Unit 33 - The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580-c1750
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Challenging attitudes to witchcraft in Britain
INTRODUCTION THE BOY OF BURTON, 1596-97
Types of witchcraft ● Thomas Darling went hunting with his Uncle. When he got
home, he suffered hallucinations and fits.
Maleficium - an act of witchcraft designed to cause harm ● He claimed that he had a disagreement with a woman who
bewitched him
● From Darlings descriptions of the woman, Alice Gooderidge
Witchcraft & the Reformation and her mother Elizabeth Wright were arrested. They had
been involved in witch trials previously.
● 16th c: Henry broke away from the roman catholic church ● Gooderidge was tortured where she admitted to Witchcraft
● His daughter established a protestant church. A belief in the and claimed that she could remove the curse. As she
attempted to do so she began choking and was unable to
devil & witchcraft was still central to the protestant faith speak. She later died in custody
● Puritans: a stripped-down version of the protestant religion ● After Gooderidge’s death, Darling’s fits continued and Exorcist
John Darrel was brough in to investigate the fits, ending them
completely
Witch hunters and familiars ● Eventually, Darrel was brought to the Archbishop of
Canterbury. Many of those treated by Darrel, including Darling
Familiars - supernatural creatures associated with witches as admitted that their cases were fabricated and that Darrel had
representatives of the Devil encouraged them to exaggerate
● Take the form of dogs, cats & toads
The importance of the case
● Used to harm others or property ● Darrel had intended to boost his reputation & perhaps profit
● Rewarded with the blood of the witch from faking exorcisms
● A canon - a law established by the church that forbade any
clergymen to practice exorcisms without a license
Devil’s mark: a blemish or scar on the witch where the familiar would ● Led to skeptical publications: Samuel Harsnett
● Involved the church elites = archbishop of Canterbury
feed on the blood. Assist the witch by carrying out acts on their
behalf
Cunning folk: folk healers distinguished from witches because they
generally carried out good genes
Witchcraft & the law
1st act: made the conjuring of spirits to cause harm or steal goods a
capital offense
2nd act: a crime to evoke an evil spirit for any purpose. The death
penalty is only imposed if it results in the death of a person
,3rd act: the death penalty was introduced for less kinds of magic
such as destroying livestock
1. The swimming test: if they floated they were guilty, if they
sank they were innocent
2. Recite the lord's prayer: no witch could recite it to the end
3. Searched for marks
THE DEAMON DRUMMER, 1662 THE PENDLE SWINDLE, 1634
● John Mompesson intervened in the case of drummer & ex- ● Edward Robinson was attempting to avoid punishment for not
watching over his father's cattle when he claimed that he was
soldier William Drury approached by 2 dogs that turned into people
● Fraudulently attempting to raise arms for the poor with a ● He claimed that Jennet Device (1604 Lancashire witch hunts)
offered him a shilling so he would not tell about the dogs.
forged pass - he was arrested on the orders of Mompesson & Robinson refused and was taken to a house where witches
were gathered. He escaped.
had his drum confiscated ● After a few months, local magistrates took Robinson to local
● His family soon experienced a series of strange disturbances; Churches to identify witches. He identified 25, 17 of which
were found guilty.
the sound of a drum playing military marches, sulphurous ● The magistrates were somewhat sceptical of Robinsons' story
smells, objects thrown around the room and sent him to be questioned, meanwhile, the accused
witches were questioned by King Charles and examined by
● Representatives of King Charles were sent to investigate William Harvey
● The disturbances are rumoured to have stopped when Drury ● Robinson became famous, visited church services & identified
witches in congregation
was deported ● The boy later revealed his story was entirely fictitious - his
father forced him to tell the story,
● motivated by revenge against Francis Dickinson - who he had
Importance of the case entered a dispute with over the payment of a cow
● Joseph Glanvill: claimed to have heard the noises himself &
many eyewitnesses he spoke to claimed Drury was using The importance of the case
● Accusations of witchcraft proved to be motivated by reasons
witchcraft to control events from afar that had nothing to do with the supernatural
● Glanvill attempted to convince the royal society the study of ● The majority of the accused witches were found guilty
● Charles 1 was directly involved in questioning subjects
witchcraft could be carried out & cases proved to be true by
approaching them in a rational, scientific way
● John Webster: a sceptical response to Glanvill, the publication
, was approved by the vice-president of the Royal society
● Webster claimed he had been informed that the entire case
was fraudulent
● Mompessons dislike for drury may have been exacerbated by
his career as a parliamentary soldier in the civil war
● The importance lies in the fact that the case was revisited in a
number of works over the ensuing decades
THE CASE OF JANE WENHAM, 1712 REGINALD SCOT’S THE DISCOVERIE OF WITCHCRAFT
● Wenham was refused straw by Gilson, who was allegedly ● A member of the family of love: nature controlled the events
bewitched, running down the road filling his shirt of straw and
manure on earth, showed particular contempt for the catholic church
● Wenham complained after Gilson’s employer accused her of ● Scot made a clear connection between fraudulent witch-hunts
witchcraft and he was given a small fine. Wenham was
unsatisfied and stated that she would get revenge. Soon after & the catholic church
the farmer's daughter and livestock fell ill
● Several others began accusing Wenham who was arrested
and confessed to Witchcraft The significance of his publication
● She was placed on trial and found guilty by a jury, however, ● Had to self-publish his book because it was so controversial
the judge, john powell, wasn’t convinced and managed to gain
Wenham a royal pardon. ● Claimed disturbances are all too often attributed to witches
● Wenham was then given a house by a Whig politician where where there is no evidence
she lived for the rest of her life ● The inquisition of the catholic church given much of the
● This was the last formal witch trial in England
blame for the cruelty handed out to suspected witches
The importance of the case ● King James 1 of england wrote a response - ‘Daemonologie’
● Local context: likely wenham was a dissenter. Localy ● States his clear & unwavering belief in witchcraft, even
clergyenmen may desire to demonstrate the power of the
church of england mentions scot by name, denounces him as unchristian
● She was very poor - most of her accusers were relatively
wealthy
● Powell was an outsider - able to approach the case in a
rational & objective way Why was scot sceptical about witchcraft?
● Many of the witnesss had personal grudges against wenham
● So devoted to a belief in the ‘supernatural unknown’ -
undiscovered elements of nature contained many mysteries
that could explain unknown phenomena
● Because he was so committed to this belief, he was able to
discount witchcraft as an explanation for mysterious events
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