John Godbolt
Encyclopedia
John Godbolt or Godbold was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons
in 1640. He presided over witchcraft trials in East Anglia.
Godbolt was the son of Thomas Godbolt, of Tannington
, Suffolk. He was at school at Worlingworth, Suffolk and admitted to Caius College, Cambridge on 29 June 1599 aged 17. He was scholar from 1600 to 1602 and was admitted at Gray's Inn on 16 November 1605. In 1633 he was recorder of Bury St Edmunds. He became Chief Justice of the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire in 1638.
In April 1640, Godbolt was elected Member of Parliament
for Bury St Edmunds
in the Short Parliament
.
Godbolt was judge at the Bury St Edmunds assizes
in 1645 for the trial of alleged witches of whom two men and sixteen women were sentenced to death and 120 suspects were kept in gaol. However he forbade the use of the swimming test for witches. The sessions were adjourned because of the approach of Royalist forces, but subsequently another fifty were hanged as witches. Godbolt was made Justice of the Common Pleas
in 1647.
Godbolt died in 1648 at the age of 66.
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...
in 1640. He presided over witchcraft trials in East Anglia.
Godbolt was the son of Thomas Godbolt, of Tannington
Tannington
Tannington is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located around ten miles south-east of Diss, in 2005 its population was 110....
, Suffolk. He was at school at Worlingworth, Suffolk and admitted to Caius College, Cambridge on 29 June 1599 aged 17. He was scholar from 1600 to 1602 and was admitted at Gray's Inn on 16 November 1605. In 1633 he was recorder of Bury St Edmunds. He became Chief Justice of the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire in 1638.
In April 1640, Godbolt was elected Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (UK Parliament constituency)
Bury St Edmunds is a county constituency located in Suffolk and centred on the town of Bury St Edmunds. It elects one Member of Parliament to in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
in the Short Parliament
Short Parliament
The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....
.
Godbolt was judge at the Bury St Edmunds assizes
Bury St. Edmunds witch trials
The Bury St Edmunds witch trials were a series of trials conducted intermittently between the years 1599 and 1694 in the town of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England....
in 1645 for the trial of alleged witches of whom two men and sixteen women were sentenced to death and 120 suspects were kept in gaol. However he forbade the use of the swimming test for witches. The sessions were adjourned because of the approach of Royalist forces, but subsequently another fifty were hanged as witches. Godbolt was made Justice of the Common Pleas
Justice of the Common Pleas
Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court of common law within England and Wales, dealing with "common" pleas...
in 1647.
Godbolt died in 1648 at the age of 66.