In 1563 the
third statute against witchcraft was passed in England. This new
statute ordered the death penalty for witches, sorcerers and
enchanters. The suspected witches would be charged under civil
law, rather than ecclesiastical law, which meant that they would
be hanged rather than burnt if found guilty.
The first major trial under the 1563 statute was that of Elizabeth Francis,
Agnes Waterhouse and Agnes' daughter Joan Waterhouse. Elizabeth was originally
accused of bewitching a child and of other evil deeds. In her confession she
expanded on these allegations and a tale of worship of Satan (in the form of
a cat) unfolded. In this tale, the cat aided Elizabeth in her evil deeds which
included murder and bewitchment, she then gave it to Agnes. Agnes went on to
perform magic and evil deeds with the help of Satan (who had now been changed
into a toad). Both Elizabeth and Agnes fed their own blood to the cat after
pricking themselves. This was proved by the shape of certain blemishes on their
bodies. Agnes was hanged in 1566, Elizabeth was hanged thirteen years later
after a second conviction and Joan was found not guilty. This case was to become
typical. English witch trials differed from the continental trials at this time
as they concentrated more on familiars and bewitchment rather than pact, orgy
and homage to the devil.
Ellen Smythe was charged at the Essex assize of 1579 and was
later hanged. She had given Susan Webbe a blow to the head. Susan
died two days after the blow and her mother claimed to have seen
a "thing like a black dog go out of the door".
Joan Prentice was hanged after being charged at the assize of
1589. She admitted to seeing, and conversing with, the devil in
the shape of a ferret.
Continental ideas did start to creep into Britain through Scotland. King James
VI of Scotland had become convinced of witchcraft by a trial of witches in North
Berwick, 1590-1592. Gilly Duncan, a known healer, was tortured by her employer
who believed she had demonic powers. The torture caused Gilly to confess to
receiving aid from the Devil and she was turned over to the authorities. Under
the threat of further torture, Gilly accused many other men and women in the
Edinburgh area. The king examined one of the accused, Agnes Sampson, himself.
She refused to confess so she was stripped, shaved and examined until the devil's
mark was found on her, then she was tortured anyway, attached to the wall of
her cell by a 'witch's bridle' (a metal torture device with sharp prongs which
are forced into the mouth) and deprived of sleep. Finally she confessed, saying
that a group of witches had come together on Halloween and plotted to work magic
against the king. The confession led to many of the accused being burned and
King James' great fear of witches.
In 1603 King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England
and authorised a new version of the bible which included the word
'witch' much more. In 1604 he introduced a new statute which
included the idea of pact/devil worship etc. Ideas which had,
until then, only been prevalent in Europe. Much later he revised
some of his views after obvious cases of fraud in witch trials,
but the damage had already been done. In 1612 a trial took place
in Lancashire. 20 people were accused of witchcraft where they
allegedly met secretly to feast and work the black arts against
innocent people.
Matthew Hopkins relied a lot on King James' book 'Demonologie'.
His work also resulted in more people being hanged for the crime
of witchcraft in two years than had been hanged in the entire
century before. Hopkins made a name for himself in Chelmsford in
1644-1645.
Matthew Hopkins (known as the Witchfinder General) and his appointed searchers
would strip suspected witches to look for 'witch marks' (birthmarks and other
blemishes). the suspects would be subjected to many kinds of torture to get
them to confess, these included starvation, solitary confinement, sleep deprivation
and many more. Hopkins' suspects were accused of keeping familiars and performing
maleficia, this was in keeping with the original beliefs regarding English witchcraft.
His accusations were often unfounded and unlikely but little or no effort was
made to question his authority until 1646, when opposition to his methods and
ideas began to surface. He was forced to retire later that year and died in
disgrace in 1647.
After the death of Matthew Hopkins, the number of witch trials
dropped dramatically. The Civil war ended and with it ended much
of the paranoia. There was not much interest in witchcraft by the
new government despite the views of some who still believed that
witchcraft was a threat in England.
Trials still continued, although with much less frequency. In
1662 some women were convicted in Bury St. Edmunds on the
testimony of hysterical children and the alleged discovery of
'witches teats'. Isobel Gowdie was convicted of witchcraft in
Scotland in the same year, she confessed freely without torture
and it is probable that her mind was such that she actually
believed what she was saying.
Jane Wenham was the last known accused witch to be tried in England in 1731
. She was Acquitted. In 1736 the 1604 statute was repealed.
Adapted from "A History of Witchcraft" by Jeffrey B. Russell
