An Account of the Tryal, Examination, and Condemnation of Jane Wenham, on an Indictment of Witchcraft, for Bewitching of Matthew Gilston and Anne Thorne of Walcorne, in the County of Hertford.... Before the Right Honourable Mr. Justice Powell, and is ordered for Execution on Saturday come Sevennight the 15th. One page.
A Full and Impartial Account of the Discovery of Sorcery and Witchcraft, Practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkerne in Hertfordshire, upon the bodies of Anne Thorn, Anne Street, &c.... till she ... receiv'd Sentence of Death for the same, March 4, 1711-12, London, 1712. Anonymous, but confessedly written by Francis Bragge. 1st ed. in Cornell library and Brit. Mus.; 2d ed. in Brit. Mus.; 3d ed. in Brit. Mus. (Sloane, 3,943), and Bodleian; 4th ed. in Brit. Mus.; 5th ed. in Harvard library: all published within the year.
Witchcraft Farther Display'd. Containing (I) An Account of the Witchcraft practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkerne, in Hertfordshire, since her Condemnation, upon the bodies of Anne Thorne and Anne Street.... (II) An Answer to the most general Objections against the Being and Power of Witches: With some Remarks upon the Case of Jane Wenham in particular, and on Mr. Justice Powel's procedure therein.... London, 1712. Introduction signed by "F. B." [Francis Bragge], who was the author.
A Full Confutation of Witchcraft: More particularly of the Depositions against Jane Wenham, Lately Condemned for a Witch; at Hertford. In which the Modern Notions of Witches are overthrown, and the Ill Consequences of such Doctrines are exposed by Arguments; proving that, Witchcraft is Priestcraft.... In a Letter from a Physician in Hertfordshire, to his Friend in London. London, 1712.
The Impossibility of Witchcraft, Plainly Proving, From Scripture and Reason, That there never was a Witch; and that it is both Irrational and Impious to believe there ever was. In which the Depositions against Jane Wenham, Lately Try'd and Condemn'd for a Witch, at Hertford, are Confuted and Expos'd, London, 1712. 1st ed. in Brit. Mus.; 2d ed., containing additional material, in the Bodleian. The author of this pamphlet in his preface intimates that its substance had earlier been published by him in the Protestant Post Boy.
The Belief of Witchcraft Vindicated: proving from Scripture, there have been Witches; and from Reason, that there may be Such still. In answer to a late Pamphlet, Intituled, The Impossibility of Witchcraft ..., By G. R., A. M., London, 1712.
The Case of the Hertfordshire Witchcraft Consider'd. Being an Examination of a Book entitl'd, A Full and Impartial Account ..., London, 1712. Dedicated to Sir John Powell. In the Cornell copy of this booklet a manuscript note on the title-page, in an eighteenth century hand, ascribes it to "The Rector of Therfield in Hertfordshire, or his Curate," while at the end of the dedication what seems the same hand has signed the names, "Henry Stebbing or Thomas Sherlock." But Stebbing was in 1712 still a fellow at Cambridge, and Sherlock, later Bishop of London, was Master of the Temple and Chaplain to Queen Anne. See Dict. Nat. Biog.
A Defense of the Proceedings against Jane Wenham, wherein the Possibility and Reality of Witchcraft are Demonstrated from Scripture.... In Answer to Two Pamphlets, Entituled: (I) The Impossibility of Witchcraft, etc. (II) A Full Confutation of Witchcraft, By Francis Bragge, A. B., ... London, 1712.
The Impossibility of Witchcraft Further Demonstrated, Both from Scripture and Reason ... with some Cursory Remarks on two trifling Pamphlets in Defence of the existence of Witches. By the Author of The Impossibility of Witchcraft, 1712. In the Bodleian.
Jane Wenham. Broadside. The writer of this leaflet claims to have transcribed his account from an account in "Judge Chancy's own hand". Chauncy was the justice of the peace who with Bragge stood behind the prosecution.
It is very hard to straighten out the authorship of these various pamphlets. The Rev. Mr. Bragge wrote several. The Rev. Mr. Gardiner and the Rev. Mr. Strutt, who were active in the case, may have written two of them. The topographer Gough, writing about 1780, declared that the late Dr. Stebbing had as a young man participated in the controversy. Francis Hutchinson was an interested spectator, but probably did not contribute to the literature of the subject.
A short secondary account is that of W. B. Gerish, A Hertfordshire Witch; or the Story of Jane Wenham, the "Wise Woman of Walkern."
In the Brit. Mus., Sloane MSS., 3,943, there is a continuation of the pamphlet discussion, based chiefly, however, upon Glanvill and other writers.
An Account of The Tryals, Examination and Condemnation of Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips (Two notorious Witches) on Wednesday the 7th of March 1705, for Bewitching a Woman, and two children.... With an Account of their strange Confessions. This is signed, at the end, "Ralph Davis, March 8, 1705." It was followed very shortly by a completer account, written after the execution, and entitled:
The Northamptonshire Witches, Being a true and faithful account of the Births, Educations, Lives, and Conversations of Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips (The two notorious Witches) That were Executed at Northampton on Saturday, March the 17th, 1705 ... with their full Confession to the Minister, and last Dying Speeches at the place of Execution, the like never before heard of.... Communicated in a Letter last Post, from Mr. Ralph Davis of Northampton, to Mr. William Simons, Merchantt in London, London, 1705.
With these two pamphlets we wish to compare another, which was apparently published in 1716 and was entitled: The Whole Trial and Examination of Mrs. Mary Hicks and her Daughter Elizabeth, But of Nine Years of Age, who were Condemn'd the last Assizes held at Huntingdon for Witchcraft, and there Executed on Saturday, the 28th of July 1716 ... the like never heard before; their Behaviour with several Divines who came to converse with 'em whilst under their sentence of Death; and last Dying Speeches and Confession at the place of execution, London, 1716. There is a copy in the Bodleian Library.
The two Northamptonshire pamphlets and the Huntingdonshire pamphlet have been set by themselves because they appear to have been written by one hand. Moreover, it looks very much as if they were downright fabrications foisted upon the public by a man who had already in 1700 made to order an unhistorical pamphlet. To show this, it will be necessary to review briefly the facts about the Worcester pamphlet described above, § 4. What seems to be the second edition of a pamphlet entitled The full Tryalls, Examinations and Condemnations of Four Notorious Witches, At the Assizes held at Worcester on Tuseday the 4th of March, was published at London with the date 1700. It purports to tell the story of one of the cases that came up during Matthew Hopkins's career in 1645-1647. It has been universally accepted—even by Thomas Wright, Ashton, W. H. D. Adams, and Inderwick. An examination shows, however, that it was made over from the Chelmsford pamphlet of 1645. The author shows little ingenuity, for he steals not only the confessions of four witches at that trial, but their names as well. Rebecca West, Margaret Landis, Susan Cock, and Rose Hallybread had all been hanged at Chelmsford and could hardly have been rehanged at Worcester. Practically all that the writer of the Worcester pamphlet did was to touch over the confessions and add thrilling details about their executions.
Now, it looks very much as if the same writer had composed the Northamptonshire pamphlets of 1705 and the Huntingdonshire pamphlets of 1716. The verbal resemblances are nothing less than remarkable. The Worcester pamphlet, in its title, tells of "their Confessions and Last Dying Speeches at the place of execution." The second of the two Northamptonshire pamphlets (the first was issued before the execution) speaks of "their full Confession to the Minister, and last Dying Speeches at the place of Execution." The Huntingdonshire pamphlet closes the title with "last Dying Speeches and Confession at the place of Execution." The Worcester pamphlet uses the phrase "with other amazing Particulars"; the Northamptonshire pamphlet the phrase "the particulars of their amazing Pranks." The Huntingdon pamphlet has in this case no similar phrase but the Huntingdon and Northamptonshire pamphlets have another phrase in common. The Northamptonshire pamphlet says: "the like never before heard of"; the Huntingdon pamphlet says: "the like never heard before."
