Pendle Witch Trial

Question 1

What was society in Pendle like after The Reformation?

Answer 1

An ‘ignorant corner’ where Catholicism was still active

Question 2

What was the significance of Whalley Abbey to Pendle society?

Answer 2

Main source of economic and social support.

Question 3

What happened to Pendle society after 1536?

Answer 3

• A group of Puritan ministers had more and more influence
• The new parish had a population of 10,000 people and they couldn’t be cared for effectively.

Question 4

What was the economy like in Pendle?

Answer 4

• It was mainly a pastoral economy.
• There was also a strong cloth industry (70% owned tools for this).

Question 5

What were the economic difficulties in Pendle?

Answer 5

• Rent increased by 39%
• Enclosure took land away from tenants and sold/ rented it out to other people.

Question 6

Who was Old Demdike? (Elizabeth Southerns)

Answer 6

• Was considered a witch by many in her local area.
• She lived with her daughter, Elizabeth Device, and Elizabeth’s children James, Alizon, and Jennet

Question 7

Were the Southerns’ family seen as suspicious?

Answer 7

• It was not considered unusual that the whole family believed in magic and that they could use it.

Question 8

What is the significance of Old Demdike?

Answer 8

Long standing rivalry between Old Demdike and Old Chattox.

Question 9

What is the case against Alison Device?

Answer 9

• John Law was travelling when Alison asked him for some pins- John Law refused.
• Alison muttered a curse
• A little while later he collapsed and apparently encountered her familiar
• She believed she was a witch and confessed to using a curse and familiar

Question 10

What was Old Demdike accused of?

Answer 10

• Inability to evoke the name of Jesus
• Having a familiar named Tibb, and suckling him
• Making an effigy of a person to bewitch them

Question 11

Who does Old Demdike accuse?

Answer 11

• Old Chattox and Anne of making figures out of clay
  → Tibb told her these were effigies of The Nutter Family
• Christopher Nutter hd accused Old Chattox on his deathbed in 1595

Question 12

What did Jennet Device’s testimony include?

Answer 12

→ A sabbat at a graveyard in Newchurch- Elizabeth, James and Jennet Device are questioned
→ That at least 20 witches were present at the meeting at her house and that James had stolen a sheep to be eaten
→ James also revealed more names and named the meeting “Great Assembly and Feast”

Question 13

What did Jennet Device claim the witches planned?

Answer 13

• To free the women imprisoned at Lancashire castle by blowing it up
• To perform a ritual to name Alison Device’s spirit
• To provide protection to Jennet Preston, a women identified as a witch

Question 14

Who were the judges in the trial?

Answer 14

• Justice of the Peace was Roger Nowell, High Sheriff of Lancashire and had strong connections with high profile Protestants
• Sir James Altham- one of the most senior judges in England, strongly Protestant
• Sir Edward Bromley- another senior judge, highly trusted by the King

Question 15

What was the outcome of the trial?

Answer 15

• 18th-19th August in Lancaster
• All but one pleaded not guilty → executed by hanging

Question 16

What was the 1604 Witchcraft Act?

Answer 16

→ changed the required evidence, tangible evidence no longer compulsory, but expected for other equivalent crimes
→ now conjuring spirits were a capital offence, promotes the continental idea that the most dangerous aspect of witchcraft was working with the devil

Question 17

What was the impact of the 1604 Witchcraft Act on the start of the trial?

Answer 17

• Resulted in ideas about maleficium fusing with traditional beliefs about the power of witches
  → Old Chattox and Old Demdike had been accused previously of bewitching cattle, Alison Device bewitched John Law (these bewitchments became actions of the Devil)

Question 18

What impact did the 1604 Witchcraft Act have on the outcome of the trial?

Answer 18

• Despite having a more complex system of governance than Scotland, it wasn’t coherent to ensure the law was followed consistently
  →the Act came with legal safeguards that were meant to protect accused witches but in the context of the Pendle trial these weren’t implemented

Question 19

What was the economic context of Pendle?

Answer 19

• Pendle was a pastoral and cloth making economy
  → 70% of homes had tools for cloth production, cows cost £3 (the equivalent of 6 months work)
  Copyholders (landlords) treated sub-tenants badly
  → rent was often 25% more than they had to pay themselves

Question 20

What was the impact of the economic context of Pendle?

Answer 20

• Established a class divide and a group of people who could be held responsible
• Contributed to the feeling of fear and uncertainty that was already present in society
  →Anne Redferne was a sub-tenant of Robert Nutter (her mother was accused of murdering him)
  → Old Chattox was accused of bewitching cattle and killing a cow that belonged to her rival’s friend, John Nutter

Question 21

How was the economic context of Pendle NOT influential in the case?

Answer 21

Other areas of England experiencing the same economic struggles, and hunts of this size didn’t take place
→ Trial in Northampton shortly before which had 2 people on trial

Question 22

What was the religious context of Pendle?

Answer 22

• Whalley Abbey dissolved in 1536
  → Had provided resources for local residents, a new parish was created that now had a population of 10,000 people who couldn’t be cared for effectively
• Lancashire historically had looked after Recusant Catholics, Puritan influence grew during the 1590s, and they were anxious to dispel popery and Catholic ignorance

Question 23

What was the impact of religion on initial accusations?

