This fictionalized account of the 1612 trials of the "Pendle Witches" recounts the events surrounding one of the most famous witch trials in English history, where twelve accused witches were charged with the murder of ten people. Although a work of fiction, the book does an admirable job of describing the circumstances surrounding the events in an engaging and often heartbreaking manner. A multi-generational narrative, seen through the eyes of a grandmother and granddaughter, the novel follows the various figures through their many tribulations, culminating in a moving portrayal of their ultimate and tragic fate.
The novel is replete with details drawn from ample surviving documentation. These so-called trials were reportedly the best recorded of the seventeenth century. Of the eleven people who were tried - one died in prison - ten were found guilty and hanged; only one escaped conviction. Surprisingly, however, England was apparently one of the least harsh countries on accused witches, as fewer than 500 executions were carried out in nearly 300 years. That may sound like a substantial number of innocent victims, but consider that on the continent, it has been estimated that several hundred thousand women were likely killed, either officially or unofficially, after being accused of witchcraft during what has been termed by modern scholars as the "Witchcraze."
The primary family which comprised the "Pendle Witches" was indeed composed of actual historical figures: Elizabeth Southern (Demdike), her daughter, Elizabeth "Liza" Device, and grandchildren James "Jamie," the "simple" boy described in the novel, Alizon, the second narrator in addition to "Mother Demdike" herself, and Jennet, the nine-year-old who implicates them. Once accusations started flying, additional named persons included the onetime-friend of "Bess," Anne Whittle and Anne Redferne, and even a wealthy woman of the gentry, whose ample resources and influence were not sufficient to spare her.
"Witchcraft" notwithstanding, it has been theorized that these two families did likely engage in a type of folk medicine practice, involving traditional herbal medicine and charms, including prohibited Latin incantations recited by Catholics, both of which were much maligned by fanatical Protestant religious authorities. Elizabeth herself passed a law, "An Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts" which proscribed the death penalty - but only where harm had been caused. Other acts were punished by imprisonment, for anyone who used or practiced any witchcraft, charm or sorcery.
However, as depicted in the novel, even when judges failed to initially condemn persons to death, the victims were often subjected to a type of "double jeopardy," where they were taken back before court authorities, with additional trumped-up charges leveled at them, until the death penalty was proscribed. Even if they were initially found not guilty, religious leaders kept at it until they got the result they wanted, often for political purposes and their own gain.
The novel is set against the backdrop of some admittedly troubled times. Catholic Queen Mary had ascended the English throne in 1553, but things changed dramatically upon the ascension in 1558 of her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth I, one of the most famous of all English monarchs, and, one of the most ruthless with respect to religious fervor. Even in her father, Henry VIII's time, the Cistercian abbey had been dissolved upon the founding of the Church of England and his break with the Roman Catholic church - religious strife had been brewing for decades.
Catholic priests were forced into hiding under Elizabeth's rule, as depicted in the novel, where wealthy patrons concealed both persons and relics, often in hidden rooms of their own homes, to save them from destruction, at great risk to their own lives. Priests were frequently hunted down, tortured to extract false confessions, and charged with treason and complicity with plots to have Queen Elizabeth overthrown in favor of Catholic-backed challengers. Many priests were hosted by families throughout the remote countryside, including Lancashire, in the far north of England, which was considered to be a backwoods region long known for its lawlessness and violence. Thus, many persons in remote areas such as Pendle continued to celebrate Catholic Mass in secret, which may have been more widely known than is often acknowledged.
Things really heated up under Elizabeth's successor, James I, however, whose mentality bordered on paranoia about witchcraft. He reportedly even believed himself to be the victim of a plot by Scottish witches, and pursued them with a fervor bordering on madness. He even wrote a book on the subject, "Daemonologie," in 1597, which features in the novel, and later enacted a law imposing the death penalty for cases where harm had been caused by the use of witchcraft. He also attempted to root out even passive dissenters, requiring in the year 1612 that every justice of the peace in Lancashire make a list of those who refused to attend Anglican services or to take communion.
Another historical person featured in the novel is John Law, the individual most directly credited with accusing the victims of harm caused by witchcraft. It didn't help that several actually did admit to being practicing witches, specifically herbal healers who used charms. Bess Demdike herself had been known to be a practicing healer for a half-century, according to some accounts. She was accused, along with others, of causing deaths many years prior to the actual complaint.
