Witchcraft in Early Modern England provides a fascinating introduction to the history of witches and witchcraft in England from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Expert witnesses were sometime called such as physicians who, if called by the defence, could argue that the symptoms of the ‘witchcraft’ were the result of natural disease, though their evidence did not necessarily lead to acquittal. Some of the Protestant clerics returning from exile after Elizabeth’s accession had been influenced by European preoccupations and this fed into the demand for the 1563 Act, though I suspect that had Edward lived the 1547 Act would have been replaced much earlier and been as bad, if not worse than James’ 1604 Act – personal opinion only. Texte | Citation | Auteur. I think of the past a an extremely interesting place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: A common test throughout the whole period of the operation of the Witchcraft Acts was scratching. Even during the period covered by the Witchcraft Acts, the belief that is was the usual punishment was quite common in England. Jim Sharpe also looks at the gender dimensions of the witch persecution, and the treatment of witchcraft in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. There were far fewer trials in countries such as Italy and Spain compared to France and central and southern Germany. The accused was strongly encouraged to confess. Perhaps, even now, it is as it was five centuries ago, people needing to feel in control of their lives in the face of the unjust, the inexplicable and the sheer randomness of life._____________________________________________________Fascinating, Catherine; some I knew; most I did not!There is always something new to learn. Some were carried out before the accused witch was presented to a JP or could be ordered by the JP or even by the trial judges. Compared to the rest of Britain, Wales had relatively few trials or hunts for witches during the early modern period. The 1542 Accusations of witchcraft often arose from ‘misfortune following anger’—an old woman reputed to be a witch requested charity of a neighbour, the neighbour refused, the old woman became angry and threatened the neighbour. Some JPs would lie and promise the accused that they would be dealt with favourably if they confessed. `Witchcraft in Early Modern England' introduces readers to the current state of debate and to future directions for investigation. In Europe there was the concern too with heresy and diabolic compacts. And then, once a law was in place, it was much easier to accuse people. The accuser would then bring the accused before the JP, often by obtaining a warrant and perhaps getting the assistance of a constable to seize her. These familiars were small creatures such as cats, rats, dogs, ferrets, birds, frogs and toads believed to assist a witch in her magic. With origins in the disused trial by ordeal, swimming was not used in witchcraft cases in sixteenth century England but reappeared in the seventeenth with the first reported incidence at Northampton in 1612. (2) When Galis then took the woman to Richard Readforth the mayor, an The JP would then examine the accused and witnesses. (4) Despite having, under pressure, confessed her guilt to the JP, most accused witches pleaded not guilty at trial. The body of the executed ‘witch’ was then buried in unconsecrated ground. 28 The accumulation of knowledge is huge; but the big picture lacks coherence, … The conviction rate for witchcraft offences actually declined under the 1604 Act, possibly due to a higher level of proof required. The record of the examinations taken by the JP were read out in court and evidence heard from the victim, if living, or a member of the victim’s family. Rent and save from the world's largest eBookstore. Wales and Ireland had few cases as personal setbacks were more often ascribed to fairies or the little people rather than to witches.Prior to the 1542 Act, most cases of witchcraft and sorcery were dealt with by ecclesiastical courts; such cases were generally infrequent and punishments were usually penances; ecclesiastical courts could not prescribe the death penalty. Theologians and lawyers began to show a definite interest in it through the fifteenth century and write treatises which then influenced others. Great blogThank you, Amorina Rose. available in JSTOR and the most recently published issue of a journal. More troubling was the incident in 1863 in Essex where an elderly man, who was deaf and mute, was swum late at night in the presence of a crowd of eighty people. Occasionally serious cases did occur such as that of England’s the first witchcraft statute was enacted at the end of Henry VIII’s reign. Gibson, Marian Early Modern Witches: Witchcraft Cases in Contemporary Writing Routledge, 2000 Macfarlane, Alan Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A regional and comparative study 2 nd edn.

Witchcraft in early modern England has largely been the fiefdom of social historians who have approached it from various angles, including the following: gender; 23 demonology; 24 medicine; 25 defamation; 26 and possession.

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