Pendle

Question 1

What were the consequences of the gunpowder plot?

Answer 1

Harsher on Catholics, laws to celebrate bonfire night.
Plotters hanged, drawn and quartered
James even more paranoid than before

Question 2

Who wrote an account of the case and who was it dedicated to?

Answer 2

Thomas Potts- Thomas Knyvet who caught Guy Fawkes.

Question 3

Why is the setting of this case significant?

Answer 3

It was in Lancashire which was an area seen as more Catholic than other areas of the country.

Question 4

What were the Assizes courts?

Answer 4

Courts held in main county towns, presided over by visiting judges.

Question 5

What kind of crime did the Assizes deal with?

Answer 5

Dealt with capital crime. Verdicts returned by locally picked juries of 12.

Question 6

What happened to the population of Pendle between 1443 and 1650?

Answer 6

It grew hugely from only around 50 to 1,620 in 1650.

Question 7

What negative effects had the reformation had on Pendle?

Answer 7

Clergy would sometimes come to blows with superiors over marrying without a license. Catholics had to live in secret.

Question 8

What were the effects of the closing down of Whalley Abbey?

Answer 8

It removed income, cloth, grain and money for the poor. A Puritan clergy was set up in the area and had some influence over the trials.

Question 9

What did the 1604 witchcraft act do?

Answer 9

Made it no longer required that you needed tangible evidence of maleficium to convict and suspects became more treated like robbers or murderers. Conjuring of spirits became a capital offence.

Question 10

Who was the JP of he area?

Answer 10

Roger Nowell

Question 11

Who were the heads of the rival families?

Answer 11

Old Demdike and Old Chattox

Question 12

Who were the 4 people detained by April 1612?

Answer 12

Alizon Device, Old Demdike, Old Chattox, Anne Redferne

Question 13

What was significant about the Malkin Tower meeting?

Answer 13

Fit the ideas of continental witchcraft, led to the denunciations of others including higher status individuals like Alice Nutter. Played on people’s fears of Catholics, linked to gunpowder plot.

Question 14

Who was present at the trial?

Answer 14

Thomas Potts, Roger Nowell, Defendants, General public, Judges Bromley and Altham.

Question 15

What was the acquittal rate in England at the time for witchcraft?

Answer 15

75%

Question 16

What was significant about the conduct and nature of the trial?

Answer 16

Thomas Potts wrote everything down. ALizon Device did not try to defend herself. Roger Nowell used Jennet Device to denounce. 10 of the 19 accused were found guilty.

Question 17

What were the two main industries people were in?

Answer 17

Cattle rearing and cloth, this was due to cattle rearing being to unstable.

Question 18

What kind of inflation was there in the 16th century?

Answer 18

Rents increased by 39%

Question 19

What new buildings were built in order to accommodate the growing population of Pendle?

Answer 19

Corn mill in 1546, corn mill in 1598, Church of Newchurch was built in 1544

Question 20

What event highlighted the poverty of copyholders and what were the consequences of this?

Answer 20

They clashed with the Duchy of Lancaster, copyholders petitioned him due to having limited resources to pay fees. They were forced to sell their land and this made them less likely to give charity.

Question 21

How did the closing down of Whalley abbey cause a power shift?

Answer 21

Gentry had control over the abbey and its lands. They could exercise more power than they had before. Most were anti-Catholic or Puritan.

Question 22

What caused Old Demdike and Chattox to have a rivalry?

Answer 22

There was a case of supposed stealing which John Device had to settle through grain donations. They competed for a market as wise women. Old Chattox was accused of bewitching old Demdike’s cattle.

Question 23

What did Alizon device accuse Old Demdike and Old Chattox of doing?

Answer 23

Old Demdike- Bewitching a cow, turning milk into butter, cursing Richard Baldwin’s daughter
Old Chattox- Murder through witchcraft, cursing Anne Nutter, killing John Moore’s son, killing Hugh More,

Question 24

Who did Roger Nowell arrest after Alizon Device?

Answer 24

Old Chattox, Old Demdike, Anne redferne

Question 25

What did Demdike confess to doing?

Answer 25

Making and effigy to bewitch someone, suckling of a familiar, unable to invoke the name of Jesus.

Question 26

What did Chattox confess to?

Answer 26

15 years earlier she gave her soul to a man, was promised that was promised she would want for nothing and could take revenge on all people she wanted to.

Question 27

What caused the witch hunt to continue on beyond the four initial women?

Answer 27

The meeting at Malkin Tower caused others to be brough under suspicion.

Question 28

What supposedly took place during the Malkin Tower meeting?

Answer 28

Planning to secure release of four women impriosned in Lancaster Castle, carrying out a ritual in order to name Alizon Device’s spirit, to provide protection to Jennet Preston, the woman identified as a witch by James Device.

Question 29

Why was much of the evidence of the Malkin Tower meeting questionable?

Answer 29

Most of it came from a young girl, Jennet Device and a lot of it came from the deceitful brother James.

Question 30

What is the likely reality of the Malkin tower meeting?

Answer 30

It was between neighbours and friends worried they would be arrested rather than what had been described.

Question 31

How many were detained as a result of Nowell’s investigations after the Malkin Tower meeting?

Answer 31

11

Question 32

What was the main consequence of the death of Old Demdike?

Answer 32

Old Chattox used her far more to cover for herself, claimed she had hold Demdike confess to several murders, said she had a conversation at Malkin tower Demdike’s home as opposed to hers.

Question 33

What is the relevance of James Altham’s background?

Answer 33

He was n MP and was Baron of the exchequer, was a well respected orthodox Protestant. Held similar views on witch hunting as the King and had a copy of Daemonolgie with him. Concerned with gaining the King’s favour.

Question 34

What is the relevance of Bromley’s background?

Answer 34

Was educated in the Calvinist tradition, was a mediator with the house of lords over unions over England and Scotland. Wanted a promotion to a circuit closer to London. Concerned with gaining King’s favour.

Question 35

What was unfair about the trials?

Answer 35

The defendants were not allowed to prepare for their defence and many didn’t know the exact charges against them. Judges were happy to accept dubious evidence

Question 36

Who acted as prosecutor?

Answer 36

Roger Nowell.

Question 37

What was the fate of Old Chattox?

Answer 37

She was found guilty of the murder 18 years earlier of Robert Nutter. She broke down, acknowledge that the evidence was true and asked for God’s forgiveness in front of the court. She was hanged.

Question 38

What was the fate of Anne Redferne?

Answer 38

She was the only one of the original four women found not guilty, she did not confess to witchcraft. However she was eventually found guilty by the jury.

Question 39

Why was Alice Nutter an unusual suspect?

Answer 39

She was much wealthier and better conncted than her counterparts however her wealthy family did not intervene.

Question 40

Why may Pott’s account be unreliable?

Answer 40

It was made to improve Potts, Bromley and Altham’s reputation. It was not a word for word transcript but was an overview.

Question 41

Who was Potts’ account dedicated to?

Answer 41

Thomas Knyvet, the man credited with apprehending Guy Fawkes.

Question 42

What was the aim of Potts’ account?

Answer 42

TO hold the trials as an example, to justify the trials with a scholarly air and to protect his Altham’s and Bromley’s reputation.

Question 43

How many of the witches on trial were from the two main families?

Answer 43

6 of the 11

Question 44

Who were the first three girls to be possessed?

Answer 44

Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Parris, Ann Putnam