Answer 23

• Religious strife helped engender witchcraft accusations
  →lack of welfare support exacerbated the economic hardship people experienced
  → perceived helpful ‘white’ magic (often based in traditional Catholic practices) was now perceived as maleficium (Old Chattox and Old Demdike believed to participate in both)

Question 24

What was the impact of the religious context on the outcome of the trial?

Answer 24

• The Puritan influence continued to grow and this drove Roger Nowell, and Judges Altham and Bromley to root out the ‘anti-Christ’
• King James wanted to reinforce Protestantism as the established religion, ordered that everyone attend Church on Good Friday
  → when the families of the 4 initially accused witches headed to Malkin Tower instead, the belief was that they had favoured the Devil

Question 25

What was the social context of Pendle?

Answer 25

Pendle society was ‘enmeshed in local feuds and rivalries’
→Old Demdike and Old Chattox were matriarchs of two rival families, both of whom had reputations for having magical powers
→rivalry began in 1601 when Alison Device accused Anne Redferne (O.C daughter) of stealing items of hers
→ this triggered a series of accusations: Old Chattox bewitching a cow because Anthony Nutter was good friends with Old Demdike instead

Question 26

What was the impact of social context on initial accusations?

Answer 26

Created a situation where if something went wrong, they were automatically held accountable + a catalyst for quick increase in accusations
→ Alison Device/ Old Demdike accuse Old Chattox and Anne Redferne (the investigation grows from 1 person to 4 very quickly, it then increases to 12 people)
→feuds from the late 1500s fed into the evidence provided, the Nutter family gave evidence against Old Chattox

Question 27

What are some alternative interpretations of social contexts in Pendle?

Answer 27

The dire economic context meant that the two families were actually competing for business
→ they turned to healing as a way to make money, and when this sometimes didn’t work, accusations of witchcraft were levied

Question 28

What were Alison Device’s actions?

Answer 28

• Alison Device confessed to being a witch and placing a curse on John Law who collapsed shortly afterwards he refused to give her pins
• In her confession she remembers having a conversation with a black dog that then placed the curse on Law
• It is likely that sleep deprivation, pricking and walking were used to obtain her confession

Question 29

What was the impact of accusing Old Demdike?

Answer 29

Sparked the initial period of investigation under Roger Nowell
→ Alison firmly believed she came from a family of witches, explained that her grandmother (Old Demdike) had educated her in witchcraft and confirmed other encounters she had with a black dog
→Alison appears to confirm that Old Demdike was guilty of the things she was accused (bewitching Nutter’s cow which then died, murdering the daughter of a local farmer who Old Demdike was feuding with)

Question 30

What was the impact of accusing Old Chattox and Anne Redferne?

Answer 30

• Alison goes onto explain about the rivalry between Old Demdike and Old Chattox, but that O.C was accused of particularly heinous crimes
  → murdering multiple people, members of the Nutter family, who favoured a friendship with Old Demdike, and bewitching cows in the local community

Question 31

What was the impact of Roger Nowell’s decision?

Answer 31

• 3 days after Device’s questioning began, Old Demdike, Old Chattox and Anne Redferne were arrested
  → confessions and witness testimony implicating them was heard, Nowell as JP had authority to deal with the cases himself but chose to imprison them, awaiting trial in August during the assize court

Question 32

What were Roger Nowell’s actions?

Answer 32

Unquestionably responsible for instigating the initial hunt
→ Nowell led the investigation when Alizon Device was accused, with her confession, he did not stop his investigation and got her to elaborate, which widened his investigation
→ the 1604 Witchcraft Act gave him authority to do this

Question 33

What were Roger Nowell’s motivations?

Answer 33

• Reveals how entrenched religious tension was in society
  → He was influenced by his religious upbringing (heavy Protestant influence, almost Puritan)
  → like Bromley and Altham later on in the trial, he wanted to prove himself to King James as a defender of Protestantism (7 years after Gunpowder Plot)

Question 34

What was the impact of Roger Nowell on extending the witch hunt?

Answer 34

Actively enforces a declaration from King James about attending Church on Good Friday
→ if people didn’t attend, it was a sign that they were denouncing the name of God
→ Nowell used the declaration as a reason to arrest Elizabeth Device and co at Malkin Tower who didn’t attend Church, they were then accused of witchcraft activities as well (the hunt grows further).

Question 35

Who were the judges on the Pendle trial?

Answer 35

• Sir James Altham- one of the most senior judges in England, strongly Protestant
• Sir Edward Bromley- another senior judge, highly trusted by the King
• Both wanted the King’s favour used the case as a way to achieve this

Question 36

What happened in the trial?

Answer 36

• It is likely that the defendants did not know the charges against them until they were in court
• They were also prepared to accept dubious evidence (spectral evidence from a 9-year old) when convicting the 11 accused witches
  → other assize court judges questioned this type of evidence at other trials in other parts of England.

Question 37

What was the impact of the judges on the trial?

Answer 37

• Altham and Bromley are not responsible for causing the hunt or increasing the number of people accused
• BUT their reliance on spectral evidence, suggests they are accountable for the outcome of the trial and the executions of 11 women.
  →the Witchcraft Act (1604) put legal safeguards in place, particularly in relation to evidence that was offered.