These resemblances are in the titles. The Northampton and the fabricated Worcester pamphlets show other similarities in their accounts. The Northampton women were so "hardened in their Wickedness that they Publickly boasted that their Master (meaning the Devil) would not suffer them to be Executed but they found him a Lyer." The Worcester writer speaks of the "Devil who told them to the Last that he would secure them from Publick Punishment, but now too late they found him a Lyer as he was from the beginning of the World." In concluding their narratives the Northamptonshire and Worcestershire pamphleteers show an interesting similarity of treatment. The Northampton witches made a "howling and lamentable noise" on receiving their sentences, the Worcester women made a "yelling and howling at their executions."
These resemblances may be fairly characterized as striking. If it be asked whether the phrases quoted are not conventional in witch pamphlets, the answer must be in the negative. So far as the writer knows, these phrases occur in no other of the fifty or more witch pamphlets. The word "notorious," which occurs in the titles of the Worcester and Northampton pamphlets, is a common one and would signify nothing. The other phrases mentioned are characteristic and distinctive. This similarity suggests that the three pamphlets were written by the same hand. Since we know that one of the three is a fabrication, we are led to suspect the credibility of the other two.
There are, indeed, other reasons for doubting the historicity of these two. A close scrutiny of the Northampton pamphlet shows that the witchcrafts there described have the peculiar characteristics of the witchcrafts in the palmy days of Matthew Hopkins and that the wording of the descriptions is much the same. The Northampton pamphlet tells of a "tall black man," who appeared to the two women. A tall black man had appeared to Rebecca West at Chelmsford in 1645. A much more important point is that the prisoners at Northampton had been watched at night in order to keep their imps from coming in. This night-watching was a process that had never, so far as our records go, been used since the Hopkins alarm, of which it had been the characteristic feature. Were there no other resemblance between the Northampton cases and those at Chelmsford, this similarity would alone lead us to suspect the credibility of the Northampton pamphlet. Unfortunately the indiscreet writer of the Northampton narrative lets other phrases belonging to 1645 creep into his account.
When the Northampton women were watched, a "little white thing about the bigness of a Cat" had appeared. But a "white thing about the bignesse of a Cat" had appeared to the watchers at Chelmsford in 1645. This is not all. The Northampton witches are said to have killed their victims by roasting and pricking images, a charge which had once been common, but which, so far as the writer can recall, had not been used since the Somerset cases of 1663. It was a charge very commonly used against the Chelmsford witches whom Matthew Hopkins prosecuted. Moreover the Northampton witches boasted that "their Master would not suffer them to be executed." No Chelmsford witch had made that boast; but Mr. Lowes, who was executed at Bury St. Edmunds (the Bury trial was closely connected with that at Chelmsford, so closely that the writer who had read of one would probably have read of the other), had declared that he had a charm to keep him from the gallows.
It will be seen that these are close resemblances both in characteristic features and in wording. But the most perfect resemblance is in a confession. The two Northampton women describing their imps—creatures, by the way, that had figured largely in the Hopkins trials—said that "if the Imps were not constantly imploy'd to do Mischief, they [the witches] had not their healths; but when they were imploy'd they were very Heathful and Well." This was almost exactly what Anne Leech had confessed at Chelmsford. Her words were: "And that when This Examinant did not send and employ them abroad to do mischief, she had not her health, but when they were imploy'd, she was healthfull and well."
We cannot point out the same similarity between the Huntingdonshire witchcrafts of 1716 and the Chelmsford cases. The narrative of the Huntingdon case is, however, somewhat remarkable. Mr. Hicks was taking his nine-year-old daughter to Ipswich one day, when she, seeing a sail at sea, took a "basin of water," stirred it up, and thereby provoked a storm that was like to have sunk the ship, had not the father made the child cease. On the way home, the two passed a "very fine Field of Corn." "Quoth the child again, 'Father, I can consume all this Corn in the twinkling of an Eye.' The Father supposing it not in her Power to do so, he bid to shew her infernal skill." The child did so, and presently "all the Corn in the Field became Stubble." He questioned her and found that she had learned witchcraft from her mother. The upshot of it was that at Mr. Hicks's instance his wife and child were prosecuted and hanged. The story has been called remarkable. Yet it is not altogether unique. In 1645 at Bury St. Edmunds just after the Chelmsford trial there were eighteen witches condemned, and one of them, it will be remembered, was Parson Lowes of Brandeston in Suffolk, who confessed that "he bewitched a ship near Harwidge; so that with the extreme tempestuous Seas raised by blusterous windes the said ship was cast away, wherein were many passengers, who were by this meanes swallowed up by the merciless waves." It will be observed that the two stories are not altogether similar. The Huntingdon narrative is a better tale, and it would be hardly safe to assert that it drew its inspiration from the earlier story. Yet, when it is remembered how unusual is the story in English witch-lore, the supposition gains in probability. There is a further resemblance in the accounts. The Hicks child had bewitched a field of corn. One of the Bury witches, in the narrative which tells of parson Lowes, "confessed that She usually bewitcht standing corne, whereby there came great loss to the owners thereof." The resemblance is hardly close enough to merit notice in itself. When taken, however, in connection with the other resemblances it gives cumulative force to the supposition that the writer of the Huntingdon pamphlet had gone to the narratives of the Hopkins cases for his sources.
There are, however, other reasons for doubting the Huntingdon story. A writer in Notes and Queries, 2d series, V, 503-504, long ago questioned the narrative because of the mention of a "Judge Wilmot," and showed that there was no such judge on the bench before 1755. An examination of the original pamphlet makes it clear, however, that in this form the objection is worth nothing. The tract speaks only of a "Justice Wilmot," who, from the wording of the narrative, would seem to have conducted the examination preliminary to the assizes as a justice of the peace would. A justice of the peace would doubtless, however, have belonged to some Huntingdonshire county family. Now, the writer has searched the various records and histories of Huntingdonshire—unfortunately they are but too few—and among the several hundred Huntingdonshire names he has found no Wilmots (and, for that matter, no Hickes either). This would seem to make the story more improbable.
In an earlier number of Notes and Queries (1st series, V, 514), James Crossley, whose authority as to matters relating to witchcraft is of the highest, gives cogent reasons why the Huntingdonshire narrative could not be true. He recalls the fact that Hutchinson, who made a chronological table of cases, published his work in 1718. Now Hutchinson had the help of two chief-justices, Parker and King, and of Chief-Baron Bury in collecting his cases; and yet he says that the last execution for the crime in England was in 1682. Crossley makes the further strong point that the case of Jane Wenham in 1712 attracted wide attention and was the occasion of numerous pamphlets. "It is scarcely possible," he continues, "that in four years after two persons, one only nine years old, ... should have been tried and executed for witchcraft without public attention being called to the circumstance." He adds that neither the Historical Register for 1716 nor the files of two London newspapers for that year, though they enumerate other convictions on the circuit, record the supposed cases.
It will be seen that exactly the same arguments apply to the Northampton trials of 1705. Hutchinson had been at extraordinary pains to find out not only about Jane Wenham, but about the Moordike case of 1702. It is inconceivable that he should have quite overlooked the execution of two women at Northampton.
