Witch Trials - New series?

Hi guys,

So, fire week, and what is more linked with fire than the infamous witch trials?

Yes, I know there was more than burning that occurred to punish these poor people, but that's what sticks out for me. 

Yes, I have shoehorned this into this week's posts, but it has been written for a while.

So, I went down a rabbit hole. I was looking up a reference in the Bible for another post, and ended up on Witch trials! As you do.

So, a little background. To be totally Cornish about it...

What 'appened woz.......

I was going to start yet another series on mythological creatures like vampires, witches, mermaids, unicorns, you get the idea.

Thought I'd start with witches, so wanted to find out when they were first mentioned, or when the word was coined, and plunged headfirst into the rabbit hole.

Naturally, ended up at the trials, all of them! And the Malleus Maleficarum......

So, I think that this alone will be another series, giving you a little information here, then going into each trial/case individually.

I have concentrated mostly on U.K. cases, but if there are any you wish me to look into worldwide, please let us know below.

So, the first recorded witch trial and execution was in Kilkenny in Ireland. 

It was that of Petronilla De Meath on November 3rd 1324.

Petronilla was a maid, whose mistress was accused of killing her own husband with witchcraft.

The mistress, Dame Alice Kyteler, fled the country to either England or Flanders (there is no record of her after her flight) leaving poor Petronilla to face the charges alone.

There were seven charges levelled against the women, although Petronilla was charged as accessory., not as the main protagonist.

As Dame Alice had fled, they had no choice but to charge Petronilla. After prolonged torture, including floggings and beatings, she confessed and implicated her mistress.

She was burned at the stake for Heresy, and it is believed that she was the first person sentenced to death in Ireland for heresy.

It is often said that Mary Hicks and her daughter, Elizabeth Hicks of Huntingdon, were the last people executed for witchcraft in 1716. Elizabeth would have been only nine or ten when she was executed, after having been instructed in witchcraft by her mother, Mary.

Again, this is another case of one or two people being blamed when an illness, sudden death or other natural issue befalls a community

This is believed by many to be largely untrue these days, but it is not to be discounted, as it was still part of the narrative of the time. 

In 1712, Jane Wenham was reputed to have been tried and executed for witchcraft, however, she died in 1730, so was definitely NOT executed at the time of her trial. Reading into the history of this case, it seems more of a case of one-upmanship between two parties, than an actual claim as the judge deemed that 'flying was not a crime'.

That is just a quick overview of some cases, and as you can see from the years listed above, this went on for nearly 400 years, so there is plenty to cover in future posts, and this is only covering the U.K., so if we expand to worldwide, there will be plenty to say!

If this is something you DON'T (we understand this is emotive) want to read about, then please do skip this series, it will be listed in the title of each one. 

Kerenza x

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