Bideford witch trial
Encyclopedia
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
in England. Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles and Susannah Edwards were tried in 1682 in the town of Bideford
Bideford
Bideford is a small port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is also the main town of the Torridge local government district.-History:...
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
. Much of the evidence against them was heresy, although there was a confession by Lloyd, which she did not fully recant even with her execution imminent.
It is sometimes said that Alice Molland was the last person to be hanged for witchcraft in England; the only evidence for this comes from a single book, Side-lights on the Stuarts by J Inderwick; although Molland was sentenced to hang, there is no evidence that the sentence was carried out.
Investigation of Temperance Lloyd
On Saturday, July 1682, Thomas Eastchurch, a Bideford shopkeeper, complained to some of the town’s constables that Temperance Lloyd had been practicing witchcraft. The constables arrested Temperance Lloyd and locked her in the old chapel at the end of the bridge, where she remained until taken before the justices, Thomas Gist, Mayor of Bideford, and John DavieJohn Davie
John Davie was a merchant based in Bideford, Devon, England.John Davie was the son of John Davie and Marie Sutton who married in 1638...
, Alderman, on the Monday morning. The charges were: "suspicion of having used some magical art, sorcery or witchcraft upon the body of Grace Thomas and to have had discourse or familiarity with the devil in the likeness or shape of a black man." Grace Thomas thought that Temperance Lloyd was responsible for her illness, because the previous September, Lloyd had wept with joy and expressed pleasure in seeing that Thomas had regained her health.
Anne Wakely's evidence
Another woman, Anne Wakely, had seen a magpie fly to Thomas's chamber window. Suspecting witchcraft, she questioned Lloyd, and found her in the company of another. They found "in her secret parts two teats hanging nigh together like unto a piece of flesh that a child had sucked. And that each of the teat was about an inch in length."All the other evidence against Lloyd was hearsay, mostly claims to have overheard confessions by her. There were six such statements, including a claim by Anne Wakely that Lloyd was visited by the "black man" in the form of a bird. Wakely also said that Lloyd told her the black man had sucked at her extra teats.
Thomas Eastchurch's evidence
Thomas Eastchurch’s statement was held to be important, as he was a respected town gentleman; however, again his evidence was simply that he overheard Lloyd confess while she was in Bideford lock-up the previous day. He stated that she confessed to meeting "something in the likeness of a black man" who tempted her to go and torment Grace Thomas. Eastchurch claimed that at first she refused but then agreed, following him to Thomas's home where the black man told her to pinch Thomas several times. She is then said, on leaving the house, to have seen a tabby catTabby cat
A tabby is any cat that has a distinctive coat that features stripes, dots, lines or swirling patterns, usually together with an "M" mark on its forehead. Tabbies are sometimes erroneously assumed to be a cat breed. In fact, the tabby pattern is found in many breeds of cat, as well as among the...
go into Eastchurch's shop; she believed it to be the Devil.
At a later date, she met the black man again, who told her to kill Thomas, "whereupon Temperance did go to his house with the black man and that she went into the chamber where Grace Thomas lay, and further did confess that she did pinch and prick Grace Thomas again in several parts of her body, declaring with both of her hands how she did do it, and that thereupon Grace Thomas did cry out terribly." The black man, according to Eastchurch's statement, had told Lloyd she would be invisible during this attack. He also claimed that another, similar attack on Thomas followed.
Eastchurch then gave evidence that Grace Thomas sought medical help for her complaints.
Image magic
His wife Elizabeth, Grace’s sister, stated that Thomas found nine pricks in her knee, and suspecting witchcraft, confronted Lloyd, who replied that she had pricked a piece of leather nine times.The justices gave their permission for Lloyd to be questioned by the rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
, Michael Ogilby. Although she confessed to turning into a cat, stealing a doll and placing it in Thomas's bedchamber, she denied using image magic
Image magic
Image magic is a kind of Medieval European magical operation where the operator casts an image in wax and then acts on it in order to achieve a supernatural affect. It is historically associated with necromancy and with astrology...
despite specific questioning by Ogilby.
William Herbert's statement
William Herbert was the final witness against Temperance Lloyd. On 2 February 1671, he had heard his father William "declare on his deathbed that Temperance Lloyd... had bewitched him unto death." After he died, William saw marks on his body, and had Lloyd charged with witchcraft; she was acquitted at the ensuing trial.Temperance Lloyd's evidence
On July 3, Temperance Lloyd was herself questioned by the justices, and she admitted all the charges made against her. The following day, in prison she admitted killing William Herbert, Lydia Burman and Anne Fellow, and blinding Jane Dallyn in one eye. She admitted all of this as she believed she was still under the black man's protection.Exeter
On July 8, Temperance Lloyd was committed to ExeterExeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
Gaol to await trial for witchcraft. At the trial she maintained her guilt.
At the execution, she tried to give a reason for her actions: "the Devil met me in the street, and bid me kill her, and because I would not he beat me about the head and back."
Investigation of Mary Trembles and Susanna Edwards
Mary Trembles and Susanna Edwards were investigated after a local woman, Grace Barnes, blamed Trembles for her illness. On 18 July 1682, Mary Trembles was denounced to the authorities and consequently arrested, along with Susanna Edwards, who had accompanied Trembles while they were begging for food (there was a food shortageFamine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
in the country at the time).
