Witch Hunts of England

Introduction 

Many people have defined the true activities of witches differently. In addition to this, there are numerous debates on how they supposedly affect the lives of ordinary people. The European witch-craze of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are by far the most perplexing occurrences in history. Subsequently, witch persecutions took place to depict a standing warning against human progress. All through Europe, the killings that stemmed from the accusations of being a witchcraft were exceedingly high. In one German town, for example, close to 400 people were killed in what happened to be the largest mass killings in a single day in Europe at that time. The witchcraft trials alone were highly ubiquitous. No proper procedures took place to allow concrete evidence in support of the claims of prosecutors, and this brought about random accusations. The most affected group of witchcraft persecutions were primarily women who were poor and were mostly widowed. Throughout this time of witch hunts, persecutions took place all over Europe extending from Southwest Europe spreading to the North and East and even reaching across the Atlantic Ocean to towns like Salem, Massachusetts 1 . England had its fair share of witchcraft hunts and killings. Thousands of witches experienced persecutions and were eventually put to death through various forms including hanging and being burnt at the stake. Although by the end of the eighteenth century active witch-hunts and persecutions had dissipated, the accusations of being a witch continue to this day, especially in developing countries.

The Witchfinder 

In Britain, the practice of witchcraft was not a capital offense prior to the year 1563. Before this time, witchcraft was largely considered heretical according to the stance of the numerous Puritans who lined up the British counties. However, this position changed when the Catholic Church together with the Protestants turned passive resistance to active persecutions and by 1750, close to 2000 supposed witches had been tortured, burnt or hanged. These numbers were surprisingly high as viewed by historians all around the world. Moreover, these figures reflect a gross miscomprehension and could even be higher. Among the facilitators of witch persecutions were called witch finders. A witchfinder is one who detects witches using particular methods to ascertain of their practice and ultimately prosecute them if found guilty. In England, the formidable and infamous of all witch hunter was Matthew Hopkins, who died in 1647 2 . Before 1644 when he became the chief witch prosecutor in England, little was known about him. Apparently, he was a practicing lawyer in Essex and was quite unsuccessful at that. In the Year 1644, Hopkins allegedly discovered and ascertained six witches in Manningtree. This was his first official persecution, and in it, he claimed that the witches were out to kill him. Thereupon, he ultimately became the “witch hunter general” trotting up and down England looking for witches and persecuting them.

The witchfinders used numerous methods to detect and ascertain whether a person practiced witchcraft. These methods were for the larger part based on assumptions that upon intent scrutiny appeared to be fallacies rather than concrete evidence. One of the methods of Matthew Hopkins was the searching of skin deformities that proved to be insensible. In this, he reckoned that the suckling of imps caused the deformities. Another term for imps is familiars, which were particularly animals such as frogs, rats that represented the devil’s control over the lives of their bearers who practiced sorcery. Another method was to place the accused in water with his/her legs and hands bound. Doing this ensured that if the accused were indeed witches, having denied their baptism, they would float and not sink into the water. Although such actions seemed barbaric and ambiguous at best, many people believed in them and ultimately prosecuted innumerable witches. During those times, there was high variation in the legislations of England. Under James I of the United Kingdoms of Scotland, the punishment for being a witch was mandatory death by hanging. This was after he produced a novel edition of his book aptly titled “Daemonologie.” In it, he detailed what he called the truth of witchcraft and magic and vehemently countered those who had the belief that witchcraft and demonic magic was not possible. In doing this, James I managed to convince the parliament to revoke the Witchcraft Act of Queen Elizabeth I enacted in 1563 3 , and instill the witchcraft statue of 1604. Doing this gave powers to the witch finders and persecutors and ultimately led to an unprecedented level of accusations and eventually death.

Witch Trials And Confessions 

Following the witchfinders were witch trials in which there would be the calling forth of accused witches. In Europe where the Witch craze started and particularly in England, a number of trials were seen and executed. Two men and eight women in Pendle Hill Lancashire underwent prosecution and hanging 4 . This event caught the imagination of numerous people all over England to the point whereby plays, novels, pamphlets, and puppet shows have led to the recreation of the events that transpired during that day. The reason why trials took place in England in those times is that witchcraft made perfect sense in the minds of the perpetrators of justice and the ordinary citizens alike. All people had an experience or perhaps heard the account of others concerning the realities and prevalence of witchcraft. In addition, another reason for the prevalence of this kind of thinking was the fact that close to two centuries after the last public execution in the 1720s, the overall aura of people exhibited an innate fear of witches and other supernatural abilities 5 . A common misconception among scholars is the thinking that witchcraft trials are associated with medieval times. This was not to be because, as stated earlier, witchcraft laws were not enacted prior to the year 1563. In fact, Henry VII passed an act that outlawed conjuration and witchcraft.

