The image
of the witch being burnt for her crimes is a familiar one, well
established in the popular imagination. It might be surprising to
learn therefore, that although a frequent occurrence in Scotland and
on the Continent, there were only a handful of suspected witches
burnt in England, and even those few that come down to us through various sources cannot always be verified. (It must also be noted that if a suspected witch was burnt it tended to be for another crime such as treason or petty treason - the fact that witchcraft was involved did not legally lead to burning.)
An example of death by burning is related in the 1652 pamphlet, The Witch of Wapping, which includes the execution of Prudence Lee for murdering her husband.
“Then the Executioner setting her in a pitch barrel, bound her to the stake, and placed the straw and Faggots about her; whereupon she lifting her eyes towards Heaven, desired all that were present t pray for her; and the Executioner putting fire to the straw, she cried out, Lord Jesus have mercy on my soul; and after the fire was kindled she was heard to shrike out terribly some five or six several times.”
But who actually met this fate? In
The History and Antiquities of the Flourishing Corporation
of Kings Lynn, published by
Benjamin Mackerell in 1738, there is the following entry:
1590
One Margaret Read was this Year Burnt at Lynn for Witchcraft.
Although there is very little know regarding this case, and some
doubts as to whether it took place at all, an enduring legend has
grown up around Margaret Read. In the brickwork of a house in the
Tuesday Market Place in Kings Lynn, is the mark of the Witch's Heart.
The story goes that as the unfortunate Margaret was being burnt for
her crimes, her heart burst from her body with such force that it hit
the wall of the house, marking the stone in the process. There are
various versions of what happened next, but what cannot be disputed is that the mark remains there to this day.
Witch's Heart - Kings Lynn
Whatever the truth of the matter, there are
two possible contenders for the identity of Margaret. If she were
unmarried, a Margrett Read is recorded in the parish registers for
Kings Lynn, baptised on 25th
March, 1568, daughter of William and Joane Read. This would make
Margaret only twenty-two years of age at her death, not unheard of
but potentially unlikely for a witchcraft trial. More likely is
Margrett Hammond who married Thomas Read at St. Margaret's church in
Kings Lynn on 8th
April, 1562. No children appear in the register to this couple, and it is unclear what happened to her husband.
Another
tantalising glimpse of a woman who may have gone to the stake is
Mother Green. An article in the Yorkshire
Archaeological Journal quotes the Pocklington Parish Registers for 1630:
“Old
wife Green burnt in Market for a witch.”
Often erroneously cited as the
last witch to be burnt in England, there is nothing else known of
this woman or what sent her to such a fate.
Two
other mentions of women burnt for witchcraft are found in Browne's
1814 History of
Norwich. It is related that around Christmas time in 1648:
“Two
old women, (one of whom, named Tirrel, belonged to the hospital) were
burnt on a charge of witchcraft.”
In the same period, eight people had been condemned and executed for
participating in recent riots, whilst others had been fined and
imprisoned during this period of great unrest.
Although in some sources Tirrel's
unnamed companion is listed as Mary Oliver, it seems that Mary Oliver
actually met her fate a decade later. Browne himself counts her case
separately, stating that in 1659:
“Mary
Oliver burnt for witchcraft and her goods confiscated for the use of
the city.”
The Encyclopaedia of Witchcraft and
Demonology says Mary was burned because she killed her husband, but it
is unclear where that reference originated. There is a possibility
that Mary was the wife of Thomas Oliver, a couple who left for Boston
on the Mary Anne in 1632 but returned in 1649 due to Mary's inability
to control her tongue and Thomas' inability to control Mary. After
his first wife's death, Thomas Oliver went on to marry Bridget Bishop who in
turn was executed as a witch in 1692 in Salem. Bridget was previously accused (and cleared in that instance) of killing Thomas, and it might be that Thomas' two wives were confused in some tellings of the story.
Norwich Castle, where Mary Oliver may have been executed.
The case
that can be best verified and about which the most is known is that
of Mary Lakeland, the “Ipswich Witch” who was burnt in 1645.
Found guilty of causing wasting and death by witchcraft and with
consorting with familiar spirits, Mary's crimes were punishable by
death under the 1604 Witchcraft Act. It was because she had committed
Petit or Petty Treason, in the form of murdering her husband,
however, that she was condemned to burn, and burning remained the
punishment for this crime until it was finally removed from law in 1828.
There are
several theories for Mary's untimely demise. These range from the belief that she was actually guilty of the crimes she was accused of - which included bewitching to death several people to whom she owed money, as well as getting revenge on a man who had rejected her grand daughter - to the more mundane explanation that she, like many other poor widows, was a burden
and an embarrassment to the town, and her conviction was a way to remove her. The most fantastical suggestion is that Mary Lakeland was in fact a secret Royalist informer, who, when discovered, was duly punished.
The burning of a witch was a costly practice, perhaps one reason why it did not take off as a regular method of execution during the periods of witchcraft accusations. In Mary Lakeland's time for instance, it cost the rate payers £3 3s 6d, as opposed to the £1 it would have cost to hang her.
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