Pendle witch trials 949805 225251702 2008-07-12T18:26:36Z LindsayH 86163 Disambiguate [[Halifax]] to [[Halifax, West Yorkshire]] using [[:en:Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation_popups|popups]] [[Image:Nance Redferne & Chattox.jpg|right|thumb| Two of the accused witches, Anne Whittle (Chattox) and her daughter Ann Redferne. Illustration from [[William Harrison Ainsworth]]'s 1849 novel, ''The Lancashire Witches''.]] The '''Pendle witch trials''' of 1612 are among the most famous [[witch trial]]s in [[English history]], and some of the best recorded of the 17th century. The 12&nbsp;accused were charged with murdering 10&nbsp;people in and around the [[Pendle Hill]] area of [[Lancashire]] by the use of [[witchcraft]]. One of the accused, Jennet Preston, lived in [[Gisburn]], just over the border from [[Pendle]], in [[Yorkshire]]. She was convicted at [[York]] [[Assize Court|Assizes]] on [[27 July]] [[1612]], and sentenced to death by [[hanging]]. The remainder were tried, together with the [[Samlesbury]] witches and others, at [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]] Assizes 17&ndash;19 August 1612, in what became known as the Lancashire witch trials. One of the alleged Pendle witches, Elizabeth Southerns, also known as "Old Demdike", died in jail before her trial. All but one of the surviving ten were found guilty, and hanged at Lancaster Moor on [[20 August]] [[1612]]. The Lancashire witch trials were unusual for [[England]] at that time in two respects: the official publication of the trial proceedings by the [[clerk to the court]], Thomas Potts, and in the number of witches hanged together, ten at Lancaster and one at York. It has been estimated that in all of the English witch trials between the early 15th and late 18th centuries, less than 500 witches were executed, so this one series of trials over three days in the summer of 1612 accounts for more than 2% of that total.<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;3.</ref> Six of the Pendle witches came from one of two families, each headed by a female in her eighties at the time of the trials: Elizabeth Southerns, her daughter Elizabeth Device, and her grandchildren James and Alizon Device; Anne Whittle (aka Chattox), and her daughter Anne Redferne. The others accused were Jane Bulcock and her son John Bulcock, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, Alice Gray, and Jennet Preston. ==Religious and political background== {{see also|European witchcraft}} [[Image:Pendle Hill Lancs.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Pendle Hill]] Lancashire at the end of the 16th century was regarded by the authorities as a wild and lawless region, an area "fabled for its theft, violence and sexual laxity, where the church was honoured without much understanding of its doctrines by the common people."<ref>Hasted (1993), p.&nbsp;5.</ref> The nearby [[Cistercian]] abbey at [[Whalley Abbey|Whalley]] had been [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolved]] by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] in 1537, a move strongly resisted by the local people, over whose lives the [[abbey]] had until then exerted an important influence. Despite the abbey's closure and the execution of its abbot, the people of Pendle remained largely faithful to their [[Roman Catholic]] beliefs and openly reverted to Catholicism on [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]]'s ascent to the throne in 1553. When Mary's half-sister [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth]] came to the throne in 1558 the priests were once again expelled, but in remote areas like Pendle they continued to conduct [[Mass (liturgy)|mass]] in secret. The [[Protestant]] establishment, however, regarded Catholic practices as little more than conjuring, and their prayers as charms.<ref>Hasted (1993), pp.&nbsp;8&ndash;9.</ref> On Elizabeth's death in 1603, she was succeeded by [[James I of England|James I]]. A product of the [[Scottish Reformation]], James had taken a great interest in the subject of witchcraft, and by the early 1590s he had become convinced that he was being plotted against by Scottish witches. After a visit to [[Denmark]], he had attended the trial in 1590 of the [[North Berwick witch trials|North Berwick Witches]], who were convicted of using witchcraft to send a storm against the ship which carried James and his wife Anne back home to [[Scotland]]. In 1597 he wrote a book, ''Daemonologie'', instructing his followers that they must denounce and prosecute any supporters or practitioners of witchcraft, and to let those who participated in such a crime know that they would face the [[death penalty]]. In 1604, just one year after James' accession to the English throne, a new law was enacted calling for the death penalty to be imposed where it was proven that harm had been caused through the use of [[magic]], or corpses had been exhumed for magical purposes.