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Section C: Key Theme 1: Changing attitudes to witchcraft in Britain -…

- - - - 17 year old Thomas Darling confessed to the lie he had told 3 years prior: confessing to falsely accusing Alice Goodridge of bewitching him in 1596, which led to her trial, being found guilty, and dying in custody before her execution.
      - Edward Anderson wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury and Darrell was summoned to be examined.
      - Among the witnesses were Darling and William Somers, who both confessed that their stories were untrue.
      - Although he never admitted to being a fraud, Darrell was unable to resume a career as a minister. There is little doubt that he had intended to boost his reputation/profit by faking exorcisms.
      - Impact of the case
        
        A canon drawn up by Bishop Bancroft in 1604 forbade clergymen to practice exorcisms without a license.
        
        Harsnett, who had been present at the examinations of Darrell and Darling, published both 'A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practices of John Darrell' (1599) and 'A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures' (1603).
        
        Central authority intervenes.
        
        Undermines belief in exorcisms and witchcraft.
    - - Edmund Robinson claimed while looking for plums in the wood in November 1633 he was approached by 2 greyhounds who transformed into a local women, Francis Dickinson, and a horse. Dickinson forced Robinson onto the horse which took him to a gathering of witches.
      - Robinson proceeded to begin identifying witches (25), 17 of which were found guilty.
      - However the Privy Council began expressing scepticism and when summoned to London, Robinson was separated from his father and admitted his story was fictitious.
      - Impact of the case
        
        Accusations of witchcraft proved to be motivated by reasons that had nothing to do with the supernatural.
    - - William Drury was arrested for attempting to raise alms for the poor using forged pass, drawing attention by banging his drum. His drum was confiscated and in April was sent to the Mompesson's house (John Mompesson was the one to have intervened), where the family began to experience disturbances.
      - John Glanvill claimed tohavehard noises himself when inspecting the house, and spent time speaking to eyewitnesses who claimed Drury was guilty of witchcraft.
      - A long series of scepticism about the case began almost immediately, despite Glanvill's account.
      - Impact of the case
        
        Case was revisited in a number of works over the ensuing decades.
      - Scepticism
        
        Webster's 'The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft' 1677
        
        Bekker's 'The World Bewitched' 1692-94
        
        Beaumont's 'Historical, Physiological, and Theological Treatise of Spirits, Apparitions, Witchcrafts, and other Magical Practices' 1705
    - - Jane Wenham was accused of bewitching farmer Gilson after he refused to give her a small amount of straw.
      - She was found innocent but when she was unhappy with his punishment, she promised to get justice and his daughter and livestock then fell ill.
      - She was found guilty of witchcraft.
      - However, sceptical Powell sought her a royal pardon and sympathetic whig politician, Cowper, even gave her a cottage to live in until her death in 1730.
      - Why was Jane Wenham acquitted?
        
        Powell was unimpressed with the witnessess and evidence
        
        Influenced by recent sceptical cases amd publications
        
        Powell acquired a royal pardon for Wenham
        
        As an outsider, Powell was able to approach the case in a rational and objective way, realising many of the witnesses had personal grudges against Wenham.
  - - - Called to the the bar (barrister) in 1663, aged 21
      - Served as Lord Chief Justice 1689-1710
      - Legal system was corrupt
      - Known for his fairness and integrity
      - Influential in ending the prosecution of witches
    - - Holt presided over 11 witchcraft trials
        
        He acquitted all of those accused
      - Prepared to put the accuser of Sarah Murdock on trial for fraudulently claiming witchcraft
        
        Shows how serious his scepticism was
      - Influenced by the changing intellectual climate
    - - Large-scale witch-hunts continued
      - Remainig widespread beloieef in witchcraft
      - Faced opposition
      - Other more significant turning points
  - - - One year's imporisonment
    - - More that 1500 people had been executed for witchcraft in Britain
      - Opposition among the Scottish clergy
      - Many ordinary people continued to believe in witchcraft/witches
- - - - Member of the 'Family of Love'
        
        Radical Protestant sect that rejected many Catholic doctrines
        
        Nature controlled events on Earth, rather than God
      - Influenced by high profile cases
        
        John Salman 1587: accused of killing a cow and of murder
        
        3 women charged in 1566
        
        1582 hunts driven by JP Darcey, who forced continental-style punishments
      - Made a clear connection between fraudulent cases and the Catholic Church
      - Sceptical about witchcraft
        
        The 'supernatural unknown': undiscovered elements of nature can explain unusual phenomena
        
        Weyer's 'Canon Episcopi': mediaeval text acknowledging witchcraft was not real
      - Claimed the Inquisition of the Catholic Church was to blame for much of the cruelty towards witches
    - - Doubted the far-fetches charges against witches (eg. cannibalism)
      - Most likely melancholia/ delusion
      - Witches who did harm to animals or people did so through natural means (eg. poison)
  - - - Factional fighting within the church, as Darrell was a Puritan and Harsnett was A Church of England conformist.
      - Darrell responded to Harsnett with 'A detection of that sinful, lying, and ridiculous discours of Samuel Harsnett' in 1600
      - John Deacon and John Walker questioned whether exorcism was even a miracle in 'Dialogical discourses of spirits and divels' in 1601
  - - - Believed possession could be attributed to metal illness
      - Criticises a number of English works that promote witch-hunts
        
        'Daemonologie 1597
      - Claimed a witch was someone who led others towards an ungodly path either through idolatry, or through practices associated with the Catholic Church.
    - - Astrologers
      - Juggles,
      - Those who attempt to communicate with the dead
      - False prophets/ idolaters
      - People who encourage idolatry - Catholic priests
    - - The critical scriptures have been misinterpreted, particularly by Catholics, in order to justify witch-hunts.
      - Notes that Catholics were the first to kill for religion, the corruption of priests, and examples of idolatry.
      - Criticizes torture.
  - - - John Webster and Ady
        
        Agreed beliefs that are not founded in the teachings of the Bible should be rejected
      - Believed witches did exist and carried out evil acts but they were not able to command supernatural powers or have assistance from the Devil.
      - Believed John Mompesson was responsible for the Demon Drummer of Tedworth case
    - - All accusations of harm done by witches could be ascribed to natural causes.
  - - - Inspired by Reginald Scot
        
        Agreed on the impossibility of witchcraft
        
        Differed in their reasoning
        
        Bekker attempted to approach the Bible as his primary source of evidence in a reasoned and unbiased way
        
        Scot relied more on rumours and stories
      - Claimed there was a presence of deception and irregularity in every case
- - - - Revealed that witchcraft was barely mentioned and there was no evidence whatsoever for the worship of the Devil.
    - - Increasingly led to doubts about the powers of the Devil and his servants.
  - - - Becoming more sceptical and less willing to accept circumstantial 'evidence' to punish people for crimes that were impossible to prove
        
        Led to more acquittals.