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The myth of the witch had a strong cultural presence in 17th century New England and, as in Europe, witchcraft was strongly associated with devil-worship. [3] About eighty people were accused of practicing witchcraft in a witch-hunt that lasted throughout New England from 1647 to 1663. Thirteen women and two men were executed. [4]
In the 16th and 17th centuries people across England, irrespective of status, believed in witches. Witchcraft was first made a capital offence in 1542 under a statute of Henry VIII but was repealed five years later.
Religious tensions in England during the 16th and 17th centuries resulted in the introduction of serious penalties for witchcraft. Henry VIII's Witchcraft Act 1541 [1] (33 Hen. 8. c. 8) was the first to define witchcraft as a felony, a crime punishable by death and the forfeiture of goods and chattels. [2] It was forbidden to:
Elizabeth Lowys (died 30 March 1565), was an English woman executed for witchcraft. She is known as the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in England after the passing of the Witchcraft Act 1563. [1] She came from Great Waltham in Essex [1] and she was married to the farmer John Lowys of Chelmsford, and was active as a cunning woman. She ...
Frontispiece of The Discovery of Witches, 1647. Elizabeth Clarke appears on the right [1] Elizabeth Clarke (c. 1565–1645), alias Bedinfield, was the first woman persecuted by the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins in 1645 in Essex, England. At 80 years old, she was accused of witchcraft by local tailor John Rivet.
Articles relating to witchcraft in England, traditionally the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have used malevolent magic against their own community, and often to have communed with evil beings.
The 16th-century English Reformation, during which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church, split the Southworth family of Samlesbury Hall. Sir John Southworth, head of the family, was a leading recusant who had been arrested several times for refusing to abandon his Catholic faith.
Margaret Harkett (d. 19 February 1585 at Tyburn), was an English woman executed for witchcraft.. She was a sixty year old widow from Stanmore at the time she was arrested. She was accused of having bewitched two of her neighbors to deat