harrison ainsworth the lancashire witches

The accused witches lived in the area around Pendle Hill in Lancashire, a county which, at the end of the 16th century, was regarded by the authorities as a wild and lawless region: an area 'fabled for its theft, violence and sexual laxity, where the church was honoured without much understanding of its doctrines by the common people'. On the right is the eastern edge of Longridge Fell, which is separated from Pendle Hill by the Ribble valley. Many of the allegations resulted from accusations that members of the Demdike and Chattox families made against each other, perhaps because they were in competition, both trying to make a living from healing, begging, and extortion. The outbreaks of 'witchcraft' in and around Pendle may suggest that some people made a living as traditional healers, using a mixture of herbal medicine and talismans or charms, which might leave them open to charges of sorcery. The others accused were Jane Bulcock and her son John Bulcock, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, Alice Grey, and Jennet Preston. Chattox), and her daughter Anne Redferne. Demdike ), her daughter Elizabeth Device, and her grandchildren James and Alizon Device Anne Whittle (a.k.a. Six of the Pendle witches came from one of two families, each at the time headed by a woman in her eighties: Elizabeth Southerns (a.k.a. It has been estimated that all the English witch trials between the early 15th and early 18th centuries resulted in fewer than 500 executions this series of trials accounts for more than two per cent of that total. The official publication of the proceedings by the clerk to the court, Thomas Potts, in his The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster, and the number of witches hanged together – nine at Lancaster and one at York – make the trials unusual for England at that time. Of the eleven who went to trial – nine women and two men – ten were found guilty and executed by hanging one was found not guilty. One was tried at York Assizes on 27 July 1612, and another died in prison.

All but two were tried at Lancaster Assizes on 18–19 August 1612, along with the Samlesbury witches and others, in a series of trials that have become known as the Lancashire witch trials.

The twelve accused lived in the area surrounding Pendle Hill in Lancashire, and were charged with the murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft. The trials of the Pendle witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history, and some of the best recorded of the 17th century. Class=notpageimage| Location of Pendle Hill on a map of England

Harrison ainsworth the lancashire witches