A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718Notestein, Wallace
History
A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718
Notestein, Wallace
Witchcraft -- England -- History
Reverend Judges, the learned Counsayle there ..., and the Gentry of the
body of the County, so that if anything be done here rashly, it will be
severely censured." He went on to urge the danger that the boy whose
fits were the cause of so much excitement might be an impostor, and that
Ann Tilling, who had freely confessed, might be in confederacy with the
parents. The skeptical justice, who in spite of his boasted incredulity
was a believer in the reality of witchcraft, was successful with his
colleagues. All the accused were dismissed save Tilling, Peacock, and
Witchell. They were sent to Salisbury and tried before Sir Richard
Rainsford. Elizabeth Peacock, who had been tried on similar charges
before, was dismissed. The other two were sentenced to be hanged.[22]
Ten years later came a fourth remarkable ruling against witchcraft, this
time by Justice Raymond at Exeter. During the intervening years there
had been cases a-plenty in England and a few hangings, but none that had
attracted comment. It was not until the summer of 1682, when three
Devonshire women were arraigned, tried, and sent to the gallows by
Justice Raymond,[23] that the public again realized that witchcraft was
still upheld by the courts.
The trials in themselves had no very striking features. At least two of
the three women had been beggars; the other, who had been the first
accused and who had in all probability involved her two companions, had
on two different occasions before been arraigned but let off. The
evidence submitted against them consisted of the usual sworn statements
made by neighbors to the justice of the peace, as well as of hardly
coherent confessions by the accused. The repetition of the Lord's Prayer
was gone through with and the results of examinations by a female jury
were detailed _ad nauseam_. The poor creatures on trial were remarkably
stupid, even for beings of their grade. Their several confessions
tallied with one another in hardly a single point.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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