<ref>Martin (2007), p.&nbsp;96.</ref> By the time of the Pendle witch trials though, James' attitude towards witchcraft seems to have become more sceptical, even to the extent of personally involving himself in investigations to expose discrepancies in the evidence presented against some accused witches.<ref>Poole (2002), pp.&nbsp;23&ndash;24.</ref> In early 1612, the year of the trials, every [[justice of the peace]] (JP) in Lancashire was ordered to compile a list of [[recusant]]s in their area, those who refused to attend Church and to take [[communion rite|communion]], a criminal offence at that time.<ref>Hasted (1993), p.&nbsp;7.</ref> Roger Nowell of Read Hall, on the edge of Pendle [[Forest]], was the JP for Pendle. It was against this background of seeking out religious nonconformists that in March 1612 Nowell investigated a complaint of causing harm by witchcraft made to him by the family of John Law.<ref>Poole (2002), pp.&nbsp;1&ndash;2.</ref> Many of those who subsequently became implicated as the investigation progressed did indeed consider themselves to be witches, in the sense of being [[village]] [[healer]]s who practised magic, probably in return for payment. Such men and women were common in 16th-century rural England, and were an accepted part of village life.<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;67.</ref> King James' attitude towards witchcraft was perhaps difficult to understand for the two judges tasked with hearing the cases of the Pendle witches, Sir James Altham and Sir Edward Bromley. Altham was nearing the end of his judicial career, and he had recently been accused of a miscarriage of justice at the York Assizes, which had resulted in a woman being sentenced to death by hanging for witchcraft. Bromley on the other hand was hoping for promotion to a circuit nearer [[London]], and may have been uncertain as whether the best way to bring himself to James' attention was by encouraging convictions, or by "sceptically testing the witnesses to destruction".<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;24.</ref> ==Events leading up to the trials== [[Image:DemdikeFamily.png|right|thumb|portrait|240px|The family of Elizabeth Southerns<ref name="Hastedp12">Hasted (1993), p.&nbsp;12.</ref>]] [[Image:ChattoxFamily.png|right|thumb|portrait|240px|The family of Anne Whittle<ref name="Hastedp12" />]] One of the accused, Demdike, had been regarded in the area as a witch for 50 years, and some of the deaths the witches were accused of had happened many years before Roger Nowell started to take an interest in 1612.<ref>Hasted (1993), p.&nbsp;11.</ref> The event which seems to have triggered Nowell's investigation, culminating in the Pendle witch trials, occurred on {{nowrap|[[21 March]] [[1612]]}}, when Alizon Device encountered John Law.<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;1.</ref> Law was a [[peddler|pedlar]] from [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]] who Alizon came across as she was on her way to Trawden Forest.<ref>Bennett (1993), p.&nbsp;9.</ref> She asked him for some pins; whether she meant to buy them from him as she claimed, and Law refused to undo his pack for such a small transaction, or whether she had no money and was begging for them, as Law's son Abraham claimed, is unclear. What is clear is that a few minutes after that encounter Law suffered a stroke, for which he blamed Alizon.<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;83.</ref> She appears to have been convinced of her own powers; when Abraham Law took her to visit his father a few days after the incident, she reportedly confessed and asked for his forgiveness.<ref>Bennett (1993), p.&nbsp;10.</ref> Alizon Device, her mother Elizabeth, and her brother James were summoned to appear before Nowell on [[30 March]] [[1612]]. Alizon confessed that she had sold her soul to the [[Devil]], and that she had told him to lame John Law after he had called her a thief. Her brother, James, stated that his sister had also confessed to bewitching a local child. Elizabeth was more reticent, admitting only that her mother, Demdike, had a mark on her body, something that many, including Nowell, would have regarded as having been left by the Devil after he had sucked her blood.<ref>Bennett (1993), p.&nbsp;11.</ref> When questioned about Anne Whittle (Chattox), the matriarch of the other family reputedly involved in witchcraft in and around Pendle, Alizon perhaps saw an opportunity for revenge. There appears to have been bad blood between the two families, possibly dating from 1601, when a member of Chattox's family broke into Malkin Tower, the home of the Devices, and stole goods worth about £1.