We have observed that the Northampton, Huntingdon, and Worcester pamphlets have curious resemblances in wording to one another (resemblances that point to a common authorship), that the Worcester narrative can be proved to be fictitious, and that the Huntingdon narrative almost certainly belongs in the same category. We have shown, further, that the Northampton and Huntingdon stories present features of witchcraft characteristic of the Chelmsford and Bury cases of 1645, from the first of which the material of the Worcester pamphlet is drawn; and this fact points not only to the common authorship of the three tracts, but to the imaginary character of the Huntingdon and Northampton cases.
Against these facts there is to be presented what at first blush seems a very important piece of evidence. In the Northamptonshire Historical Collections, 1st series (Northampton, 1896), there is a chapter on witchcraft in Northamptonshire, copied from the Northamptonshire Handbook for 1867. That chapter goes into the trials of 1705 in detail, making copious extracts from the pamphlets. In a footnote the writers say: "To show that the burning actually took place in 1705, it may be important to mention that there is an item of expense entered in the overseers' accounts for St. Giles parish for faggots bought for the purpose." This in itself seems convincing. It seems to dispose of the whole question at once. There is, however, one fact that instantly casts a doubt upon this seemingly conclusive evidence. In England, witches were hanged, not burned. There are not a half-dozen recorded exceptions to this rule. Mother Lakeland in 1645 was burned. That is easy to explain. Mother Lakeland had by witchcraft killed her husband. Burning was the method of execution prescribed by English law for a woman who killed her husband. The other cases where burnings are said to have taken place were almost certainly cases that came under this rule. But it does not seem possible that the Northampton cases came under the rule. The two women seem to have had no husbands. "Ralph Davis," the ostensible writer of the account, who professed to have known them from their early years, and who was apparently glad to defame them in every possible way, accused them of loose living, but not of adultery, as he would certainly have done, had he conceived of them as married. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that they could not have been burned.
There is a more decisive answer to this argument for the authenticity of the pamphlet. The supposed confirmation of it in the St. Giles parish register is probably a blunder. The Reverend R. M. Serjeantson of St. Peter's Rectory has been kind enough to examine for the writer the parish register of St. Giles Church. He writes: "The St. Giles accounts briefly state that wood was bought from time to time—probably for melting the lead. There is no mention of faggots nor witches in the Church wardens' overseers-for-the-poor accounts. I carefully turned out the whole contents of the parish chest." Mr. Serjeantson adds at the close this extract: "1705 P'd for wood 5/ For taking up the old lead 5/." It goes without saying that Mr. Serjeantson's examination does not prove that there never was a mention of the faggots bought for burning witches; but, when all the other evidence is taken into consideration, this negative evidence does establish a very strong presumption to that effect. Certainly the supposed passage from the overseers' accounts can no longer be used to confirm the testimony of the pamphlet. It looks very much as if the compilers of the Northamptonshire Handbook for 1867 had been careless in their handling of records.
It seems probable, then, that the pamphlet of 1705 dealing with the execution of Mary Phillips and Elinor Shaw is a purely fictitious narrative. The matter derives its importance from the fact that, if the two executions in 1705 be disproved, the last known execution in England is put back to 1682, ten years before the Salem affair in Massachusetts. This would of course have some bearing on a recent contention (G. L. Kittredge, "Notes on Witchcraft," Am. Antiq. Soc., Proc., XVIII), that "convictions and executions for witchcraft occurred in England after they had come to an end in Massachusetts."
1603. Yorkshire.
Mary Pannel.
1606. Hertford.
Johanna Harrison and her daughter.
1612. Northampton.
Helen Jenkinson, Arthur Bill, Mary Barber.
1612. Lancaster.
Chattox, Eliz. Device, James Device, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, Anne Redfearne.
1612. York.
Jennet Preston.
1613. Bedford.
Mother Sutton and Mary Sutton.
1616. Middlesex.
Elizabeth Rutter.
1616. Middlesex.
Joan Hunt.
1619. Lincoln.
Margaret and Philippa Flower.
1621. Edmonton.
Elizabeth Sawyer.
1607. Rye, Kent.
Two women entertained spirits, "to gain wealth."
1612. Lancaster.
John and Jane Bulcock, making to waste away. It
was testified against them that at Malking Tower they
consented to murder, but this was apparently not in the
indictment. Acquitted, but later convicted.
Alizon Device, caused to waste away.
Isabel Robey, caused illness.
1616. Enfield, Middlesex.
Agnes Berrye, laming and causing to languish.
1616. King's Lynn.
Mary Smith, hanged for causing four people to languish.
1616. Leicester.
Nine women hanged for bewitching a boy. Six more
condemned on same charge, but pardoned by command
of king.
1607. Bakewell.
Our evidence as to the Bakewell witches is too incomplete
to assure us that they were not accused of killing
by witchcraft.
1612. Northampton.
Agnes Brown and Joane Vaughan were indicted for
bewitching Master Avery and Mistress Belcher, "together
with the body of a young child to the death."
1558. John Thirkle, "taylour, detected of conjuringe," to be examined. Acts of Privy Council, n. s., VII, 6. ---- Several persons in London charged with conjuration to be sent to the Bishop of London for examination. Ibid., 22.
1559. Westminster. Certain persons examined on suspicion, including probably Lady Frances Throgmorton. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1547-1580, 142.
c. 1559. Lady Chandos's daughter accused and imprisoned with George Throgmorton. Brit Mus., Add. MSS., 32,091, fol. 176.
1560. Kent. Mother Buske of St. John's suspected by the church authorities. Visitations of Canterbury in Archæologia Cantiana, XXVI, 31.
1561. Coxe, alias Devon, a Romish priest, examined for magic and conjuration, and for celebrating mass. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1547-1580, 173.
---- London. Ten men brought before the queen and council on charge of "trespass, contempt, conjuration and sorceries." Punished with the pillory and required to renounce such practices for the future. From an extract quoted in Brit. Mus., Sloane MSS., 3,943, fol. 19.
1565. Dorset. Agnes Mondaye to be apprehended for bewitching Mistress Chettell. Acts P. C., n. s., VII, 200-201.
1565-1573. Durham. Jennet Pereson accused to the church authorities. Depositions ... from ... Durham (Surtees Soc.), 99.
1566. Chelmsford, Essex. Mother Waterhouse hanged; Alice Chandler hanged, probably at this time; Elizabeth Francis probably acquitted. The examination and confession of certaine Wytches at Chensforde. For the cases of Elizabeth Francis and Alice Chandler see also A detection of damnable driftes, A iv, A v, verso.
---- Essex. "Boram's wief" probably examined by the archdeacon. W. H. Hale, A Series of Precedents and Proceedings in Criminal Causes, 1475-1640, extracted from the Act Books of Ecclesiastical Courts in the Diocese of London (London, 1847), 147.
1569. Lyme, Dorset. Ellen Walker accused. Roberts, Southern Counties, 523.
1570. Essex. Malter's wife of Theydon Mount and Anne Vicars of Navestock examined by Sir Thomas Smith. John Strype, Life of Sir Thomas Smith (ed. of Oxford, 1820), 97-100.
1570-1571. Canterbury. Several witches imprisoned. Mother Dungeon presented by the grand jury. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, IX, pt. 1, 156 b; Wm. Welfitt, "Civis," Minutes collected from the Ancient Records of Canterbury (Canterbury, 1801-1802), no. VI.
---- —— Folkestone, Kent. Margaret Browne, accused of "unlawful practices," banished from town for seven years, and to be whipped at the cart's tail if found within six or seven miles of town. S. J. Mackie, Descriptive and Historical Account of Folkestone (Folkestone, 1883), 319.
1574. Westwell, Kent. "Old Alice" [Norrington?] arraigned and convicted. Reginald Scot, Discoverie of Witchcraft, 130-131.
