[Brian]

In 17th century England there was a great fear of witchcraft brought about in part by King James I who believed that a curse had been put on him by witches that almost caused his ship to sink whilst at sea. As a direct result of this he instructed that the Bible he had commissioned to be translated into a new version carry a warning against witches. It was at the direct instruction of King James I that the words 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' were added to the Bible at Exodus 22:18

In the year 1612, within the forest of Pendle, there lived many poor, uneducated people existing in abject poverty. Amongst these were two aged ladies known as Old Mother Demdike and Chatox. They would have been little more than decrepit, deluded peasants. Demdike, whose real name was Elizabeth Southerns, lived in squalor at Malkin Tower with her daughter Elizabeth Device and her grandchildren, Alison, James and Jennet. Chatox, whose real name was Anne Whittle, lived in equally poor conditions in a cottage close to Demdike with her daughters Anne Redfearn and Bessie Whittle. They grubbed a living by begging and mumbled threats of witchcraft to persuade local people to give them food. They were basically a group of socially inadequate wasters pretending to be witches in order to trick people into handing them goods or money.

In an act of desperation Bessie Whittle broke into Malkin Tower, the home of the Demdike clan and stole some oatmeal and items of clothing. When Alison Device, the granddaugher of Demdike, found out she lodged a complaint with the local magistrate. When Bessie Whittle was charged with theft she made a counter-complaint stating that Old Mother Demdike and her clan were practising witchcraft. Alison Device then accused Chatox and her family of conducting similar satanic practices and so began the infamous story of the Lancashire witches.

The entire Demdike and Chattox clans were arrested, charged with witchcraft and transported to the dungeons at Lancaster Castle where they were locked up in chains. Old Mother Demdike perished in the cells at Lancaster before the trial began. The trial itself was recorded for posterity by Thomas Potts the Clerk to The Justices. His record of the proceedings survives to this day and is titled 'Wonderfull Discoverie Of Witches In The County Of Lancaster'.

The end result of The Trail of The Lancashire Witches was that nine of the accused were taken to the gallows and hanged. The evidence against them was mainly from nine year old Jennet Device whose testimony included statements that Demdike and Chatox had talked to frogs and flown round on broomsticks etc.

In 1633 there was another round-up of supposed witches in Pendle. This time seventeen people were found guilty on the testimony of another young child, eleven year old Edmund Robinson. However, amongst those making the accusations of witchcraft was Jennet Device now aged 30 years. The boy Edmund Robinson later retracted his story. The accused, though originally found guilty and exhibited at The Fleet Prison in London, were reprieved.

Regards

Brian