<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;80.</ref> Alizon accused Chattox of murdering four men by witchcraft, and of killing her father, John Device, who had died in 1601. She claimed that her father had been so frightened of Old Chattox that he had agreed to give her {{convert|8|lb|kg|1}} of oat meal each year in return for her promise not to hurt his family. The meal was handed over annually until the year before John's death; on his deathbed John claimed that his sickness had been caused by Chattox because they had not paid for protection.<ref>Hasted (1993), p.&nbsp;15.</ref> On [[April 2]] [[1612]], Demdike, Chattox, and Chattox's daughter Anne Redferne, were summoned to appear before Nowell. Both Demdike and Chattox were by then blind and in their eighties, and both provided Nowell with damaging confessions. Demdike claimed that she had given her soul to the Devil 20 years previously, and Chattox that she had given her soul to "a Thing like a Christian man",<ref name="Bennettp15">Bennet, (1993), p.&nbsp;15.</ref> on his promise that "she would not lack anything and would get any revenge she desired".<ref name="Bennettp15" /> Although Anne Redferne made no confession, Demdike said that she had seen Anne making clay figures. Margaret Crooke, another witness seen by Nowell that day, claimed that her brother had fallen sick and died after having had a disagreement with Redferne, and that he had frequently blamed her for his illness.<ref>Hasted (1993), pp.&nbsp;17&ndash;19.</ref> Based on the evidence and confessions he had obtained, Nowell committed Demdike, Chattox, Anne Redferne and Alizon Device to Lancaster Gaol, to be tried for ''maleficium'' &ndash; causing harm by witchcraft &ndash; at the next assizes.<ref>Bennett (1993), p.&nbsp;16.</ref> ===Meeting at Malkin Tower=== The [[Warrant of committal|committal]] and subsequent trial of the four women might have been the end of the matter, had it not been for a meeting organised by Elizabeth Device at Malkin Tower, the home of the Demdikes, held on [[6 April]] [[1612]].<ref>Hasted (1993), p.&nbsp;19.</ref> Friends and others sympathetic to the Demdike family attended the meeting, and when word of it reached Roger Nowell, he decided to investigate. On [[27 April]] [[1612]] an enquiry was held before Nowell and another magistrate, Nicholas Bannister, to determine the purpose of the meeting at Malkin Tower, who had attended, and what had happened there. As a result of the enquiry, eight more people were accused of witchcraft and committed for trial: Elizabeth Device, James Device, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, John Bulcock, Jane Bulcock, Alice Gray and Jennet Preston. Preston lived across the border in Yorkshire, so she was sent for trial at York Assizes; the others were sent to Lancaster Gaol to join the four already imprisoned there.<ref>Bennett (1993), p.&nbsp;22.</ref> ==Trials== Some of the accused, such as Alizon Device, seem to have genuinely believed in their own guilt. Others protested their innocence to the end. Nine of them &ndash; Alizon Device, Elizabeth Device, James Device, Anne Whittle, Anne Redferne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, John Bulcock and Jane Bulcock &ndash; were found guilty and hanged at Lancaster Moor on {{nowrap|[[20 August]] [[1612]]}}. Elizabeth Southerns had died while awaiting trial.<ref>Hasted (1993), p.&nbsp;23.</ref> ===York Assizes, 27 July 1612=== Jennet Preston lived in [[Gisburn]], in Yorkshire, so she was sent to York Assizes for trial. Her judges were Sir James Altham and Sir Edward Bromley. <div align="center"> {|class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:90%;" ! style="background: #8080FF; color: #ECECEC" height="17" width="15%" | Name ! style="background: #8080FF; color: #ECECEC" height="17" width="30%" | Charge ! style="background: #8080FF; color: #ECECEC" height="17" width="48%" | Notes ! style="background: #8080FF; color: #ECECEC" height="17" width="5%" | Verdict ! style="background: #8080FF; color: #ECECEC" height="17" width="2%" | Ref |- align="center" |'''Jennet Preston'''||Murder by witchcraft of Thomas Lister.||Jennet pleaded not guilty. She had previously appeared before Bromley in 1611, charged with murdering a child by witchcraft, but had been found not guilty. The most damning evidence given against her was that when she was taken to see Thomas Lister's body, the corpse "bled fresh bloud presently, in the presence of all that were there present" after she touched it.<ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;179.</ref>||Guilty | <ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;177.</ref> |- |} </div> ===Lancaster Assizes, 17&ndash;19 August 1612=== The judges at the Lancaster Assizes were once again Altham and Bromley. The prosecutor was local magistrate Roger Nowell, who had been responsible for collecting the various statements and confessions from the accused. <div align="center"> {|class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:90%;" ! style="background: #8080FF; color: #ECECEC" height="17" width="15%" | Name ! style="background: #8080FF; color: #ECECEC" height="17" width="30%" | Charge ! style="background: #8080FF; color: #ECECEC" height="17" width="48%" | Notes ! style="background: #8080FF; color: #ECECEC" height="17" width="5%" | Verdict ! style="background: #8080FF; color: #ECECEC" height="17" width="2%" | Ref(s). |- align="center" |'''Anne Whittle (Chattox)'''||Murder by witchcraft of Robert Nutter.||Chattox pleaded not guilty, but the confession she had made to Roger Nowell was read out in court, and evidence against her was presented by James Robinson, who had lived with the Chattox family 20 years earlier. He claimed to remember Robert Nutter's accusations against Chattox, that she had made his beer turn sour, and that she was commonly believed to be a witch. Confronted by the evidence, Chattox broke down and admitted her guilt, calling on God for forgiveness and the judges to be merciful to her daughter, Anne Redferne.||Guilty | <ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;34.</ref><ref>Hasted (1993), pp.&nbsp;27&ndash;28.</ref> |- bgcolor="#EFEFEF" align="center" |'''Elizabeth Device'''||Murder by witchcraft of James Robinson, John Robinson and, together with Alice Nutter and Demdike, the murder of Henry Mitton.||Potts records that "this odious witch"<ref name="Daviesp55">Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;55.</ref> suffered from a facial deformity resulting in her left eye being set lower than her right. The main witness against Elizabeth was her daughter, Jennet, who was about nine years old at the time of the trial. When Jennet was asked to stand up and give evidence against her mother, Elizabeth began to scream and curse her daughter, forcing the judges to have her removed from the courtroom before Jennet's evidence could be heard.||Guilty | <ref name="Daviesp55" /><ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;52.</ref> |- align="center" |'''James Device'''||Murder by witchcraft of Anne Townley and John Duckworth.||James pleaded not guilty, but the evidence presented against him by his sister Jennet, who said that she had seen her brother asking a black dog he had conjured up to help him kill Townley, along with his earlier confession to Nowell, was sufficient to persuade the jury to find him guilty.||Guilty | <ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;65.</ref><ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;70.</ref> |- bgcolor="#EFEFEF" align="center" |'''Alizon Device'''||Causing harm by witchcraft to John Law.||Uniquely among the accused, Alizon was confronted in court by her alleged victim, John Law. She seems to have genuinely believed in her own guilt and that of her family; when Law was brought into court she fell to her knees in tears and confessed to her guilt.||Guilty | <ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;139.</ref><ref>Hasted (1993), p.&nbsp;37.</ref> |- align="center" |'''Alice Nutter'''||Murder by witchcraft of Henry Mitton.||Alice made no statement either before or during her trial, except to enter her plea of not guilty. She was unusual among the accused in being comparatively wealthy, the widow of a tenant yeoman farmer. The prosecution alleged that she had, together with Demdike and Elizabeth Device, caused the death of Henry Mitton after he had refused to give Demdike a penny she had begged from him. The only evidence against Alice seems to have been that James Device claimed Demdike had told him of the murder, and Jennet Device in her statement said that Alice had been present at the Malkin Tower meeting.||Guilty | <ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;116.</ref><ref>Hasted (1993), p.&nbsp;34.</ref> |- bgcolor="#EFEFEF" align="center" |'''Jane Bulcock'''||Murder by witchcraft of Jennet Deane.|| ||Guilty | <ref name="Daviesp131">Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;131.</ref> |- align="center" |'''John Bulcock'''||Murder by witchcraft of Jennet Deane.|| ||Guilty | <ref name="Daviesp131" /> |- bgcolor="#EFEFEF" align="center" |'''Anne Redferne'''||Murder by witchcraft of Christopher Nutter.