---- Middlesex. Joan Ellyse of Westminster convicted on several indictments for witchcraft and sentenced to be hanged. Middlesex County Records, I, 84.
c. 1574. Jane Thorneton accused by Rachel Pinder, who however confessed to fraud. Discloysing of a late counterfeyted possession.
1575. Burntwood, Staffordshire. Mother Arnold hanged at Barking. From the title of a pamphlet mentioned by Lowndes: The Examination and Confession of a notorious Witch named Mother Arnold, alias Whitecote, alias Glastonbury, at the Assise of Burntwood in July, 1574; who was hanged for Witchcraft at Barking, 1575. Mrs. Linton, Witch Stories, 153, says that many were hanged at this time, but I cannot find authority for the statement.
---- Middlesex. Elizabeth Ducke of Harmondsworth acquitted. Middlesex County Records, I, 94.
---- Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Katharine Smythe acquitted. Henry Harrod, "Notes on the Records of the Corporation of Great Yarmouth," in Norfolk Archæology, IV, 248.
1577. Seaford, Sussex. Joan Wood presented by the grand jury. M. A. Lower, "Memorials of Seaford," in Sussex Archæological Soc., Collections, VII, 98.
---- Middlesex. Helen Beriman of Laleham acquitted. Middlesex County Records, I, 103.
---- Essex. Henry Chittam of Much Barfield to be tried for coining false money and conjuring. Acts P. C., n. s., IX, 391; X, 8, 62.
1578. Prescall, Sanford, and "one Emerson, a preiste," suspected of conjuration against the queen. The first two committed. Id., X, 382; see also 344, 373.
---- Evidence of the use of sorcery against the queen discovered. Cal. St. P., Spanish, 1568-1579, 611; see also note to Ben Jonson's Masque of Queenes (London, Shakespeare Soc., 1848), 71.
---- Sussex. "One Tree, bailiff of Lewes, and one Smith of Chinting" to be examined. Acts P. C., n. s., X, 220.
1579. Chelmsford, Essex. Three women executed. Mother Staunton released because "no manslaughter objected against her." A Detection of damnable driftes.
---- Abingdon, Berks. Four women hanged; at least two others and probably more were apprehended. A Rehearsall both straung and true of ... acts committed by Elisabeth Stile ...; Acts P. C., n. s., XI, 22; Scot, Discoverie of Witchcraft, 10, 51, 543.
---- Certain persons suspected of sorcery to be examined by the Bishop of London. Acts P. C., n. s., XI, 36.
---- Salop, Worcester, and Montgomery. Samuel Cocwra paid for "searching for certen persons suspected for conjuracion." Ibid., 292.
---- Southwark. Simon Pembroke, a conjurer, brought to the parish church of St. Saviour's to be tried by the "ordinarie judge for those parties," but falls dead before the opening of the trial. Holinshed, Chronicles (ed. of 1586-1587), III, 1271.
---- Southampton. Widow Walker tried by the leet jury, outcome unknown. J. S. Davies, History of Southampton (Southampton, 1883), 236.
1579-1580. Shropshire. Mother Garve punished in the corn market. Owen and Blakeway, History of Shrewsbury, I, 562.
1580. Stanhope, Durham. Ann Emerson accused by the church officials. Injunctions ... of ... Bishop of Durham (Surtees Soc.), 126.
---- Bucks. John Coleman and his wife examined by four justices of the peace at the command of the privy council. They were probably released. Acts P. C., n. s., XI, 427; XII, 29.
---- Kent. Several persons to be apprehended for conjuration. Id., XII, 21-23.
---- Somerset. Henry Harrison and Thomas Wadham, suspected of conjuration, to appear before the privy council. Ibid., 22-23.
---- Somerset. Henry Fize of Westpenner, detected in conjuration, brought before the privy council. Ibid., 34.
---- Essex. "Sondery persones" charged with sorceries and conjuration. Acts P. C., XII, 29, 34.
1581. Randoll and four others accused for "conjuring to know where treasure was hid in the earth." Randoll and three others found guilty. Randoll alone executed. Holinshed, Chronicles (London, 1808), IV, 433.
1581. Padstow, Cornwall. Anne Piers accused of witchcraft. Examination of witnesses. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1581-1590, 29. See also Acts P. C., n. s., XIII, 228.
1581. Rochester, Kent. Margaret Simmons acquitted. Scot, Discoverie, 5.
1581-82. Colchester, Essex. Annis Herd accused before the "spiritual Courte." Witches taken at St. Oses, 1582.
1582. St. Osyth, Essex. Sixteen accused, one of whom was a man. How many were executed uncertain. It seems to have been a tradition that thirteen were executed. Scot wrote that seventeen or eighteen were executed. Witches taken at St. Oses, 1582; Scot, Discoverie, 543.
1582 (or before). "T. E., Maister of Art and practiser both of physicke, and also in times past, of certeine vaine sciences," condemned for conjuration, but reprieved. Scot, Discoverie, 466-469.
1582. Middlesex. Margery Androwes of Clerkenwell held in bail. Middlesex County Records, I, 133.
1582. Durham. Alison Lawe of Hart compelled to do penance. Denham Tracts (Folk-Lore Soc.), II, 332.
1582. Kent. Goodwife Swane of St. John's suspected by the church authorities. Archæol. Cant., XXVI, 19.
1582-83. Nottingham. A certain Batte examined before the "Meare" of Nottingham. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, XII, pt. 4, 147.
1582-83. King's Lynn. Mother Gabley probably hanged. Excerpt from parish register of Wells in Norfolk, in the Gentleman's Magazine, LXII (1792), 904.
1583. Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire. Three women tried, one sentenced to a year's imprisonment and the pillory. J. J. Sheahan, History of Kingston-upon-Hull (London, 1864), 86.
1583. Colchester, Essex. Two women sentenced to a year in prison and to four appearances in the pillory. E. L. Cutts, Colchester (London, 1888), 151. Henry Harrod, Report on the Records of Colchester (Colchester, 1865), 17; App., 14.
1583. St. Peter's, Kent. Ellen Bamfield suspected by the church authorities. Archæol. Cant., XXVI, 45.
1584. Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Elizabeth Butcher (punished before) and Joan Lingwood condemned to be hanged. C. J. Palmer, History of Great Yarmouth, I, 273.
1584. Staffordshire. An indictment preferred against Jeffrey Leach. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1581-1590, 206.
1584. "The oulde witche of Ramsbury" and several other "oulde witches and sorcerers" suspected. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1581-1590, 220.
1584. York. Woman, indicted for witchcraft and "high treason touching the supremacy," condemned. Cal. St. P., Dom., Add. 1580-1625, 120-121.
1584. Middlesex. Elizabeth Bartell of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields acquitted. Middlesex County Records, I, 145.
1585. Middlesex. Margaret Hackett of Stanmore executed. From titles of two pamphlets mentioned by Lowndes, The severall Facts of Witchcrafte approved on Margaret Haskett ... 1585, and An Account of Margaret Hacket, a notorious Witch ... 1585.
1585. Middlesex. Joan Barringer of "Harroweelde" (Harrow Weald) acquitted. Middlesex County Records, I, 157.
1585. Dorset. John Meere examined. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1581-90, 246-247.
1585-86. Alnwick, Northumberland. Two men and two women committed to prison on suspicion of killing a sheriff. Denham Tracts, II, 332; Cal. S. P., Dom., Add. 1580-1625, 168.
1586. Eckington, Derbyshire. Margaret Roper accused. Discharged. Harsnett, Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel, 310.
1586. Faversham, Kent. Jone Cason [Carson] tried before the mayor, executed. Holinshed, Chronicles (1586-1587), III, 1560.
