witchcraft

Witchcraft

Most of our information about the activity of witches seems 

to be drawn from the witchcraft trials. Obviously confessions extracted

under torture have to be considered far from reliable, 

as also the testimony of ignorant people in the locality trying to 

find a scapegoat for random wanton acts. Always hard to understand why 

fate should pick on you for no reason at all.

You can imagine rigorous damning religion to be no help

whatsoever to explain these things.

Let's look at some witch cases.

Here is that of Elizabeth Francis, 

who was tried at Chelmsford Assizes in 1566 for bewitching

an infant in the household of one William Auger.

She was from Hatfield Peverell, and her notoriety was spread in a chapbook,

the novelette of her day, a bit of a National Enquirer.

She learnt The Craft from her grandmother,  Mother Eve,

when 12 years old, and given a cat, which was called Sathan.

She used it to try and seduce men including a man called Andrew, 

and when he refused to marry her, caused his death.

 Then the cat helped her catch her husband Christopher.

When they had a daughter she ordered Sathan to kill the child

Also to make her husband lame. 

Finally tiring of Sathan she gave him to her neighbour Agnes Waterhouse.

who was also accused of witchcraft.

She denied the charge against her and was sentenced to a year 

in jail. For other bewitching another year and the public humiliation 

of the pillory.  

She then bewitched one Anne Poole, who died in November 1578

and so was put on trial again. This time she was found guilty and hanged.