||Late in the afternoon of [[18 August]] Anne was tried for the murder of Robert Nutter, but she was acquitted because of the lack of evidence against her. The following day she was tried for the murder of Robert's father, Christopher. She pleaded not guilty, and refused to admit her guilt to the end. She had made no confession, and neither had she given evidence against any other of the accused.||Guilty | <ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;108.</ref><ref>Bennett (1993), pp.&nbsp;27&ndash;28.</ref> |- align="center" |'''Katherine Hewitt (Mould-Heeles)'''||Murder by witchcraft of Anne Foulds.||Katherine Hewitt had attended the meeting at Malkin Tower with Alice Grey. According to the evidence given by James Device, both Hewitt and Grey told the others at that meeting that they had killed a child from Colne, Anne Foulds. Jennet Device also picked Katherine out of a line-up, and substantiated her attendance at the Malkin Tower meeting.||Guilty | <ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;124.</ref> |- bgcolor="#EFEFEF" align="center" |'''Alice Gray'''||Murder by witchcraft of Anne Foulds.||Potts does not provide an account of Alice Gray's trial, simply recording her as one of the Salmesbury witches &ndash; which she was not, as she was one of those identified as having been at the Malkin Tower meeting &ndash; and naming her in the list of those found not guilty.||Not guilty | <ref>Davies (1971), pp.&nbsp;29, 167.</ref> |- |} </div> ==''The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster''== [[Image:Potts.png|left|thumb|upright|Title page of the original edition published in 1613]] Thomas Potts, the clerk to the Lancaster Assizes, wrote the account of the trials of the Lancaster witches, making them some of the most famous and best recorded [[witch trial]]s of the 17th century. Potts was instructed to write his account by the trial judges, Sir James Altham and Sir Edward Bromley. He completed the work on [[16 November]] [[1612]], and submitted it to the judges for review. Bromley revised and corrected the manuscript before its publication in 1613, declaring it to be "truly reported" and "fit and worthie to be published".<ref>Davies (1971), p.&nbsp;xli.</ref> Historian Robert Poole has suggested that Bromley and Altham worked closely with Potts in the writing of ''The Wonderfvll Discoverie of Witches in the Covntie of Lancaster'' "to manipulate the extraordinary records into an account that would protect and advance their careers."<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;32.</ref> Potts' book has been called the "clearest example of an account [of a witch trial] obviously published to display the shining efficiency and justice of the legal system."<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;53.</ref> Although written as an apparently verbatim account, Potts was not writing a report of what was actually said at the trials; instead, he was reflecting what happened.<ref name="PooleP48">Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;48.</ref> In the early 17th-century English legal process, all [[indictment]]s were initially submitted to a [[grand jury]], whose job was to decide whether there was a ''[[prima facie]]'' case against the accused. Once a batch of indictments had been found, then that group of prisoners was taken into the courtroom to be tried by the petty jury, the forerunner of the modern jury. The accused witches would not have been tried separately as Potts' account suggests, presumably for narrative coherence, but in groups.<ref>Poole (2002), pp.&nbsp;48&ndash;49.</ref> Historian Marion Gibson has written that: "Potts and other [[pamphleteer]]s have a different understanding of truthful reporting from modern scholars, subjugating what really happened to what ought to have happened."<ref name="PooleP48" /> Her view nevertheless is that Potts "seems to give a generally trustworthy, though not comprehensive, account of an Assize witchcraft trial, provided that the reader is constantly aware of his use of written material instead of verbatim reports."<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;50.</ref> ==Modern interpretation== Court records show that Lancashire was peculiar in the north of England for the frequency of its witch trials. Neighbouring [[Cheshire]], for instance, suffered from economic problems and religious activists just as did Lancashire, but in that county between 1589 and 1675 only 47 individuals were indicted for causing harm by witchcraft, of whom 11 were found guilty.<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;10.