1587. Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Helena Gill indicted. C. J. Palmer, History of Great Yarmouth, 273. H. Harrod in Norfolk Archæology, IV, 248, assigns this to 1597, but it is probably a mistake.
c. 1588. A woman at R. H. said to have been imprisoned and to have died before the assizes. Gifford, Dialogue (London, 1603), C.
1589. Chelmsford, Essex. Three women hanged. The apprehension and confession of three notorious Witches.
1589. Several persons to be examined about their dealings in conjuration with an Italian friar. Acts P. C., n. s., XVII, 31-32.
1589. Mrs. Deir brought into question for sorcery against the queen. Charge dismissed. Strype, Annals of the Reformation (London, 1709-1731), IV, 7-8.
1590. Mrs. Dewse suspected of attempting to make use of conjurors. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1581-1590, 644.
1590. John Bourne, a "sorcerer and seducer," arrested. Acts P. C., n. s., XVIII, 373.
1590. Berwick. A Scottish witch imprisoned. John Scott, History of Berwick (London, 1888), 180; Archæologia, XXX, 172.
1590. Norfolk. Margaret Grame accused before justice of the peace. Neighbors petition in her behalf. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, Various, II, 243-244.
1590. King's Lynn. Margaret Read burnt. Benjamin Mackerell, History and Antiquities ... of King's Lynn, (London, 1738), 231.
1590. Edmonton, Middlesex. Certain men taken for witchcraft and conjuring. Bloodhound used in pursuit of them. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1581-1590, 689.
1590-91. Hertfordshire. Indictment of Joan White for killing. Hertfordshire County Session Rolls, I, 4.
1591. John Prestall suspected. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1591-1594, 17-19.
1591. Middlesex. Stephen Trefulback of Westminster given penalty of statute, i. e., probably pillory. Middlesex County Records, I, 197.
1592. Colchester, Essex. Margaret Rand indicted by grand jury. Brit. Mus., Stowe MSS., 840, fol. 42.
1592. Yorkshire. "Sara B. de C." examined. West, Symboleography, pt. II (London, 1594), ed. of 1611, fol. 134 verso (reprinted in County Folk-Lore, Folk-Lore Soc., 135). Whether the "S. B. de C. in comit. H." whose indictment in the same year is printed also by West may possibly be the same woman can not be determined.
1592. Yorkshire. Margaret L. de A. examined. Ibid.
1593. Warboys, Huntingdonshire. Mother, daughter and father Samuel executed. The most strange and admirable discoverie of the three Witches of Warboys. 1593. See also John Darrel, A Detection of that sinnful ... discours of Samuel Harshnet, 20-21, 39-40, 110. Harsnett, Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel, 93, 97.
1594. Jane Shelley examined for using sorcerers to find the time of the queen's death. Hist. MSS. Comm., Cecil., pt. V, 25.
1595. St. Peter's Kent. Two women presented by the church authorities. Still suspected in 1599. Archæol. Cant., XXVI, 46.
1595. Woodbridge, Suffolk. Witches put in the pillory. County Folk-Lore, Suffolk (Folk-Lore Soc., London, 1895), 193.
1595. Jane Mortimer pardoned for witchcraft. Bodleian, Tanner MSS., CLXVIII, fol. 29.
1595. Near Bristol, Somerset. Severall committed for the Earl of Derby's death. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, IV, app., 366 b. See also E. Baines's Lancaster (London, 1870), 273-274 and note.
1595. Barnet and Braynford, Herts. Three witches executed. From title of pamphlet mentioned by Lowndes, The Arraignment and Execution of 3 detestable Witches, John Newell, Joane his wife, and Hellen Calles: two executed at Barnett and one at Braynford, 1 Dec. 1595.
1596 (or before). Derbyshire. Elizabeth Wright (mother of Alice Gooderidge) several times summoned before the justice of the peace on suspicion. The most wonderfull and true Storie of ... Alse Gooderidge (1597).
1596. Burton-upon-Trent, Derbyshire. Alice Gooderidge tried at Derby, convicted. Died in prison. Harsnett, Discovery of the fraudulent Practises of John Darrel; John Darrel, Detection of that sinnful ... discours of Samuel Harshnet, 38, 40; The most wonderfull and true Storie of ... Alse Gooderidge (1597).
1596-1597. Leicester. Mother Cooke hanged. Mary Bateson, Records of the Borough of Leicester (Cambridge, 1899), III, 335.
1596-1597. Lancaster. Hartley condemned and executed. John Darrel, True Narration (in the Somers Tracts, III), 175, 176; George More, A True Discourse concerning the certaine possession ... of 7 persons ... in Lancashire, 18-22; John Darrel, Detection of that sinnful ... discours of Samuel Harshnet, 40.
1597. Nottingham. Thirteen or more accused by Somers, at least eight of whom were put in gaol. All but two discharged. Alice Freeman tried at the assizes and finally acquitted. John Darrel, Detection of that sinnful ... discours of Samuel Harshnet, 109-111; An Apologie or defence of the possession of William Sommers, L-L 3; Samuel Harsnett, Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel, 5, 102, 140-141, 320-322.
1597. St. Lawrence, Kent. Sibilla Ferris suspected by the church authorities. Archæol. Cant., XXVI, 12.
1597. Nottingham. William Somers accused of witchcraft as a ruse to get him into the house of correction. Darrel, A True Narration of the ... Vexation ... of seven persons in Lancashire, in Somers Tracts, III, 184; also his Brief Apologie (1599), 17.
1597. Yorkshire. Elizabeth Melton of Collingham condemned, pardoned. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1595-1597, 400.
1597. Lancashire. Alice Brerely of Castleton condemned, pardoned. Ibid., 406.
1597. Middlesex. Agnes Godfrey of Enfield held by the justice of the peace on £10 bail. Middlesex County Records, I, 237.
1597. St. Andrew's in Holborne, Middlesex. Josia Ryley arraigned. "Po se mortuus in facie curie," i. e. Posuit se moriturum. Ibid., 225.
1597. Middlesex. Helen Spokes of St. Giles-in-the-Fields acquitted. Ibid., 239.
1598. Berwick. Richard Swynbourne's wife accused. John Scott, History of Berwick (London, 1888), 180.
1598. St. Peter's, Kent. Two women suspected by the church officials; one of them presented again the next year. Archæol. Cant., XXVI, 46.
1598. King's Lynn. Elizabeth Housegoe executed. Mackerell, History and Antiquities of King's Lynn, 232.
1599. Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Jone Jordan of Shadbrook tried. Darrel, A Survey of Certaine Dialogical Discourses, 54.
1599. Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Joane Nayler tried. Ibid.
1599. Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Oliffe Bartham of Shadbrook executed. The Triall of Maist. Dorrel, 92-98.
1599. London. Anne Kerke of Bokes-wharfe executed at "Tiburn." The Triall of Maist. Dorrel, 99-103.
1600. Hertford. A "notable witch" committed to the gaol at Hertford. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, Cecil MSS., pt. X, 310.
1600. Rosa Bexwell pardoned. Bodleian, Tanner MSS., CLXVIII, fol. 104.
1600. Norfolk. Margaret Fraunces committed for a long time. Probably released by justice of the peace on new evidence. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, X, pt. II (Gawdy MSS.), 71. See also below, pp. 400, 401.
1600. Ipswich, Suffolk. Several conjurers suspected. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1598-1601, 523.
1601. Bishop Burton, York. Two women apprehended for bewitching a boy. Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 32,496, fol. 42 b.