The law adopted by Henry VIII took place in 1542; however, this law was eventually considered unfit and did not largely represent the purpose for the whole witchcraft agenda. In 1563, it was considerably repealed and replaced by an act known as the Act against Conjurations, Enchantments, and Witchcrafts. The sheer definition of this law presented a clear indication that the enforcers were becoming increasingly fearful of mysterious occurrences in the initial years of Queen Elizabeth I. As stated above, Scotland passed its law which was much harsher. In light of these massive anti-witchcraft campaigns and legislature, the witch trials started becoming a common trait in almost all counties of Britain. Some were crude and employed tactics that were speculative in nature while others were comprehensive and led to detailed confessions that still haunt the imaginations to date. Under the new act, Essex became the focal point of the earliest known trials of people accused of sorcery, enchantments, and conjurations. Over the next century after the enactment of the witchcraft act, Essex became the county that vigorously prosecuted witches, and to date, the trial in Essex resonate in the minds of most scholars and history enthusiasts 6 .

The first major trial that took place in Essex received hearing in July 1566 at the Chelmsford. This trial involved Elizabeth Frauncis, Lora Wynchester, Joan Waterhouse and her mother, Agnes Waterhouse 7 . All hailed from Hatfield Peverel. They stood accused of practicing sorcery and soliciting with the devil. In the trial, Elizabeth Frauncis confessed to practicing occultism that had the bearing of being similar to sorcery. In the hearing, she said that her grandmother taught the practice to her when she was just at the age of twelve years. In her account, she described giving her blood to the devil in the form of a familiar that was a white-spotted cat that she always hid in a basket and continually fed. Agnes also confessed that she owned a cat, which she gave the name Satan. Agnes accounted that she worked the magic of maleficium, which is essentially harmful magic through the cat and in return would reward the cat with chickens and offering it drops of her blood 8 . After the trials and confessions, Frauncis was imprisoned while Agnes Waterhouse was found guilty of committing murder using witchcraft and eventually received the death penalty through hanging. Lora Wynchester and Joan Waterhouse were found not guilty of any charges and were subsequently acquitted. Following the initial Essex trials, the publishing of their testimonies took place in a pamphlet titled The Examination and confession of certain Witches at Chensford. This aided the spread of the notion of the use of familiars in the practice of sorcery. As mentioned above, familiars represented a spirit in the form of an animal that would be used to account for the witch as a servant in the kingdom of the devil and ultimately, do his or her bidding.

Witch Trials in Lowestoft 

Another famous witch trial was the one on the Lowestoft witches. In the earlier years of the seventeenth century, the people of the coastal town of Lowestoft in Suffolk, England experienced numerous challenges in their lives, chief among them being the plague, the great fire, the civil strife and the exponential decline in the business of fishing. Moreover, a lawsuit that was highly expensive plagued the town, which was a minute community of close to 2,000 people. In the year 1660, the menace of witchcraft as most of the inhabitants recognized it, reached this sleepy and quiet town. Two elderly women who were also widows stood accused. One was Rose Cullender and the other Amy Denny. In all the English history of witches and their prosecutions, this trial and eventual charging of these women stood out for a number of reasons. First, the trials had the honor of being presided over by Sir Matthew Hale, who at the time was known to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Much later, Hale went ahead to become the Lord and Chief Justice of the entire country of England. His seniority is further crowned by the fact that he was eulogized as a learned man full of wisdom and virtue, and that this is what made him largely famous 9 . Secondly, this trial was by far the most comprehensively documented and consequently gave frightening insight on the methods that crowned a witch trial. Thirdly, through this particular trial, other subsequent trials were made possible such as the infamous ones in Salem, Massachusetts. In the documentation of the trials in Salem, it was famously quoted that on several occasions, Cotton Mather, a then renowned preacher and arbitrator in the trials frequently referred to the documentation in the trials of the Lowestoft witches.