The events which precipitated the trials were apparently that Bess's granddaughter, Alizon, encountered John Law, a traveling salesman from Halifax, and sought to purchase some pins from him. Law apparently refused to sell them to her, and later reported that as he was leaving he stumbled and fell, but then accused Alizon of having caused his injury, to which, for reasons unknown, she eventually confessed. She must have known the penalty, or believed that her youth and contrite demeanor may have saved her from the gallows. Her mother, "Liza" and her brother James were also summoned to appear before the justice of the peace.
What followed is eerily reminiscent of what would occur in Salem some decades later, on another continent. For reasons unknown, but possibly on account of torture or coercion, Alizon confessed that she had sold her soul to the Devil and had caused harm to John Law, what appears to have actually been a stroke. For reasons unknown, family members then began to turn on each other, which occurred in Salem as well. Alizon's brother confirmed that she had confessed to bewitching a child. "Liza" reported that her mother "Bess" had a mark on her body, which was interpreted to have been placed there as the devil's mark. "Liza" was also accused by her own nine-year-old daughter, Jennet, who testified that her mother had been a witch for several years, and had a familiar named "Ball" in the form of a brown dog, who makes frequent appearance in the novel, first to "Bess" herself. Alizon then turned on another family, the Whittles, with accusations of murdering four men by the use of witchcraft and even of killing her father. When confronted and questioned, Bess and Anne, both in their eighties, confessed.
The so-called "Pendle Witches" were tried with another group of accused. Nine of the accused, including Alizon, her mother "Liza," her brother James, Anne Whittle and Anne Redferne were found guilty and hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster on Aug. 20, 1612. Their grandmother, Bess Demdike, died while awaiting trial.
This historical account is recorded in a report of the proceedings by the clerk of the court, Thomas Potts. It was published in 1613, and is one of the most specific accounts of witch trials which survives from this period. The novel does a capable job of humanizing the events, which, like so many other documents, records data and statements, but little about the daily lives of the persons who were subjected to unfathomable abuse and deprivation at the hands of those who sought to have them killed.
As depicted herein, the lives of women, particularly single mothers who had little means of support, were wretched indeed, and death, including by starvation, was never far away. Although they are often heartbreaking, I like reading fictionalized accounts related to historical events, as they are so much more impactful than the fragments of court records and official documents related to the trials. It is often easy to forget that Alizon and her family were real people, with real fears, hopes and dreams, whose lives ended prematurely simply for trying to exercise some control over their own destinies, being incessantly at the mercy of the elements, and, often to help and heal fellow unfortunates in their own communities.
The novel is replete with details drawn from ample surviving documentation. These so-called trials were reportedly the best recorded of the seventeenth century. Of the eleven people who were tried - one died in prison - ten were found guilty and hanged; only one escaped conviction. Surprisingly, however, England was apparently one of the least harsh countries on accused witches, as fewer than 500 executions were carried out in nearly 300 years. That may sound like a substantial number of innocent victims, but consider that on the continent, it has been estimated that several hundred thousand women were likely killed, either officially or unofficially, after being accused of witchcraft during what has been termed by modern scholars as the "Witchcraze."
The primary family which comprised the "Pendle Witches" was indeed composed of actual historical figures: Elizabeth Southern (Demdike), her daughter, Elizabeth "Liza" Device, and grandchildren James "Jamie," the "simple" boy described in the novel, Alizon, the second narrator in addition to "Mother Demdike" herself, and Jennet, the nine-year-old who implicates them. Once accusations started flying, additional named persons included the onetime-friend of "Bess," Anne Whittle and Anne Redferne, and even a wealthy woman of the gentry, whose ample resources and influence were not sufficient to spare her.
"Witchcraft" notwithstanding, it has been theorized that these two families did likely engage in a type of folk medicine practice, involving traditional herbal medicine and charms, including prohibited Latin incantations recited by Catholics, both of which were much maligned by fanatical Protestant religious authorities. Elizabeth herself passed a law, "An Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts" which proscribed the death penalty - but only where harm had been caused. Other acts were punished by imprisonment, for anyone who used or practiced any witchcraft, charm or sorcery.
However, as depicted in the novel, even when judges failed to initially condemn persons to death, the victims were often subjected to a type of "double jeopardy," where they were taken back before court authorities, with additional trumped-up charges leveled at them, until the death penalty was proscribed. Even if they were initially found not guilty, religious leaders kept at it until they got the result they wanted, often for political purposes and their own gain.