1601. Middlesex. Richard Nelson of St. Katharine's arraigned. Middlesex County Records, I, 260.
1601. Nottingham. Ellen Bark presented at the sessions. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, IV, 260-261.
1602. Middlesex. Elizabeth Roberts of West Drayton indicted on three charges, acquitted. Middlesex County Records, I, 212.
1602. Saffron Walden, Essex. Alice Bentley tried before the quarter sessions. Case probably dismissed. Darrel, A Survey of Certaine Dialogical Discourses, 54.
temp. Eliz. Northfleet, Kent. Pardon to Alice S. for bewitching a cow and pigs. Bodleian, Rawlinson MSS., C 404, fol. 205 b.
temp. Eliz. Woman condemned to prison and pillory. Gifford, Dialogue concerning Witches (1603), L 4 verso.
temp. Eliz. Cambridge. Two women perhaps hanged at this time. Henry More, Antidote to Atheisme, III. But see 1605, Cambridge.
temp. Eliz. Mother W. of W. H. said to have been executed. Gifford, Dialogue concerning Witches, D 4 verso—E.
temp. Eliz. Mother W. of Great T. said to have been hanged. Ibid., C 4.
temp. Eliz. Woman said to have been hanged. Ibid., L 3-L 3 verso.
temp. Eliz. Two women said to have been hanged. Ibid., I 3 verso.
1602-1603. London. Elizabeth Jackson sentenced, for bewitching Mary Glover, to four appearances in the pillory and a year in prison. John Swan, A True and Breife Report of Mary Glover's Vexation; E. Jorden, A briefe discourse of ... the Suffocation of the Mother, 1603; also a MS., Marie Glover's late woefull case ... upon occasion of Doctor Jordens discourse of the Mother, wherein hee covertly taxeth, first the Phisitiones which judged her sicknes a vexation of Sathan and consequently the sentence of Lawe and proceeding against the Witche who was discovered to be a meanes thereof, with A defence of the truthe against D. J. his scandalous Impugnations, by Stephen Bradwell, 1603. Brit. Mus., Sloane MSS., 831. An account by Lewis Hughes, appended to his Certaine Grievances (1641-2), is quoted by Sinclar, Satan's Invisible World Discovered (Edinburgh, 1685), 95-100; and hence Burton (The Kingdom of Darkness) and Hutchinson (Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft) assign a wrong date.
1603. Yorkshire. Mary Pannel executed for killing in 1593. Mayhall, Annals of Yorkshire (London, 1878), I, 58. See also E. Fairfax, A Discourse of Witchcraft, 179-180.
1603. Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Ales Moore in gaol on suspicion. C. J. Palmer, History of Great Yarmouth, II, 70.
1604. Wooler, Northumberland. Katherine Thompson and Anne Nevelson proceeded against by the Vicar General of the Bishop of Durham. Richardson, Table Book, I, 245; J. Raine, York Depositions, 127, note.
1605. Cambridge. A witch alarm. Letters of Sir Thomas Lake to Viscount Cranbourne, January 18, 1604/5, and of Sir Edward Coke to Viscount Craybourne, Jan. 29, 1604/5, both in Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 6177, fol. 403. This probably is the affair referred to in Cal. St. P., Dom., 1603-1610, 218. Nor is it impossible that Henry More had this affair in mind when he told of two women who were executed in Cambridge in the time of Elizabeth (see above, temp. Eliz., Cambridge) and was two or three years astray in his reckoning.
1605. Doncaster, York. Jone Jurdie of Rossington examined. Depositions in Gentleman's Magazine, 1857, pt. I, 593-595.
1606. Louth, Lincolnshire. "An Indictment against a Witche." R. W. Goulding, Louth Old Corporation Records (Louth, 1891), 54.
1606. Hertford. Johanna Harrison and her daughter said to have been executed. This rests upon the pamphlet The Most Cruell and Bloody Murther, ... See appendix A, § 3.
1606. Richmond, Yorkshire. Ralph Milner ordered by quarter sessions to make his submission at Mewkarr Church. North Riding Record Society, I, 58.
1607. Middlesex. Alice Bradley of Hampstead arraigned on four bills, acquitted. Middlesex County Records, II, 8.
1607. Middlesex. Rose Mersam of Whitecrosse Street acquitted. Ibid., II, 20.
1607. Bakewell, Derby. Several women said to have been executed here. See Robert Simpson, A Collection of Fragments illustrative of the History and Antiquities of Derby (Derby, 1826), 90; Glover, History of Derby (ed. Thos. Noble, 1833), pt. I, vol. II, p. 613; J. C. Cox, Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals, II, 88. For what purports to be a detailed account of the affair see W. Andrews, Bygone Derbyshire, 180-184.
1607-11. Rye, Sussex. Two women condemned by local authorities probably discharged upon interference from London. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, XIII, pt. 4, 136-137, 139-140, 147-148.
1608. Simon Read pardoned. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1603-1610, 406.
1610. Norfolk. Christian[a] Weech, pardoned in 1604, now again pardoned. Ibid., 96, 598. Was this the Christiana Weekes of Cleves Pepper, Wilts, who in 1651 and 1654 was again and again accused of telling where lost goods were? See Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, Various, I, 120.
1610. Middlesex. Agnes Godfrey of Enfield, with four bills against her, acquitted on three, found guilty of killing. File containing sentence lost. Middlesex County Records, II, 57-58. Acquitted again in 1621. Ibid., 79, 80.
1610. Leicestershire. Depositions taken by the sheriff concerning Randall and other witches. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, XII, pt. 4 (MSS. of the Duke of Rutland), I, 422.
1611. Carnarvon. Story of witchcraft "committed on six young maids." Privy Council orders the Bishop of Bangor and the assize judges to look into it. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1611-1618, 53.
1611. Wm. Bate, indicted twenty years before for practising invocation, etc., for finding treasure, pardoned. Ibid., 29.
1611. Thirsk, Yorkshire. Elizabeth Cooke presented by quarter sessions for slight crime related to witchcraft. North Riding Record Soc., I, 213.
1612. Lancaster. Margaret Pearson, who in 1612 was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and the pillory, had been twice tried before, once for killing, and once for bewitching a neighbor. Potts, Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the countie of Lancaster (Chetham Soc., 1845).
1612. Lancaster. Ten persons of Pendle sentenced to death, one to a year's imprisonment; eight acquitted including three women of Salmesbury. Potts, Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches, Chetham Soc., 1845. But cf. Cooper's words (Mystery of Witchcraft, 1617), 15.
1612. York. Jennet Preston sentenced to death. Potts, Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches.
1612. Northampton. At least four women and one man hanged. Many others accused, one of whom died in gaol. The Witches of Northamptonshire, 1612; also Brit Mus., Sloane MSS., 972, fol. 7.
1613. Bedford. Mother Sutton and Mary Sutton, her daughter, of Milton Miles hanged. Witches Apprehended, Examined and Executed, 1613. See app. A, § 3, for mention of another pamphlet on the same subject, A Booke of the Wytches lately condemned and executed. See also The Wonderful Discoverie of ... Margaret and Phillip Flower, preface, and Richard Bernard, Guide to Grand Jurymen, iii.
1613. Wilts. Margaret Pilton of Warminster, accused at quarter sessions, probably released. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, Various, I, 86-87.
1614. Middlesex. Dorothy Magick of St. Andrew's in Holborn sentenced to a year's imprisonment and four appearances in the pillory. Middlesex County Records, II, 91, 218.
1615. Middlesex. Joan Hunt of Hampstead, who had been, along with her husband, twice tried and acquitted, and whose accuser had been ordered to ask forgiveness, sentenced to be hanged. Middlesex County Records, II, lii, 95, 110, 217-218.