It is possible that, after Barnes was taken ill that night, she felt guilty about denying the women food, and so she transferred her guilt by accusing the two women of witchcraft.
At the inquiry, Grace Barnes’s husband John spoke first, accusing Trembles of hurting his wife by witchcraft. William Edwards also spoke, claiming to have overheard a confession by Susanna. People came to see the two women while they were in the town lock-up.
Anthony Jones's shaking fit
During Edwards's questioning, Anthony Jones, husband of Joan, drew attention to Edwards's nervously wringing her hands. He accused her of "now tormenting some person or other." He said her reply was, "Well enough, I will fit thee." He then left the Guildhall to help bring Grace Barnes to bear witness. On returning, Anthony Jones cried out "Wife, I am now bewitched by this devil!" and was overcome by a shaking fit during which he "leapt and capered like a madman", after which he fell unconscious for half an hour. It is possible that he faked the entire incident.Confession of Mary Trembles
After this disturbance, Grace Barnes did not make her statement; instead the justices questioned Mary Trembles. She answered all their charges, confessing to witchcraft, but blaming Susanna Edwards for initiating her. Edwards followed with a confession of witchcraft, adding that she also tormented Dorcas Coleman, another local woman.The following day, Wednesday, July 19, Anthony Jones was sufficiently recovered from his fit to make his own statement, giving a report of the previous morning’s events. Later that day, Mary and Susanna were both searched for any suspicious marks on their bodies, then they were sent to Exeter to join Temperance Lloyd while awaiting their trial. Grace Barnes in her statement repeated the story and added that she had some suspicion of Susanna Edwards because she would often call on her husband’s house for frivolous reasons, or sometimes none at all.
Statement by William Edwards
Most of the evidence against the two women came from the statements of William Edwards and Joan Jones, who both claimed to be reporting what they had overheard. William Edwards said that the previous day, July 17, he did hear Susanna Edwards to confess that the Devil had carnal knowledgeCarnal knowledge
Carnal knowledge is an archaic or legal euphemism for sexual intercourse. The term derives from the Biblical usage of the verb know/knew, as in the King James and other versions, a euphemism for sexual conduct...
of her body, and "that he had sucked her in her breast and in her secret parts. And further saith that he did hear her say that she and Mary Trembles did appear hand in hand invisible in John Barnes’s house where Grace the wife of John Barnes did lie in a very sad condition. And further saith that he did then also hear Susanna to say that she and Mary Trembles were at that time come to make an end of her."
Statement by Joan Jones
Joan Jones claimed to have overheard Edwards making a full confession of witchcraft to a visitor from TorringtonTorrington
-People:* Jeff Torrington, Scottish writer* George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, British naval officer and statesman-Places:In Australia:* Torrington, New South WalesIn Canada:* Torrington, AlbertaIn the United Kingdom:...
. She then reported this matter to the justices. After the man, John Dunning, had left the Guildhall (curiously without giving evidence), Jones elaborated on what she claimed to have heard: that Trembles asked Edwards how she had become a witch, and Edwards had replied that a man wearing clothes "all of black" had offered that she would never be in want if only she did one thing for him – and that when she asked what, in God's name, that might be, the man vanished.
Jones then stated that she heard Tremble and Edwards discuss pricking Grace Barnes, and further claimed of Edwards: that the devil carried about Edwards's spirit; that the devil, in the form of a boy, suckled at her breast; and that the devil had had sex with her four times.
Jones also reported that Tremble argued with Edwards, accusing her of being made to be (or seem) a witch, and that she would lay the blame for this on Edwards.
Mary Trembles, in her confession, blamed Edwards for initiating her into witchcraft; Edwards in turn blamed Temperance Lloyd. Public opinion also turned more against Lloyd – "the woman that has debauched the other two."
While the two were in Exeter Gaol, stories of their dealing with the devil continued to circulate; a pamphlet of the time says, "They also asserted that the devil came with them to the prison door and there left them."
Dorcas Coleman's statement
Towards the end of July four late statements were admitted to the record. The only one adding significant matter to the case was that of Dorcas Coleman, who recalled an illness she had suffered in 1680. A doctor was unable to help, and suggested witchcraft, perhaps to excuse his medical failings. Susanna Edwards was then called, and Coleman accused her of being her tormentor.See also
- Salem witch trialsSalem witch trialsThe Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
- Torsåker witch trialsTorsåker witch trialsThe Torsåker witch trials took place in 1675 in Torsåker parish, Sweden. 71 people: 6 men and 65 women were beheaded and then burned, all in a single day...
- Ramsele witch trialRamsele witch trialThe Ramsele witch trial, which took place in 1634, is one of the few known Swedish witch trials before the great witch mania of 1668-1676.In the year of 1634 a man and several women were put on trial in the city of Ramsele in Ångermanland in Norrland in Sweden...
- North Berwick Witch Trial
- Würzburg witch trialWürzburg witch trialThe Würzburg witch trial, which took place in Germany in 1626–1631, is one of the biggest mass-trials and mass-executions seen in Europe during the Thirty Years War; 157 men, women and children in the city of Würzburg are confirmed to have been burned alive at the stake; 219 are believed to...
- [The Witches of Bideford, radio play by Heidi Stephenson, BBC Radio Devon]
- [The Witches of Bideford, radio play by Heidi Stephenson, produced by the Wireless Theatre Company, directed by Mariele Runacre.