The Pendle Witches

Elizabeth Francis was the most notable first witch trial in 1566 England. She claimed that she had used her cat, coincidentally named Satan, to self-abort a fetus, commit murder, and to cripple her husband. Elizabeth also named other supposed witches including Agnes Waterhouse, who became the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in England (Alexander, 2015).

Agnes’ story begins with King Henry VIII. After the beheading of Ann Boleyn in 1536, he believed firmly that the woman had been a witch and had had him bewitched. In 1542, he created and passed a law against witchcraft. There was widespread public concern at this point anyway, but the law passed by the King made the trials larger and more official (Klimczak, 2016). 

Agnes was known in her town as Mother Waterhouse which implied that the town liked her and saw her as a mothering, kind, single woman. There is speculation that she was also appreciated as a healer and spirit woman. She lived a respectful life until the accusation condemning her for witchcraft in 1566 (Klimczak, 2016). 

Agnes was accused of causing the illness and subsequent death of a man named William Fynne.  She was also charged with killing livestock, killing her husband and causing illness amongst the village. People began to believe that Agnes and Elizabeth were sisters and committed these atrocities by witchcraft together (Klimczak, 2016).

During the trial, Elizabeth confessed that her cat, Satan, was her familiar that she had recieved from her grandmother; also a witchcraft practitioner that had taught Elizabeth. She claimed the cat spoke to her and followed her bidding in return for a drop of blood. He killed her baby when it was only 6 months old but believed the cat had done it for a reason. She also claimed that the animal had a vast knowledge of herbology and taught her what it knew. She stated that she had gifted the cat to Agnes to serve her and had received a cake as a thank you (Klimczak, 2016).

Agnes confessed that the cat had proved its power to her by killing a pig. It proceeded to teach her witchcraft as well. The cat caused her many problems, she stated, so she turned it into a toad and kept it in a black pot lined with cotton (Klimczak, 2016).

Agnes’ daughter, Joan,  was a young woman of 18 and also one of the accused in this trial who claimed that she was curious about the mysterious cat and decided to look at it while her mother was away. It was a toad at the time. She claimed to have played with it but it never spoke to her or taught her witchcraft. She considered the toad as a pet and used it to prank her 12 year old neighbor Agnes Brown. Agnes claimed that it was not a toad she saw but rather a demon with a black dog’s body, an ape’s face, a short tail and horns. The judges took this testimony and believed that Agnes had bespelled the young girl with malicious intent to hurt her (Klimczak, 2016).

Officials demanded of Agnes to declare loyalty and ask forgiveness from God. It is said, however, that Agnes instead told them that she had sent her familiar to hurt and damage goods of another of her neighbors but did not succeed. The officials claimed the failure was due to the man’s unwavering faith in God (Klimczak, 2016). 

In 1612, one of the most notorious witch trials took place; the trial of the Pendle Witches (Castelo, n.d.). Caused by ongoing accusations between rivals to be lead local healers. They were arrested and held until their trial. Instigated by Jennet Device, the ten year old child of one of the families, accused everyone in the trial of witchcraft. The trial was an unprecedented example of a well-recorded event and later called “The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in County Lancaster” by Thomas Potts. As this happened during the pandemic of witches, the child’s testimony was taken as truth (Alexander, 2015).

In total, 12 people were accused. One died in custody, the other 11 went to trial. Only one of the remaining 11 was found not guilty. Six of these were members of feuding families; the Dendike family and the Chattox family. They were both matriarchal families led by widows in poverty. Despite the hysteria surrounding witches and witchcraft, there was still a great amount of fascination in those who posed as witches and healers and the posers made plenty of money off of this fascination.  When the King’s fascination with witchcraft turned to fear, unrest began to take the place of the fascination amongst the civilians who posed as and supported witches (Castelow, n.d.). 

The king’s laws passed against witchcraft including towns compiling lists of those who did not attend church or would not take the holy communion. Lancaster, where the majority of the trials took place, was regarded as a ‘wild west’ of sorts, where the holy doctrine was honored but without much understanding. This left the trials judges uneasy (Castelow, n.d.).

The origin of the trial was originally an altercation between Alizon Device and a wandering peddler named John Law. Alizon was thought to be either traveling or begging when she came across Law in the Trawden forest. When she begged Law for some pins, he refused and Alizon cursed him. Not long after, Law suffered a near fatal stroke, which he was convinced was the fault of the curse Alizon had laid upon him. Alizon confessed in the courts that she had implored the Devil to hurt Law. Furthermore, she accused her own grandmother of the Demdike family and also members of the Chattox family of witchcraft. The families had been feuding for years after a member of the Chattox family broke into the home and stole possessions of the Demdike clan. Alizons accusations may have been an act of revenge as the whole family held a grudge including Alizon’s father, John Device. He claimed that Old Chattox had threatened harm to him and the rest of the family because the Demdick family refused to pay for their protection (Castelow, n.d.).

Four of the citizens of the village had died years of the trial but with the accusations floating around, people began to believe that the Chattox family had witched them. Alizon’s own father told the courts that his daughter had previously hexed a young girl and her mother stated that Alizon had a mark on her body from the Devil where it had supposedly drank her blood, leaving her insane. The matriarchs of both clans confessed to selling their souls, as well. People also claimed that the daughter of Chattox, Anne, had been seen making mysterious clay figures. All accused were sent to trial (Castelow, n.d.). 

There were those who were sympathetic to the families. They too, were arrested and brought to trial. The matriarch of the Demdike clan never made it to the trial. She was unable to live through the conditions the accused were forced to live in while imprisoned in the dungeons. A small girl, Jennet Device was the main evidence supplier in the trials, held in August of 1612. She was nine years old. Normally, nine year olds would not be permitted to give evidence in a trial. However, this being a trial against accused witches, normal precedents were overturned. Jennet gave evidence against those who had sympathized with the accused, the original accused, and even her own family. The extent of torture the witches endured caused some to truly believe that they were witches and had powers (Castelow, n.d.) 

On the 20th of August, 1612, the Pendle witches were led to gallows hill where their execution sentence was carried out.