1616. Leicester. Nine women hanged on the accusation of a boy. Six others accused, one of whom died in prison, five released after the king's examination of the boy. Robert Heyrick's letters from Leicester, July 16 and October 15, 1616, reprinted in the Annual Register, 1800, p. 405. See also Cal. S. P., Dom., 1611-1618, 398, and William Kelly, Royal Progresses in Leicester (Leicester, 1855), pt. II, 15.
1616. King's Lynn, Norfolk. Mary Smith hanged. Alexander Roberts, Treatise of Witchcraft (London, 1616); Mackerell, History and Antiquities of King's Lynn, 233.
1616. Middlesex. Elizabeth Rutter of Finchley, for laming and killing three persons, sentenced to be hanged. Middlesex County Records, II, 108, 218.
1616. Middlesex. Margaret Wellan of London accused "upon suspition to be a witch." Andrew Camfield held in £40 bail to appear against her. Middlesex County Records, II, 124-125.
1617. Middlesex. Agnes Berrye of Enfield sentenced to be hanged. Ibid., 116, 219.
1617. Middlesex. Anne Branche of Tottenham arraigned on four counts, acquitted. Ibid., 219.
1618. Middlesex. Bridget Meakins acquitted. Ibid., 225.
1619. Lincoln. Margaret and Philippa Flower hanged. Their mother, Joan Flower, died on the way to prison. The Wonderful Discoverie of the Witchcrafts of Margaret and Phillip Flower; J. Nichols, History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester (1795-1815), II, pt. I, 49; Cal. St. P., Dom., 1619-1623, 129; Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, Rutland MSS., IV, 514.
1619. Leicester. Three women, Anne Baker, Joan Willimot, Ellen Green, accused and confessed. Doubtless executed. The Wonderful Discoverie of the Witchcrafts of Margaret and Phillip Flower.
1619. Middlesex. Agnes Miller of Finchley acquitted. Middlesex County Records, II, 143-144.
1620. London. "One Peacock, sometime a schoolmaster and minister," for bewitching the king, committed to the Tower and tortured. Williams, Court and Times of James I, II, 202; Cal. St. P., Dom., 1619-1623, 125.
1620. Leicester. Gilbert Smith, rector of Swithland, accused of witchcraft among other things. Leicestershire and Rutland Notes and Queries, I, 247.
1620. Padiham, Lancashire. Witches in prison. House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths, pt. II. (Chetham Soc., 1856), 240.
1620. Staffordshire. Woman accused on charges of the "boy of Bilson" acquitted. The Boy of Bilson (London, 1622); Arthur Wilson, Life and Reign of James I, 107-112; Webster, Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, 274-275.
1621. Edmonton, Middlesex. Elizabeth Sawyer hanged. The wonderfull discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer, by Henry Goodcole (1621).
1621. Middlesex. Anne Beaver, accused of murder on six counts, acquitted. Middlesex County Records, II, 72-73. Acquitted again in 1625. Ibid., III, 2.
1622. York. Six women indicted for bewitching Edward Fairfax's children. At April assizes two were released upon bond, two and probably four discharged. At the August assizes they were again acquitted. Fairfax, A Discourse of Witchcraft (Philobiblon Soc., London, 1858-1859).
1622. Middlesex. Margaret Russel, alias "Countess," committed to Newgate by Sir Wm. Slingsby on a charge by Lady Jennings of injuring her daughter. Dr. Napier diagnosed the daughter's illness as epilepsy. Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,674, fol. 134.
1623. Yorkshire. Elizabeth Crearey of North Allerton sentenced to be set in the pillory once a quarter. Thirsk Quarter Sessions Records in North Riding Record Society (London, 1885), III, 177, 181.
1624. Bristol. Two witches said to have been executed. John Latimer, The Annals of Bristol in the Seventeenth Century (Bristol, 1900), 91. Latimer quotes from another "annalist."
temp. Jac. I? Two women said to have been hanged. Story doubtful. Edward Poeton, Winnowing of White Witchcraft (Brit. Mus., Sloane MSS., 1,954), 41-42.
temp. Jac. I. Norfolk. Joane Harvey accused for scratching "an olde witche" there, "Mother Francis nowe deade." Mother Francis had before been imprisoned at Norwich. Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 28,223, fol. 15.
temp. Jac. I. Warwickshire. Coventry haunted by "hellish sorcerers." "The pestilent brood" also in Cheshire. Thomas Cooper, The Mystery of Witchcraft (1617), 13, 16.
temp. Jac. I. Norwich. Witches probably accused for illness of a child. Possibly Mother Francis was one of them. Cooper, ibid., "Epistle Dedicatorie."
1626. Taunton, Somerset. Edmund Bull and Joan Greedie accused. Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,674, fol. 189; Wright, Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, II, 139-143. See also Richard Bernard, Guide to Grand Jurymen, "Epistle Dedicatorie."
1627. Durham. Sara Hathericke and Jane Urwen accused before the Consistory Court. Folk-Lore Journal (London, 1887), V, 158. Quoted by Edward Peacock from the records of the Consistory Court of Durham.
1627. Linneston, Lancaster. Elizabeth Londesdale accused. Certificate of neighbors in her favor. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, XIV, pt. 4 (Kenyon MSS.), 36.
1628. Leepish, Northumberland. Jane Robson committed. Mackenzie, History of Northumberland (Newcastle, 1825), 36. Mackenzie copies from the Mickleton MS.
1630. Lancaster. A certain Utley said to have been hanged for bewitching Richard Assheton. E. Baines, Lancaster (ed. of 1868-1870), II, 12.
1630. Sandwich, Kent. Woman hanged. Wm. Boys, Collections for an History of Sandwich in Kent (Canterbury, 1792), 707.
c. 1630. Wilts. "John Barlowes wife" said to have been executed. MS. letter of 1685-86 printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1832, pt. I, 405-410.
1633. Louth, Lincolnshire. Witch alarm; two searchers appointed. One witch indicted. Goulding, Louth Old Corporation Records, 54.
c. 1633. Lancaster. The father and mother of Mary Spencer condemned. Cal. S. P., Dom., 1634-1635, 79.
1633. Norfolk. Woman accused. No arrest made. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, X, pt. 2 (Gawdy MSS.), p. 144.
1633-34. Lancaster. Several witches, probably seventeen, tried and condemned. Reprieved by the king. For the many references to this affair see above, chap. VII, footnotes.
1634. Yorkshire. Four women of West Ayton presented for telling "per veneficationem vel incantationem" where certain stolen clothes were to be found. Thirsk Quarter Sessions Records in North Riding Record Society, IV, 20.
1635. Lancaster. Four witches condemned. Privy Council orders Bishop Bridgeman to examine them. Two died in gaol. The others probably reprieved. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, XII, 2 (Cowper MSS., II), 77, 80.
1635. Leicester. Agnes Tedsall acquitted. Leicestershire and Rutland Notes and Queries, I, 247.
1635. ——. Mary Prowting, who was a plaintiff before the Star Chamber, accused of witchcraft. Accuser, who was one of the defendants, exposed. Cal. St. P., Dom., 1635, 476-477.
c. 1637. Bedford. Goodwife Rose "ducked," probably by officials. Wm. Drage, Daimonomageia (London, 1665), 41.
1637. Staffordshire. Joice Hunniman committed, almost certainly released. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, II, App., 48 b.
1637-38. Lathom, Lancashire. Anne Spencer examined and probably committed. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, XIV, 4 (Kenyon MSS.), 55.