The novel is set against the backdrop of some admittedly troubled times. Catholic Queen Mary had ascended the English throne in 1553, but things changed dramatically upon the ascension in 1558 of her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth I, one of the most famous of all English monarchs, and, one of the most ruthless with respect to religious fervor. Even in her father, Henry VIII's time, the Cistercian abbey had been dissolved upon the founding of the Church of England and his break with the Roman Catholic church - religious strife had been brewing for decades.
Catholic priests were forced into hiding under Elizabeth's rule, as depicted in the novel, where wealthy patrons concealed both persons and relics, often in hidden rooms of their own homes, to save them from destruction, at great risk to their own lives. Priests were frequently hunted down, tortured to extract false confessions, and charged with treason and complicity with plots to have Queen Elizabeth overthrown in favor of Catholic-backed challengers. Many priests were hosted by families throughout the remote countryside, including Lancashire, in the far north of England, which was considered to be a backwoods region long known for its lawlessness and violence. Thus, many persons in remote areas such as Pendle continued to celebrate Catholic Mass in secret, which may have been more widely known than is often acknowledged.
Things really heated up under Elizabeth's successor, James I, however, whose mentality bordered on paranoia about witchcraft. He reportedly even believed himself to be the victim of a plot by Scottish witches, and pursued them with a fervor bordering on madness. He even wrote a book on the subject, "Daemonologie," in 1597, which features in the novel, and later enacted a law imposing the death penalty for cases where harm had been caused by the use of witchcraft. He also attempted to root out even passive dissenters, requiring in the year 1612 that every justice of the peace in Lancashire make a list of those who refused to attend Anglican services or to take communion.
Another historical person featured in the novel is John Law, the individual most directly credited with accusing the victims of harm caused by witchcraft. It didn't help that several actually did admit to being practicing witches, specifically herbal healers who used charms. Bess Demdike herself had been known to be a practicing healer for a half-century, according to some accounts. She was accused, along with others, of causing deaths many years prior to the actual complaint.
The events which precipitated the trials were apparently that Bess's granddaughter, Alizon, encountered John Law, a traveling salesman from Halifax, and sought to purchase some pins from him. Law apparently refused to sell them to her, and later reported that as he was leaving he stumbled and fell, but then accused Alizon of having caused his injury, to which, for reasons unknown, she eventually confessed. She must have known the penalty, or believed that her youth and contrite demeanor may have saved her from the gallows. Her mother, "Liza" and her brother James were also summoned to appear before the justice of the peace.
What followed is eerily reminiscent of what would occur in Salem some decades later, on another continent. For reasons unknown, but possibly on account of torture or coercion, Alizon confessed that she had sold her soul to the Devil and had caused harm to John Law, what appears to have actually been a stroke. For reasons unknown, family members then began to turn on each other, which occurred in Salem as well. Alizon's brother confirmed that she had confessed to bewitching a child. "Liza" reported that her mother "Bess" had a mark on her body, which was interpreted to have been placed there as the devil's mark. "Liza" was also accused by her own nine-year-old daughter, Jennet, who testified that her mother had been a witch for several years, and had a familiar named "Ball" in the form of a brown dog, who makes frequent appearance in the novel, first to "Bess" herself. Alizon then turned on another family, the Whittles, with accusations of murdering four men by the use of witchcraft and even of killing her father. When confronted and questioned, Bess and Anne, both in their eighties, confessed.
The so-called "Pendle Witches" were tried with another group of accused. Nine of the accused, including Alizon, her mother "Liza," her brother James, Anne Whittle and Anne Redferne were found guilty and hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster on Aug. 20, 1612. Their grandmother, Bess Demdike, died while awaiting trial.
This historical account is recorded in a report of the proceedings by the clerk of the court, Thomas Potts. It was published in 1613, and is one of the most specific accounts of witch trials which survives from this period. The novel does a capable job of humanizing the events, which, like so many other documents, records data and statements, but little about the daily lives of the persons who were subjected to unfathomable abuse and deprivation at the hands of those who sought to have them killed.
As depicted herein, the lives of women, particularly single mothers who had little means of support, were wretched indeed, and death, including by starvation, was never far away. Although they are often heartbreaking, I like reading fictionalized accounts related to historical events, as they are so much more impactful than the fragments of court records and official documents related to the trials. It is often easy to forget that Alizon and her family were real people, with real fears, hopes and dreams, whose lives ended prematurely simply for trying to exercise some control over their own destinies, being incessantly at the mercy of the elements, and, often to help and heal fellow unfortunates in their own communities.
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