Badsey Community Sports & Social Club
In 1690, a popular pamphlet proclaimed:
The full Tryals, Examination, and Condemnation of four Notorious Witches at the Assizes held at Worcester, on Tuesday the 4th of March 1690. With the manner, how they were found guilty of bewitching several children to death, as also, their confessions, and last dying speeches at the place of execution, with other amazing particulars concerning the said witchcraft.
Rebecca West, Margaret Landis, Susan Cock, and Rose Hallybread were brought to court for the bewitching of cattle and children, it was claimed that the devil had come to Rebecca in the shape of a young man, promising to revenge her enemies and to be her loving husband. He killed a man for her, John Hart, the man was ‘bewitched’ to death. It was said that Margaret had also bewitched a man’s son to death after he accused her of being a witch. Under examination, she had admitted to having Imps as her familiars. In due course, they all confessed their crimes and were executed.
Is it possible that the women had been witches in the truest sense? Is it possible that they had actually committed acts of maleficium (malignant magic? And if so, is there any archaeological evidence for the practice of malign witchcraft in the archaeological record?
We now know that the witch trials were rigged and that preconceptions of what constituted a ‘witch’ were based upon a culturally-constructed stereotype. Each of the confessions in the Worcester trial followed an almost identical narrative and one that was repeated in other witchcraft trials elsewhere in England.
Evidence suggests that few people ever actually practised the kind of witchcraft as depicted in popular pamphlets. However, the perceived threats of maleficium seemed very real to the common populace - enough for them to take counter-measures! In this talk, I will look at the kind of magical protection which the people of Worcestershire undertook to protect their home, its occupants and their livestock!
Wayne Perkins
BA (Archaeology), ACIfA (Associate, Chartered Institute for Archaeologists)
wmp1@yahoo.com 07702 495518 www.ritualprotectionmarks.com
October 2024
