The Black Legend of Prince Rupert's Dog
Witchcraft and Propaganda during the English Civil War

This compelling new book from Mark Stoyle sets out to uncover the true history of Boy, the canine companion of Charles I’s famous nephew, Prince Rupert.

Like his master, Boy was held to possess dark powers and was elevated to celebrity status as a ‘dog-witch’ during the English Civil War of 1642-46. 

Many scholars have remarked upon the fantastical rumours which circulated about Prince Rupert and his dog, but no-one has investigated the source of these rumours, or explored how the supernatural element of the prince’s public image developed over time. In this book, Mark Stoyle recounts the occult stories which centred upon Prince Rupert and his dog.  He shows how those stories grew out of, and contributed to, the changing pattern of witch-belief in England during the Civil War.

‘A cross-over book, appealing as it should to those who are obsessed by witchcraft and those who are keen followers of civil war studies.’

Professor Martyn Bennett, Nottingham Trent University

Mark Stoyle is Professor of early modern history at the University of Southampton. He specialises in early modern British history, with particular research interests in the 'British crisis' of the 1640s; cultural, ethnic and religious identity in Wales and Cornwall between 1450 and 1700; and popular memory of the English Civil War from 1660 to the present day.