Name: Alice Nokes or Noakes Location: Lambourne, Essex Accusations: When a servant of Thomas Spycer snatched and refused to return a glove from the pocket of Alice’s twenty-eight year old daughter, Alice vowed revenge on the man. Although he insisted it was only a bit of fun, as she declared “I will bounce him well enough,” the …
The case of the Warboys Witches is perhaps one of England’s most well known witch-trial cases. The details are related at length in the extensive albeit descriptively-titled 1593 pamphlet: The most strange and admirable discovery of the three Witches of Warboys, arraigned, convicted and executed at the last Assizes at Huntingdon, for the bewitching of …
The Witches of Warboys and the Death of Lady Cromwell Read More »
From the middle of the 16th century, to be found guilty of witchcraft was officially a felony in England. Accordingly, if you were unlucky enough to be found guilty of carrying out a range of related practices, you could expect to find yourself facing punishment, from a relatively lenient stint in the pillory to facing …
Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Witch To Live: A Tour of England’s Witchcraft Legislation Read More »
Belief in witches and their ability to cause harm to others was prevalent throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. One popular way to counter the bewitchment and to break the hold of the witch over an individual or his family and livestock was to remove the heart of a dead and bewitched animal. This would …
The Heart of the Matter: Two Cases of Devonshire Witchcraft Read More »
Name:Alice Gooderidge Date:1596 Location:Stapenhill, Burton-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire Accusations: In February 1596, Alice was accused of bewitching young Thomas Darling after meeting the boy when he got lost in the woods while hunting with his uncle. Shortly afterwards, Thomas suffered from vomiting and hallucinations; when the doctor called to attend him could do nothing to ease his condition, …
Name:Agnes Duke Location:Hatfield Peverel, Essex Date:1566-1589 Accusations:Agnes’ first official step on the wrong side of the law was not actually for witchcraft. At the Brentwood Assizes on 14 March 1566, she was indicted along with William Spayne on the charge of burglary; on 15 December the previous year, the pair had stolen goods from the house …
Name:Joan Cason Location:Faversham, Kent Date:1586 Accusations:When Sarah Cooke’s young daughter fell ill, a traveller told her that the girl had been bewitched. To cure her, the worried mother was advised to procure a roof tile from the house of the woman she suspected was responsible: Joan Cason. Sarah was to place the tile in the …
The St. Osyth witch trials of 1582 saw thirteen women tried for a variety of witchcraft-related crimes at the Chelmsford Assizes. One of those was Cicely Sellis from Little Clacton where she lived with her husband and children. Cicely entered the long and engrossing narrative of the St. Osyth trials on 1st March, 1582, when …
Arson and Arguments: Cicely Sellis and the St. Osyth Witch Trials. Read More »
There are very few witchcraft cases recorded for Sussex, but one of those for which details does exist proves interesting reading. Margaret Cooper, wife of William Cooper of Kirdford, Sussex, went before the Sussex Lent Sessions on 18th February, 1575 at East Grinstead. The indictments against her were as follows: Margaret Cooper, wife of William …
I came across the following painting in a recently purchased book, mislabelled as “The Witch.” True, the woman does conform to several witch-related stereotypes; she is old, carrying a broom and dealing with demons. It turns out, however, that “Dulle Griet” or “Mad Meg” is very likely not a witch at all. Dulle Griet, David Ryckaert III …
