attempt to dislodge the English. The Normans brought ‘an old witch’ (anus illa venefica) to their headquarters at Brandon, who they hoped could defeat the English with her enchantments. Hereward, however, disguised himself as an English peasant and went to Brandon, where he observed what the old woman did at night…”

Spoiler alert: the Normans beat the English using War Magic, just as Ukraine beats Russia through War Magic that conjures into being magical weapon systems out of nowhere.

Source: Pensees (10)

War Magic is not a metaphor — it has a literal, documented history going back at least to 1070 England, where the Normans deployed a witch against Hereward the Wake at Ely. The author connects this to Ukraine’s capacity to “conjure into being magical weapon systems out of nowhere” — drones, improvised tech, collective ingenuity. War Magic operates across a millennium because the mechanism is the same: rhetoric and symbol deployed to demoralise, deter, or inspire.

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