</ref> Pendle was part of the [[parish]] of [[Whalley]], an area covering {{convert|180|sqmi|km2|}}, too large to be effective in preaching and teaching Christian [[doctrine]]; the survival of Catholicism and the upsurge of witchcraft in Lancashire have been attributed to that over-stretched [[parochial]] structure. Until its [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolution]], the spiritual needs of the people of Pendle and surrounding districts had been served by nearby [[Whalley Abbey]], but its closure in 1537 left a moral vacuum.<ref>Poole (2002), pp.&nbsp;88&ndash;89.</ref> Many of the allegations made in the Pendle witch trials resulted from the families of Demdike and Chattox making accusations against each other. Historian John Swain has said that the outbreaks of witchcraft in and around Pendle demonstrate the extent to which people could make a living either by posing as a witch, or by accusing or threatening to accuse others of being a witch.<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;83.</ref> The literature on witchcraft often embodies an assumption that the accused were tragic victims, often mentally or physically abnormal. On the other hand, at least for some, witchcraft may have been a business like any other, albeit one with significant risks.<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;85.</ref> The Demdike and Chattox families may have been enemies because they were in competition with each other, trying to make a living from healing, begging and [[extortion]].<ref>Poole (2002), p.&nbsp;80.</ref> ==Cultural references== [[Pendle Hill]], which dominates the landscape of the area, continues to be associated with witchcraft and every [[Halloween]], there is a hilltop gathering there.<ref>{{cite web| title =Skipton Web: Pendle Hill| work =Skipton Web | publisher = skiptonweb.co.uk| url = http://www.skiptonweb.co.uk/tourist/nearby_attractions/pendlehill.htm | format = http| accessdate = 2008-04-29}}</ref> Several local [[corporation|corporate]] bodies and businesses, such as [[Transdev]]'s "The Witch Way", Burnley and Pendle [[bus]] services use a flying witch [[logo]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Witch Way|work =Transdev: Burnley and Pendle| publisher =Transdev|url = http://www.thewitchway.co.uk/|format = http|accessdate = 2008-04-29}}</ref> [[Pendle College]] at [[Lancaster University]] has its logo of a witch on a broom wearing the college scarf. In 2004, the television show ''[[Most Haunted]]'' produced a Halloween Special on the Pendle Witches and the hauntings surrounding Pendle Hill. The final hour of the programme, in which the presenters attempted to conduct a [[seance]] with the Pendle Witches, was the most watched show on UK television that evening.<ref>{{cite web |title=Most Haunted crew has a spooky visit to Pendle |publisher=The Clitheroe Advertiser and Times |url=http://www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk/clitheroenews/39Most-Haunted39-crew-has-a.883121.jp |date=2004-11-05 |accessdate=2007-01-05}}</ref> ''Cold Light Singing'', a play based on the story of the Pendle Witches, has been touring the UK since 2004.<ref>{{cite web |title=Previous Shows |publisher=Function Factory Theatre |url=http://www.functionfactorytheatre.co.uk/3.html |accessdate=2008-04-28}}</ref> ==See also== *[[North Berwick witch trials]] *[[Bideford witch trial]] ==References== ===Notes=== {{reflist|2}} ===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book |first=Walter |last=Bennett |title=The Pendle Witches |publisher=Lancashire County Books |place= |year=1993 |isbn=1871236274}} *{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Davies |title=The Trial of the Lancaster Witches |publisher=Frederick Muller Ltd |place= |year=1971 |isbn=584109210}} :Facsimile reprint of Davies' 1929 book, containing the text of the ''The Wonderfull Discouerie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster'' by Potts, Thomas (1613) *{{cite book |first=Rachel A. C. |last=Hasted |title=The Pendle Witch Trial 1612 |publisher=Lancashire County Books |place= |year=1993 |isbn=1871236231}} *{{cite book |last=Martin|first=Lois |title=The History of Witchcraft |publisher=Pocket Essentials |place= |year=2007 |isbn=1904048773}} *{{cite book |last=Poole|first=Robert (ed.) |title=The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories |publisher=Manchester University Press |place= |year=2002 |isbn=0719062047}} {{refend}} ==External links== *[http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/kjd/index.htm King James' Daemonology 1597] *[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18253/18253-8.txt Thomas Potts: The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster] {{Witch Hunt}} [[Category:English folklore]] [[Category:History of Lancashire]] [[Category:People executed for witchcraft]] [[Category:Witch trials]] [[Category:1612 in law]] [[Category:17th century in England]]