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PRIZE ESSAYS
OF THE
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
1909
To this Essay was awarded the
Herbert Baxter Adams Prize
in European History
for 1909
A HISTORY
OF
WITCHCRAFT IN ENGLAND
FROM 1558 TO 1718
BY
WALLACE NOTESTEIN
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
PUBLISHED BY
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON, 1911
COPYRIGHT, 1911
BY THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON, D.C.
THE LORD BALTIMORE PRESS
BALTIMORE, M.D., U.S.A.
PREFACE.
In its original form this essay was the dissertation submitted for a
doctorate in philosophy conferred by Yale University in 1908. When first
projected it was the writer's purpose to take up the subject of English
witchcraft under certain general political and social aspects. It was
not long, however, before he began to feel that preliminary to such a
treatment there was necessary a chronological survey of the witch
trials. Those strange and tragic affairs were so closely involved with
the politics, literature, and life of the seventeenth century that one
is surprised to find how few of them have received accurate or complete
record in history. It may be said, in fact, that few subjects have
gathered about themselves so large concretions of misinformation as
English witchcraft. This is largely, of course, because so little
attention has been given to it by serious students of history. The
mistakes and misunderstandings of contemporary writers and of the local
historians have been handed down from county history to county history
until many of them have crept into general works. For this reason it was
determined to attempt a chronological treatment which would give a
narrative history of the more significant trials along with some account
of the progress of opinion. This plan has been adhered to somewhat
strictly, sometimes not without regret upon the part of the writer. It
is his hope later in a series of articles to deal with some of the more
general phases of the subject, with such topics as the use of torture,
the part of the physicians, the contagious nature of the witch alarms,
the relation of Puritanism to persecution, the supposed influence of the
Royal Society, the general causes for the gradual decline of the belief,
and other like questions. It will be seen in the course of the narrative
that some of these matters have been touched upon.
This study of witchcraft has been limited to a period of about one
hundred and sixty years in English history. The year 1558 has been
chosen as the starting point because almost immediately after the
accession of Elizabeth there began the movement for a new law, a
movement which resulted in the statute of 1563. With that statute the
history of the persecution of witches gathers importance. The year 1718
has been selected as a concluding date because that year was marked by
the publication of Francis Hutchinson's notable attack upon the belief.
Hutchinson levelled a final and deadly blow at the dying superstition.
Few men of intelligence dared after that avow any belief in the reality
of witchcraft; it is probable that very few even secretly cherished such
a belief. A complete history would of course include a full account both
of the witch trials from Anglo-Saxon times to Elizabeth's accession and
of the various witch-swimming incidents of the eighteenth century. The
latter it has not seemed worth while here to consider. The former would
involve an examination of all English sources from the earliest times
and would mean a study of isolated and unrelated trials occurring at
long intervals (at least, we have record only of such) and chiefly in
church courts. The writer has not undertaken to treat this earlier
period; he must confess to but small knowledge of it. In the few pages
which he has given to it he has attempted nothing more than to sketch
from the most obvious sources an outline of what is currently known as
to English witches and witchcraft prior to the days of Elizabeth. It is
to be hoped that some student of medieval society will at some time make
a thorough investigation of the history of witchcraft in England to the
accession of the great Queen.
For the study of the period to be covered in this monograph there exists
a wealth of material. It would perhaps not be too much to say that
everything in print and manuscript in England during the last half of
the sixteenth and the entire seventeenth century should be read or at
least glanced over. The writer has limited himself to certain kinds of
material from which he could reasonably expect to glean information.
These sources fall into seven principal categories. Most important of
all are the pamphlets, or chapbooks, dealing with the history of
particular alarms and trials and usually concluding with the details of
confession and execution. Second only to them in importance are the
local or municipal records, usually court files, but sometimes merely
expense accounts. In the memoirs and diaries can be found many mentions
of trials witnessed by the diarist or described to him. The newspapers
of the time, in their eagerness to exploit the unusual, seize gloatingly
upon the stories of witchcraft. The works of local historians and
antiquarians record in their lists of striking and extraordinary events
within their counties or boroughs the several trials and hangings for
the crime. The writers, mainly theologians, who discuss the theory and
doctrine of witchcraft illustrate the principles they lay down by cases
that have fallen under their observation. Lastly, the state papers
contain occasional references to the activities of the Devil and of his
agents in the realm.