The trial was one that had a long list of evidence that stemmed from different accusers who stood at a number that was between eight and seven. Such evidence that rendered the prosecution and the eventual guilty charge against these two widows rested upon particular circumstances in which the alleged victims went through. According to the accounts of the trial report, when the accusers went forth to present their evidence of being bewitched, on almost all occasions, they would be struck with violent fits that rendered them unable to speak. More to this, they would experience momentary dumbness thus rendering them unable to testify. This was common during the trials of various witches across England, and most judges would attribute this to the powers that witches had to cause depression and strife among ordinary folk. In addition, accounts of this trial indicate the struggle in which eleven-year-old Elizabeth Deborah underwent in witnessing against the accused. On her initial appearance in court, Deborah appeared to be in a trance and would not perceive what was being told to her let alone opening her eyes. She remained senseless for the better part of the trial, but when she was taken to a different room other than the courthouse, she once again became herself and could talk. This showed that there was inherent evidence of divination and supernatural powers. Such occurrences and the confessions of the accusers mostly sought after through complicated means led to the convictions and eventual hanging of the witches of Lowestoft. Many of the victims said they vomited diver pins, hairball, bones, and feathers among other things and that this was an indisputable evidence of witchcraft.

Bideford Witches 

According to the book by Fra Gent, the Hanging of three women took place in Exeter for the crime of Witchcraft. Temperance Lloyd, Susanna Edwards, and Mary Trembles stood accused of soliciting the devil and practicing acts that pertained to the practice of witchcraft in Bideford 10 . They all hailed from the town of Bideford and received trial at the assizes of Exeter Castle. According to the records after the trial, all three pleaded not guilty and were eventually hanged for their supposed actions of witchcraft. Bideford was an imperative part of the growing transatlantic trade route. Religion and folklore played key roles in the beliefs of the people living in the 17th century, and there was revived interest and fear in witchcraft. Witchcraft trials were the topic of interest at the time and resulted in the publication of pamphlets, booklets, songs and various other forms of remembrance. Some of the interesting facts concerning witches were that during these times, numerous unexplainable events were blamed on them. There was an inherent limitation in the medical knowledge of those days, and this led to outrageous assumptions within the ordinary folks. Most of those accused of witchcraft were the old, poor and unprotected women in the society 11 . In those days, women highly relied on men subsequently making the power and authority of men absolute. Therefore, anything they said was accepted as true and factual. This made numerous women to face accusations of being witches and diviners.

Conclusion 

Witchcraft remains to be a folklore to me. Women who were accused of this crime of witchcraft were somehow innocent despite the fact that there were some confessions in which they admitted that they are witches and devil’s advocate. In this regard, many women were killed innocuously. Some people say that Witchcraft is the work of the devil. Poor women who use herbs were also accused as witches, which was unfair to them. However, such was the practice in those medieval times. Although the number of witches burnt at the stake is largely estimated, history fails to document the truth that the sheer magnitude of numbers was bluntly staggering.

Bibliography

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Fraser, Zan.  A Briefe Historie Of Wytches . 1st ed. Longview, Tex.: Three Moons Media, 2006.

Froome, J.  A History Of The Pendle Witches And Their Magic: Wicked Enchantments . 1st ed. Palatine Books, 2010.

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Oster, Emily. "Page 1 Witchcraft, Weather And Economic Growth In Renaissance Europe".  Journal of Economic Perspectives  18, no. 1 (2004): 215–228.

1 Emily Oster, "Page 1 Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe",  Journal of Economic Perspectives  18, no. 1 (2004): 215–228.

2 Jane Bodin, "De La Demonomanie Des Sorciers" 3, no. 4 (1912): 5-6.

3 Zan Fraser,  A Briefe Historie Of Wytches , 1st ed. (Longview, Tex.: Three Moons Media, 2006).

4 J Froome,  A History Of The Pendle Witches And Their Magic: Wicked Enchantments , 1st ed. (Palatine Books, 2010).

5 J Froome,  A History Of The Pendle Witches And Their Magic: Wicked Enchantments , 1st ed. (Palatine Books, 2010).

6 Peter C Brown,  Essex Witches , 1st ed. (New York: The History Press, 2014).

7 Peter C Brown,  Essex Witches , 1st ed. (New York: The History Press, 2014).

8 Peter C Brown,  Essex Witches , 1st ed. (New York: The History Press, 2014).

9 M. Hale,  The Lowestoft Witches , 1st ed. (London, 1682).

10 Frank J Gent,  The Trial Of The Bideford Witches , 1st ed. (Edward Gaskell, 2002).

11 Frank J Gent,  The Trial Of The Bideford Witches , 1st ed. (Edward Gaskell, 2002).