Changing attitudes to Witchcraft in Britain Flashcards
Why was the third Witchcraft Act passed in 1604 more severe than the second?
The death penalty was returned for the killing of a person, and it was reintroduced for a second offence in lesser kinds of magic, such as the destroying of livestock and goods, or attempting unsuccessfully to kill a person and consulting with feeding an evil spirit.
James I had a personal interest in witchcraft and even wrote a book on witch-hunting. What was it called?
Daemorologie
Evidence exists of hundreds of witch trials carried out under the three Witchcraft Acts. What was the law used most often in relation to it?
200
What did the Home Circuit cover?
Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex
When obvious suspects such as a known witch in the vicinity were acting neighbours would cast their eye around their locality in order to discover a hidden witch. Who were the most likely to be accused?
People who were physically deformed, stood out in some way withdrawn or socially awkward. Women were also accused more especially older women.
What did the First Witchcraft Act detail?
It made the conjuring of spirits, witchcraft and sorcery in order to find treasure, cause harm to a person or their goods, or to discover what had happened to stolen goods, a capital offence.
What did the First Witchcraft Act focus on?
The crime of witchcraft consisting of acts of hostility against the community, rather than through a pact with the devil.
What is a Capital Offence?
Any crime which is punishable by the death penalty.
Why was the Second Witchcraft Act of 1563 more severe than the first?
It made it a crime to involve evil spirits for any purpose, whether maleficium was involved or not.
Why was the second Witchcraft Act of 1563 more lenient than the first?
The death penalty was only imposed if the act of witchcraft resulted in the death of a person. If injury or the death of an animal occurred, the guilty witch was given the lesser sentence of imprisonment for one year.
What is important about the details of the Second Witchcraft Act?
The continental notion of the diabolical pact had not entered English consciousness and the focus of this Act was still very much a term caused by witches.
In order to confirm whether someone was a witch, a number of tests were employed in witch hunts. Name three.
They could be scratched. There was the swimming test. They might be asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer. Marks of various kinds were taken as a sign of guilt. They could be ‘watched’ for several days and nights.
Why was scratching a suspected witch test?
It was in order to break a spell by drawing blood.
What was the infamous ‘swimming test’ and why was it used?
It involved binding the suspect’s right thumb to their left big toe. They would then be secured with ropes and thrown in a pond or river three times. If they floated, they were guilty, as it was believed that the water would reject a witch
Why might a suspected witch be asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer?
Because it was believed that no witch could recite it to the end.
Marks of various forms were taken as a sign of guilt and the body of a suspected witch could be searched in order to find them. What were these marks probably?
Warts, Moles or extra nipples
Whose favoured method was ‘watching’ ‘sleep deprivation’
Matthew Hopkins, the most famous witch hunter.
What was Holt’s life before he became Lord Chief Justice?
Born in Oxfordshire in 1642, he later entered Oxford University but left without gaining a degree. He began training as a lawyer in 1660 and was called to the bar in 1663. He seems to have been well-liked by James II (1685-88) and became Recorder of London, in effect the chief judge in the city in 1685. He was knighted around the same time. He played an important part in the negotiations over the transition of power from the Catholic James II to the Protestant William III in 1688-89 and was appointed Lord Chief Justice by William in 1689.
As Lord Chief Justice, Holt oversaw 11 and possibly 12 trials concerning witchcraft. What did each of these result in?
The acquittal of the accused.
What did Lord Chief Justice Holt do in 1591?
He acquitted two women who had been accused in Frome, Somerset, of bewitching a girl who had fallen ill. The girl recovered despite the acquittals’.
In 1694, Holt reviewed the case of a ‘witch’ known as Mother Munnings, who was accused of causing death by witchcraft in Bury St Edmunds. What did he do?
Holt refused to accept charges resulting to events 17 years previously and refused to take evidence from a man who had supposedly been returning from an alehouse when he claimed to have seen Munnings’ familiar in the form of a polecat.
What affirmed Scot’s view that most trials were held on very dubious foundations while he was living on his family estate in Kent, where he resided for most of his life?
Most social contact was with is tenants, who would’ve been strong believers in witchcraft. As a learned man, he found it hard to rationalise their beliefs. When he saw that children were being used as witnesses at the Chelmsford trials, his view that most trials were held on very dubious foundations was affirmed.
At the time of John Darrell’s case, what was Samuel Hersuett’s occupation?
He was working as Chaplain to Richard Bancroft, Bishop of London.
The book ‘A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrell’ is divided into five sections, with the main thrust of the argument summed up in the introduction, where Harsnett makes what clear?
That the practice of misleading people through magic is nothing new.
What does Harsnett say critically about the Catholic Church in his book ‘A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practices of John Darrell (in the introduction)?
That because Catholics are so quick to carry out tricks and miracles, they believe that rituals can solve any problem. Their chief trick is exorcism (also a ritual) – any exorcisms can only be done by God and anyone attempting to take credit for God’s work is a heretic and a fraud.
What followed Ady’s 1656 sceptical publication ‘A Candle in the Dark’?
‘A Perfect Discovery of Witches’ (1661) which attached the witch-hunts of the earlier 17th century.
In ‘A Perfect Discovery of Witches, the publication of Ady’s that followed ‘A Candle in the Dark’ what is Ady critical of?
Physicians who failed to understand diseases and were too quick to blame them on witchcraft. He was also critical of the attitude prevalent amongst the general public that witches were to blame for natural disasters and unexplained events.
Ady’s final book was entitled ‘The Doctrine of Devils, proved to be the Great Apostacy of these later times (1676). Initially published anonymously, what was it heavily influenced by?
Joseph Mede’s ‘The Apostacy of the Latter Times’. Both Ady and Mede agreed that possession could be attributed to mental illness.
What is ‘A Candle in the Dark’s’ only source?
The Bible – the same source used by witch-finders to justify their persecutions.
