Whence comes the trope that witches fly on broomsticks? Is there an identifiable source for this element of the myth?
Sailboat
What do you mean myth.
From Wikipedia: “Brooms have long been connected with witchcraft, almost universally portrayed as medieval-style round brooms and associated with female witches. Despite the association with women, in 1453, the first known case of claiming to have flown on a broomstick is recorded, confessed by the male witch Guillaume Edelin.[1] There are, however, prior records of witches flying on sticks or similar objects, usually that had been first greased with a magical flying ointment.”
This doesn’t explain much, but regarding Edelin, an account of the trial against him can be found in The Chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet.: “He [Edelin] was particularly charged with cohabiting with a lady of birth ; and, to accomplish this, had bound himself to such servitude of Satan that he was obliged to attend him whenever he was called upon by him. When such meetings were appointed he had only to bestride a broom, and was instantly transported to their consistorial meeting.”
As for the origin of the flying bit: The “flying ointment” - to be rubbed against the groin, hence the “need” for a broomstick - was probably made from some kind of nightshade or perhaps thorn apple. As to the origin of that tradition, I can’t help you. I have read reports from people having tried the ointment, and apparently it does feel like flying. Perhaps this used to be a common way of using hallucinogenic plants without risking a lethal overdose.
On preview: What Cecil said.
I bet that theory caused many a monk to toss and turn upon his pallet
Where’s Broomstick, she knows all about flying, she should nail this one. 
Well, I gave up the broomstick and switched to airplanes some time ago - fewer splinters, for one thing.
I also have a broomstick spell adapted for vacuum cleaners, but it hasn’t that much to do with flying… and I digress.
So far as I know, it has to do with the association between women, brooms, and that whole going-to-naughty-get-togethers. It seems pretty clear that some of those medieval types were smearing hallucinogenics on themselves. Drugs can make you feel like you’re flying. There was all that stuff Cecil said. Also, I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid I used to gallop around with a “hobby horse”, basically a wood horse-head stuck on a pole. When I couldn’t locate it, or my older sisters and/or some local bullies had taken it away, mom’s broom would do in a pinch. OK, now add some drugs and a little group chanting and I’m either riding a flying magical steed to the local naughtiness or crashing about my hut/hovel straddling a broomstick, depending upon your viewpoint.
I think the hobby-horse analogy has lead some to forcibly maintain that brooms are ridden bristles-forward (there was a dustup regarding this when the first Harry Potter movie came out). I have also heard the myth/rumor/story/whatever that witches rode brooms to the sabbat with bristles behind to magically sweep away their footprints.
Me, I stick to airplanes. Ever try to put a cupholder on a broomstick?
I’m sorry, I have a cold.
Note that in the early portrayals of witches on broomsticks, the brush part of the broomstick was held in front of the witch. See this. The idea was that the broom was like a hobby horse with the brush the head of the horse.
Later, the brush was put at the bottom and became the standard image.
One of Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s engravings shows a witch riding a broomstick in the usual fashion, flying up a chimnet. That’s be mid-1500s.
Anthropologist Marvin Harris bought Michael Harner’s thesis on using broomsticks (He and Harner agreed on a lot of odd and interesting theories), and wrote extensively about it in his book Cows, Pigs, War, and Witches (as you;d expect from the last word in the title). Basically, he claimed that the broomstick that the witch straddled made a good way to apply hallucinogenic herbs to the vaginal lips, whence it could easily be absorbed into her system.
I’m a bit skeptical of this, and would be more comnvinced if somebody duplicated the experiment today. Such a literal interpretation might not be necssary. Shamans spoke of their trance-experiences (whether drig-induced, or otherwise) as a type of flight, and their flying “vessel” might be anything common and handy. Siberian shamans flew on their drims. It wouldn’t surprise me if a tripping “weird woman” used a broom instead.
How witches flew on brooms (that is, which end first) is a subject of debate among a very small and strange group of people. And whether they always used brooms, too. This is just a sample of what I have in my picture collection:
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A 1440 illustration from the Book of Martin le Frank shows a witch flying with the bristles to the rear.
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A 1510 sketch by Hans Balding Grien shows a witch flying through the air on the back of a goat, holding a long pole with a pot of something held in a fork.
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A 1591 sketch (the cover of Bishop Peter Binsfeld’s book) shows a witch flying on a forked pole, with the fork to the fore. Another however flies on a goat, holding the pole to the side.
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A circa 1600 sketch shows a witch flying over Treves with bristles behind.
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About 1600 a Piter Brughel work shows a witch flying with bristles behind.
After 1600, there are numerous mixes of bristles to the fore and aft, but the 1440 illustration is probably the oldest I’m aware of that actually shows a witch with a broom and flying upon it.
Well, the Potter brooms have stirrups. I suppose they could have had a cupholder if they’d wanted one.
That sounds like a pitchfork.
As I wrote above, some people are doing it today. I have read “trip reports” of peoply trying out the flying ointment, and - according to them, anyway - it does feel like flying. I can’t give you a cite, since the book is in Danish, and I think it’s subject matter may have prevented it from being published abroad. (It is about all the hallucinogenic plants that can be found in Denmark, their history, and a how-to guide, among other things. A real pearl.) As for whether the witches functioned as shamans - nobody knows. Most of the written sources to our knowledge about the Flying Witches are some sort of judiciary protocols, and - having been made in an ecclesial context - they are probably biased in so many ways that I seriously doubt anything useful about the ritual practices of the witches can be restored from them.
I think she was refering to the idea of Hallucination Inducing ointment being applied via the vaginal lips.
I think I need to apply for a grant.
Brooms were also the first trade sign- brewsters would set them out on the road or nailed up above the door to let passersby know that she had beer for sale. Back then, beer was bittered with all sorts of herbs, not just hops, so one would use herbs for their specific curative effects. In fact, I’m looking at my reprint edition of A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M Grieve on a shelf across the room, and the cover has an illustration of a woman with a broom and kettle on it. Hence, the cauldron connection.
as I noted earlier, the Brueghel work was about 1550. Brueghel was dead by 1569: Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Wikipedia
Sorry; I missed that.
As far as I can tell, it was by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, not the Elder, and 1600 is an approximate date. My work does not show a witch “flying up a chimney”, so I’m fairly certain it’s not the same work anyhow. I do not have a circa 1550 work by Brueghel the Elder showing that or I would have listed it.
How Did Witches Come To Ride Brooms? A Gallery of Historical Illustrations
Some interesting old illustrations on that page.
I should add a caution about the text, I don’t know how much truth there is in the ergot stuff. The illustrations are the meat of the link.