1638. Middlesex. Alice Bastard arraigned on two charges. Acquitted. Middlesex County Records, III, 112-113.
1641. Middlesex. One Hammond of Westminster tried and perhaps hanged. John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme (Folk-Lore Soc.), 61.
temp. Carol I. Oxford. Woman perhaps executed. This story is given at third hand in A Collection of Modern Relations (London, 1693), 48-49.
temp. Carol, I. Somerset. One or more hanged. Later the bewitched person, who may have been Edmund Bull (see above, s. v. 1626, Taunton), hanged also as a witch. Meric Casaubon, Of Credulity and Incredulity (London, 1668), 170-171.
temp. Carol. I? Taunton Dean. Woman acquitted. North, Life of North, 131.
1642. Middlesex. Nicholas Culpepper of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, acquitted. Middlesex County Records, III, 85.
1643. Newbury, Berks. A woman supposed to be a witch probably shot here by the parliament forces. A Most certain, strange and true Discovery of a Witch ... 1643; Mercurius Aulicus, Oct. 1-8, 1643; Mercurius Civicus, Sept. 21-28, 1643; Certaine Informations, Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 1643; Mercurius Britannicus, Oct. 10-17, 1643.
1644. Sandwich, Kent. "The widow Drew hanged for a witch." W. Boys, Collections for an History of Sandwich, 714.
1645 (July). Chelmsford, Essex. Sixteen certainly condemned, probably two more. Possibly eleven or twelve more at another assize. A true and exact Relation ... of ... the late Witches ... at Chelmesford (1645); Arthur Wilson, in Peck, Desiderata Curiosa, II, 76; Hopkins, Discovery of Witches, 2-3; Stearne, Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft, 14, 16, 36, 38, 58, etc.; Signes and Wonders from Heaven (1645), 2; "R. B." The Kingdom of Darkness (London, 1688). The fate of the several Essex witches is recorded by the True and Exact Relation in marginal notes printed opposite their depositions (but omitted in the reprint of that pamphlet in Howell's State Trials). "R. B.," in The Kingdom of Darkness, though his knowledge of the Essex cases is ascribed to the pamphlet, gives details as to the time and place of the executions which are often in strange conflict with its testimony.
1645 (July). Norfolk. Twenty witches said to have been executed. Whitelocke, Memorials, I, 487. A Perfect Diurnal (July 21-28, 1645) says that there has been a "tryall of the Norfolke witches, about 40 of them and 20 already executed." Signes and Wonders from Heaven says that "there were 40 witches arraigned for their lives and 20 executed."
1645. Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Sixteen women and two men executed Aug. 27. Forty or fifty more probably executed a few weeks later. A very large number arraigned. A manuscript (Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 27,402, fol. 104 ff.) mentions over forty true bills and fifteen or more bills not found. A True Relation of the Araignment of eighteene Witches at St. Edmundsbury (1645); Clarke, Lives of Sundry Eminent Persons, 172; County Folk-Lore, Suffolk (Folk-Lore Soc.), 178; Ady, A Candle in the Dark, 104-105, 114; Moderate Intelligencer, Sept. 4-11, 1645; Scottish Dove, Aug. 29-Sept. 6, 1645.
Stearne mentions several names not mentioned in the True Relation—names probably belonging to those in the second group of the accused. Of most of them he has quoted the confession without stating the outcome of the cases. They are Hempstead of Creeting, Ratcliffe of Shelley, Randall of Lavenham, Bedford of Rattlesden, Wright of Hitcham, Ruceulver of Powstead, Greenliefe of Barton, Bush of Barton, Cricke of Hitcham, Richmond of Bramford, Hammer of Needham, Boreham of Sudbury, Scarfe of Rattlesden, King of Acton, Bysack of Waldingfield, Binkes of Haverhill. In addition to these Stearne speaks of Elizabeth Hubbard of Stowmarket. Two others from Stowmarket were tried, "Goody Mils" and "Goody Low." Hollingsworth, History of Stowmarket (Ipswich, 1844), 171.
1645. Melford, Suffolk. Alexander Sussums made confession. Stearne, 36.
1645. Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. At least nine women indicted, five of whom were condemned. Three women acquitted and one man. Many others presented. C. J. Palmer, History of Great Yarmouth, I, 273-274. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, IX, App., pt. I, 320 a; Henry Harrod in Norfolk Archæol., IV, 249-251.
1645. Cornwall. Anne Jeffries confined in Bodmin gaol and starved by order of a justice of the peace. She was said to be intimate with the "airy people" and to cause marvellous cures. We do not know the charge against her. Finally discharged. William Turner, Remarkable Providences (London, 1697), ch. 82.
1645. Ipswich, Suffolk. Mother Lakeland burnt. The Lawes against Witches (1645).
1645. King's Lynn, Norfolk. Dorothy Lee and Grace Wright hanged. Mackerell, History and Antiquities of King's Lynn, 236.
1645. Aldeburgh, Norfolk. Seven witches hanged. Quotations from the chamberlain's accounts in N. F. Hele, Notes or Jottings about Aldeburgh, 43-44.
1645. Faversham, Kent. Three women hanged, a fourth tried, by the local authorities. The Examination, Confession, Triall and Execution of Joane Williford, Joan Cariden and Jane Hott (1645).
1645. Rye, Sussex. Martha Bruff and Anne Howsell ordered by the "mayor of Rye and others" to be put to the ordeal of water. Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, XIII, pt. 4, 216.
1645. Middlesex. Several witches of Stepney accused. Signes and Wonders from Heaven, 2-3.
1645-46. Cambridgeshire. Several accused, at least one or two of whom were executed. Ady, Candle in the Dark, 135; Stearne, 39, 45; H. More, Antidote against Atheisme, 128-129. This may have been what is referred to in Glanvill's Sadducismus Triumphatus, pt. ii, 208-209.
1646. Northamptonshire. Several witches hanged. One died in prison. Stearne, 11, 23, 34-35.
1646. Huntingdonshire. Many accused, of whom at least ten were examined and several executed, among them John Wynnick. One woman swam and was released. John Davenport, Witches of Huntingdon (London, 1646); H. More, Antidote against Atheisme, 125; Stearne, 11, 13, 17, 19, 20-21, 39, 42.
1646. Bedfordshire. Elizabeth Gurrey of Risden made confession. Stearne says a Huntingdonshire witch confessed that "at Tilbrooke bushes in Bedfordshier ... there met above twenty at one time." Huntingdonshire witches seem meant, but perhaps not alone. Stearne, 11, 31.
c. 1646. Yarmouth, Norfolk. Stearne mentions a woman who suffered here. Stearne, 53.
1646. Heptenstall, Yorkshire. Elizabeth Crossley, Mary Midgley, and two other women examined before two justices of the peace. York Depositions, 6-9.
1647. Ely, Cambridgeshire. Stearne mentions "those executed at Elie, a little before Michaelmas last, ... also one at Chatterish there, one at March there, and another at Wimblington there, now lately found, still to be tryed"; and again "one Moores wife of Sutton, in the Isle of Elie," who "confessed her selfe guilty" and was executed; and yet again "one at Heddenham in the Isle of Ely," who "made a very large Confession" and must have paid the penalty. Stearne, 17, 21, 37; Gibbons, Ely Episcopal Records (Lincoln, 1891), 112-113.
1647. Middlesex. Helen Howson acquitted. Middlesex County Records, III, 124.
1648. Middlesex. Bill against Katharine Fisher of Stratford-at-Bow ignored. Middlesex County Records, III, 102.
1648. Norwich, Norfolk. Two women burnt. P. Browne, History of Norwich (Norwich, 1814), 38.
1649. Worcester. A Lancashire witch said to have been tried; perhaps remanded to Lancashire. A Collection of Modern Relations. The writer says that he received the account from a "Person of Quality" who attended the trial.