Starts: Saturday 5 June 2027, 10am to 1pm BST
On 12 March 1612 Alizon Device met John Law, a pedlar from Halifax, on her way to Trawden Forest, Pendle, and asked him for some pins. Law refused to undo his pack and walked off, but then he fell and appeared to go into a “witch-induced illness”. Law and his relatives complained to the local magistrates thereby kick-starting a series of investigations that led ultimately to the conviction of eleven “witches”, nine of whom were hanged at Gallows Hill, Lancaster, on 20 August 1612. Over twenty years later in 1633-34, another 19-20 people from Pendle were accused of witchcraft, but they were eventually pardoned, not hanged.
This course examines the events of 1612 and considers the reasons why so many were accused and convicted of witchcraft in 1612. Six of the Pendle witches came from two families, headed by octogenarians Elizabeth Southerns (aka Demdike), and Anne Whittle (aka Chattox), and all the others were connected with these families. Were Demdike and Chattox poor elderly victims of their richer neighbours? Or were they victims of the “religious fault line” in Pendle between Puritanism and those who still held onto their (illegal) Catholic beliefs? Did king James I’s belief in witchcraft motivate local officials who wished to benefit from the crown by exposing “witches”? Or was this just a case of local rivalry between Chattox and Demdike which backfired?
Start Date: Saturday 5June 2027
Time: 10am to 1pm BST
Duration: 1 week
Full Fee: £35
Location: Online
This course will be delivered via Zoom. Students joining the course will need access to a computer, laptop or tablet with a microphone (essential) and a webcam (desirable), as well as a reliable broadband connection.
Book your place on this course using this link. We will send you an invoice after you have booked your place.