Besides these seven types of material there should be named a few others
less important. From the pamphlet accounts of the criminal dockets at
the Old Bailey and Newgate, leaflets which were published at frequent
intervals after the Restoration, are to be gleaned mentions of perhaps
half a dozen trials for witchcraft. The plays of Dekker, Heywood, and
Shadwell must be used by the student, not because they add information
omitted elsewhere, but because they offer some clue to the way in which
the witches at Edmonton and Lancaster were regarded by the public. If
the pamphlet narrative of the witch of Edmonton had been lost, it might
be possible to reconstruct from the play of Dekker, Ford, and Rowley
some of the outlines of the story. It would be at best a hazardous
undertaking. To reconstruct the trials at Lancaster from the plays of
Heywood and Brome or from that of Shadwell would be quite impossible.
The ballads present a form of evidence much like that of the plays. Like
the plays, they happen all to deal with cases about which we are already
well informed. In general, they seem to follow the narratives and
depositions faithfully.
No mention has been made of manuscript sources. Those used by the author
have all belonged to one or other of the types of material described.
It has been remarked that there is current a large body of
misinformation about English witchcraft. It would be ungrateful of the
author not to acknowledge that some very good work has been done on the
theme. The Reverend Francis Hutchinson, as already mentioned, wrote in
1718 an epoch-making history of the subject, a book which is still
useful and can never be wholly displaced. In 1851 Thomas Wright brought
out his _Narratives of Sorcery and Magic_, a work at once entertaining
and learned. Wright wrote largely from original sources and wrote with a
good deal of care. Such blunders as he made were the result of haste and
of the want of those materials which we now possess. Mrs. Lynn Linton's
_Witch Stories_, published first in 1861, is a better book than might be
supposed from a casual glance at it. It was written with no more serious
purpose than to entertain, but it is by no means to be despised. So far
as it goes, it represents careful work. It would be wrong to pass over
Lecky's brilliant essay on witchcraft in his _History of Rationalism_,
valuable of course rather as an interpretation than as an historical
account. Lecky said many things about witchcraft that needed to be said,
and said them well. It is my belief that his verdicts as to the
importance of sundry factors may have to be modified; but, however that
be, the importance of his essay must always be recognized. One must not
omit in passing James Russell Lowell's charming essay on the subject.
Both Lecky and Lowell of course touched English witchcraft but lightly.
Since Mrs. Lynn Linton's no careful treatment of English witchcraft
proper has appeared. In 1907, however, Professor Kittredge published his
_Notes on Witchcraft_, the sixty-seven pages of which with their
footnotes contain a more scrupulous sifting of the evidence as to
witchcraft in England than is to be found in any other treatment.
Professor Kittredge is chiefly interested in English witchcraft as it
relates itself to witchcraft in New England, but his work contains much
that is fresh about the belief in England. As to the role and the
importance of various actors in the drama and as to sundry minor
matters, the writer has found himself forced to divergence of view. He
recognizes nevertheless the importance of Professor Kittredge's
contribution to the study of the whole subject and acknowledges his own
indebtedness to the essay for suggestion and guidance.
The author cannot hope that the work here presented is final.
Unfortunately there is still hidden away in England an unexplored mass
of local records. Some of them no doubt contain accounts of witch
trials. I have used chiefly such printed and manuscript materials as
were accessible in London and Oxford. Some day perhaps I may find time
to go the rounds of the English counties and search the masses of gaol
delivery records and municipal archives. From the really small amount of
new material on the subject brought to light by the Historical
Manuscripts Commission and by the publication of many municipal records,
it seems improbable that such a search would uncover so many unlisted
trials as seriously to modify the narrative. Nevertheless until such a
search is made no history of the subject has the right to be counted
final. Mr. Charles W. Wallace, the student of Shakespeare, tells me that
in turning over the multitudinous records of the Star Chamber he found a
few witch cases. Professor Kittredge believes that there is still a
great deal of such material to be turned up in private collections and
local archives. Any information on this matter which any student of
English local history can give me will be gratefully received.
I wish to express my thanks for reading parts of the manuscript to
William Savage Johnson of Kansas University and to Miss Ada Comstock of
the University of Minnesota. For general assistance and advice on the
subject I am under obligations to Professor Wilbur C. Abbott and to
Professor George Burton Adams of Yale University. It is quite impossible
to say how very much I owe to Professor George L. Burr of Cornell. From
cover to cover the book, since the award to it of the Adams Prize, has
profited from his painstaking criticism and wise suggestion.
W. N.
Minneapolis, _October 10, 1911_.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Preface v
CHAPTER I.
The Beginnings of English Witchcraft 1