version of the
lamia by
John William Waterhouse The 19th-century fascination for
folklore,
antiquarianism, the supernatural, and lost religions drew attention to even the obscure Geniscus. The Irish folklorist
Thomas Crofton Croker accepted a
derivation of
geniscus from
Latin genius and in his chapter on
elves declared the
geniscus "a real Elf, or spirit of light." Croker further connected
geniscus to the
geniciales feminae named by
Hincmar, a 9th-century
archbishop of Reims, who identified the
geniciales as
lamiae. During the same period
Jacob Grimm classed the
geniciales among the "daemonic elvish beings, who appeared in woman's shape and did men kindnesses," and who participated in elf-dance: "To christian zealots all
dancing appeared sinful and heathenish, and sure enough it often was derived from pagan rites, like other harmless pleasures and customs of the common people, who would not easily part with their diversion at great festivals." Grimm connects these dances to
bonfires. Geniscus is mentioned in the 1876
historical fiction Dante and Beatrice from 1282 to 1290: A Romance by
Elizabeth Kerr Coulson, writing under the pseudonym Roxburghe Lothian. Coulson recounts at length the Christian prohibitions that a
friar called
The Hermit must enforce, then segues into practices deemed tolerable: Whether she used the
Vita of St. Eligius directly or another source such as Croker, Coulson preserves the collocation of Geniscus with Minerva and Orcus (here Ouragus). She either innovates or draws on traditions pertaining to the cult of the
Genii by making Geniscus the "helper" of Orcus. ==References==