Which Witches?
Wherever a person lives, whether on either
side of the Atlantic, if you were to ask that person to
name an area where witches were prosecuted (and persecuted) you would
surely hear the name ‘Salem’. However it may surprise people to
learn that the trial at Salem was without doubt based on a previous trial in
the village of Warboys in Cambridgeshire, North
of London, England almost a hundred years earlier.
The Salem Trials – there were
in fact several – were held between February 1692 and May 1693 in Essex,
Suffolk and Middlesex Counties of Massachusetts. It is interesting to note
that similar named counties of Essex, Suffolk and Middlesex surround
Cambridgeshire in England. They are known as the Home Counties and
are within a radius of 100 miles from London. It is highly likely
that immigrants to America came from these areas of England and brought
with them their fear of witches.
The story on this side
of the pond begins in November 1589 when Jane Throckmorton, the
10-year-old daughter of a prosperous local family became ill suffering from
bouts of sneezing and fits. During her illness a local neighbour Alice
Samuel visited her. Jane had a great dislike for this woman and
accused her of causing her illness. Jane’s four sisters and some of the
servants began to show signs of a similar illness and all accused Alice Samuel
of causing their sickness.
Robert Throckmorton was connected with people in high places and
one of his friends was Sir Henry Cromwell one of the
wealthiest men in England. In March 1590, Lady Cromwell, the grandmother of the
future famous Lord Protector of England, Oliver Cromwell
(as an Irishman, I now curse and spit at the mention of his name) – visited
the Throckmortons.
On hearing the story
from the children and the servants she immediately accused Alice Samuel of
being a ‘witch’ and causing the illness. They argued and
during the course of the argument, Lady Cromwell grabbed a pair of scissors and
cut a lock of Alice’s hair. This she gave to Mrs. Throckmorton to burn. It
appears that this was a folk remedy to ward off a witch’s spell according to
local superstition.
Alice Samuel was
rightly insulted and was quoted as saying: "Madam, why do you use
me thus? I never did you any harm as yet". (In
Police parlance that is known as ‘The Verbal’ – i.e., ‘A statement made by the
accused, after caution, later retracted after consultation with his/her
solicitor/lawyer’). Be that as it may, Lady Cromwell had nightmares
that night became ill and died in 1592 two years after the visit.
It is probable that she contacted the‘illness’ whilst there.
After her death, the
taunts and accusations continued especially by the children. Alice begged them
to stop, which in fact they did. The local parson then came onto the
scene. He convinced Alice to confess that she was a witch, which she did. She
retracted her statement the next day but it was too late. The parson reported
the fact and she was taken before the Bishop of Lincoln. There, I
believe she was overawed by all the pomp and ceremony and again admitted that
she was a witch. There is little doubt that any admissions made by her were not
voluntary and that some form of torture was used. She was imprisoned in
Huntingdon with her daughter Agnes and her husband John......................
On 5th April
1593 they were tried for the murder, by witchcraft of Lady Cromwell and
were found guilty. Her words to Lady Cromwell that included ‘as yet’ were
used with great effect against her at the trial. By the time of her trial she
had become demented and continually spoke of her ‘poor dun chickens’.
This was taken as a reference to her ‘familiars’ or assistants
in spells. Within days, all three were hanged..........
Sir Henry Cromwell
confiscated what little property the Samuel’s had and used it for an annual
sermon against witchcraft in the locality. This continued until 1812 when the
belief in witchcraft had at last disappeared.
The scholar, George
Kittredge said of the Warboys trial: 'the most momentous witch
trial that had ever occurred in England' because it had ‘demonstrably
produced a deep and lasting impression on the class that made laws’.
This was by no means
the only ‘Witches Trial’ that took place around this time in England. In
those days, one did not have to murder one’s enemies – it was enough to provide
a little evidence of witchcraft and the ‘Law’ would do the necessary.
After all, the rule of
innocent until proven guilty did not apply then. The accused would have their
thumbs tied to their opposite big toes and thrown into a local river. If they
sank and drowned they were innocent. If they floated they were witches, taken
out and hanged…………
Essex, UK, the county
where I live, became obsessed with witches and witchcraft and the trial and
hangings at Warboys started a sequence of events that resulted in literally
thousands of innocent and most likely mentally deficient old women being sent
to their death by hanging or drowning.
The trials were
generally held in Chelmsford the county town of Essex and it
holds the unholy distinction of having hanged more witches than any other
county. Between 1566 and 1645 more than ninety ‘witches’ were
convicted on the most ridiculous and flimsy evidence. On one day alone nineteen
women were sent to their death. Most were the ‘victims’ of
pure and simple misjudgement and were merely elderly and simple village people.
Three women were
hanged together in 1589 on such evidence. Were it not so pitiful and tragic it
would be funny. One confessed to sending a ferret which she called ‘Bid’ to
bring about the death of a child who had annoyed her. An eighty-year old woman
and her daughter admitted to ‘consorting with familiars’ and
to have sent a pair of frogs called Jack and Jill to
knock over firewood and bewitch cattle. There was no appeals system in those
days and those found guilty were hanged within hours of having been convicted.
The first such trial
was that of Agnes Waterhouse in 1566 when she was convicted on
her own confession and the evidence of a twelve-year old girl. It was claimed
that she sent her cat ‘Satan’ which was supposed to have an
ape’s head and horns to ‘spoil butter’. She was also alleged to
have sent the cat to kill a neighbour’s livestock. The cat was also supposed to
have killed a man. In return the cat received a drop of Agnes’ blood. In court
it was alleged that the spots on the woman’s face were where the cat suckled
the drops of blood.
Finally, and probably
more importantly, she could only recite her prayers in Latin. This
would suggest that she was really a Catholic in not only a
staunch Protestant county, but also a Protestant Kingdom.
It was also a criminal act to practice Catholicism. Her own
daughter, who was charged with her, saved her own skin by giving evidence
against her own mother. Agnes was hanged in 1566......
Witch finding soon
became a desired profession and was indeed profitable. In March 1644, Matthew
Hopkins, aged 24 was travelling in Essex. He claimed to have heard a group
of women in a small town discussing their meetings with the Devil.
As a result, nineteen ‘witches’ were arrested and confessions
obtained. They were all convicted and hanged on the same day. Although not
appointed by Parliament, he gave himself the title of ‘Witch-finder
General’ and began searching the Home Counties for
witches. He and his colleagues, including female assistants were well paid
for their ‘work’...................The more ‘witches’ they uncovered,
the more they were paid............
He used the ‘swimming
test’ and the use of ‘witch prickers’. That was where the
accused was pricked with knives and needles looking for the ‘Devils Mark’ –
a part of the body that was supposed to be dead to all feeling and would not
bleed.
Tradition claims, and
I hope it is true, that some disgruntled villagers finally subjected
Hopkins to his own ‘swimming test’ and he drowned. He was only 27
years old. Unfortunately Parish records at Manningtree in Essex record his
burial in August of 1647 where he died possibly from tuberculosis. I hope that
the drowning claim is correct for it would be ironic that he supposedly died
undergoing his own test.
In case you don't
remember the testing of a supposed witch was whereby the accused had their
thumbs tied to the opposite large toe and thrown into a river and left to sink
or swim. If they floated and survived they were guilty and if they drowned they
were innocent.
-----------Mike------------
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