Royal Witches by Gemma Hollman

The stories of four royal women, their lives intertwined by family and bound by persecution, unravel the history of witchcraft in fifteenth-century England.

Until the mass hysteria of the seventeenth century, accusations of witchcraft in England were rare. However, four royal women, related in family and in court ties— Joan of Navarre, Eleanor Cobham, Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Elizabeth Woodville —were accused of practicing witchcraft in order to kill or influence the king.

Some of these women may have turned to the “dark arts” in order to divine the future or obtain healing potions, but the purpose of the accusations was purely political. Despite their status, these women were vulnerable because of their gender, as the men around them moved them like pawns for political gains.

In Royal Witches, Gemma Hollman explores the lives and the cases of these so-called witches, placing them in the historical context of fifteenth-century England, a setting rife with political upheaval and war. In a time when the line between science and magic was blurred, these trials offer a tantalizing insight into how malicious magic would be used and would later cause such mass hysteria in centuries to come.

Possessed By the Devil: The Real History Of The Islandmagee Witches And Ireland's Only Mass Witchcraft Trial by Andrew Sneddon

In 1711, in County Antrim, eight women were put on trial accused of orchestrating the demonic possession of young Mary Dunbar, and the haunting and supernatural murder of a local clergyman's wife. Mary Dunbar was the star witness in this trial, and the women were, by the standards of the time, believable witches - they smoked, they drank, they just did not look right. 

With echoes of Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible', and in fact Mary Dunbar repeated many of the reports from the Salem Witch-trials word for word in court, this is a story of murder, of hysteria, and of how the 'witch craze' that claimed over 400,000 lives in Europe played out on Irish shores.

The Astronomer and the Witch by Ulinka Rublack

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was one of the most admired astronomers who ever lived and a key figure in the scientific revolution. A defender of Copernicus´s sun-centred universe, he famously discovered that planets move in ellipses, and defined the three laws of planetary motion. Perhaps less well known is that in 1615, when Kepler was at the height of his career, his widowed mother Katharina was accused of witchcraft. The proceedings led to a criminal trial that lasted six years, with Kepler conducting his mother's defence. 

In The Astronomer and the Witch, Ulinka Rublack pieces together the tale of this extraordinary episode in Kepler's life, one which takes us to the heart of his changing world. First and foremost an intense family drama, the story brings to life the world of a small Lutheran community in the centre of Europe at a time of deep religious and political turmoil - a century after the Reformation, and on the threshold of the Thirty Years' War. 

Kepler's defence of his mother also offers us a fascinating glimpse into the great astronomer's world view, on the cusp between Reformation and scientific revolution. While advancing rational explanations for the phenomena which his mother's accusers attributed to witchcraft, Kepler nevertheless did not call into question the existence of magic and witches. On the contrary, he clearly believed in them. And, as the story unfolds, it appears that there were moments when even Katharina's children struggled to understand what their mother had done...

Alice Kyteler: The Kilkenny 'witch' condemned for sorcery

From The Journal: 

The search for witches wasn’t confined to Salem – here in Ireland we had our own witch trial, when Kilkenny’s Dame Alice Kyteler was accused of sorcery. Now a book by Irish author Niamh Boyce takes a fictionalised look at Kyteler’s trial, through the experiences of the woman who died instead of her.

In 1324, Petronella de Meath, Kyteler’s maid, was flogged and burned at the stake. It was Dame Alice Kyteler who was the person who had been condemned for witchcraft (the first person in Ireland to be condemned for this), but Petronella died in her stead.

The story of Alice Kyteler and Petronella has been turned into a novel, written by Boyce, author of the novel The Herbalist. Called Her Kind, it took four years to write, and was a real labour of love for Boyce, as she told The Journal.

read more here @ The Journal

Library seeks witches to translate 17th-century spellbook

Calling all witches and warlocks … or library enthusiasts.

Chicago’s Newberry Library is crowdsourcing translations for three 17th-century manuscripts of spells, charms and magic.

Handwritten in archaic Latin and English, the three texts, “The Book of Magical Charms,” “The Commonplace Book” and “Cases of Conscience Concerning Witchcraft” are currently available online under the independent research library’s “Transcribing Faith” portal.

So far experts have figured out that “The Book of Magical Charms” – written by two anonymous witches (probably) in England in the 1600s – contains spells to cheat at dice, ease menstrual cramps and speak with spirits.

read more here @ New York Post

8 Fascinating Books About the Salem Witch Trials

This weekend marks the first execution of the Salem Witch Trials that took place 325 years ago. Bridget Bishop, one of 19 people executed for witchcraft in the Massachusetts city, was already on her third husband by the time the witch trials began. As the assertive mistress of two taverns, she had developed a reputation for arguing with her husbands in public and had been known to throw a wild party or two at her establishments. “I have no familiarity with the devil,” Bishop told the courts. Still, it didn’t save her life.

According to History of Massachusetts: “Bridget Bishop was not the first victim accused during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, but it is believed that officials chose to hear her case first because they felt, given her prior history and reputation, it would be an easy win. They were right and a string of other convictions and executions followed hers before the hysteria came to an end in 1693.”

The burgeoning contemporary interest in witches, witchcraft, paganism, the occult, and their links to feminism and female power inspired our list of books on the subject of the Salem Witch Trials. 

read more here @ Flavorwire

Kateřina Tučková and the latterday witch-hunts of Moravia

Radio Prague - Kateřina Tučková and the latterday witch-hunts of Moravia

The White Carpathian Mountains, straddling the border of Moravia and Slovakia, are one of the most beautiful and rural parts of the Czech Republic. Towns are few and far between and for centuries local people would take their aches and pains to old women renowned in the region for their special healing powers. They were known as “goddesses” and passed their knowledge from generation to generation. But Czechoslovakia’s post-war communist rulers saw the world these women represented as a threat and within two generations they were wiped out. Their tragic story is the subject of the excellent novel “Žítková Goddesses” by the young Moravian writer Kateřina Tučková.

Read interview with David Vaughan Here @ Radio Prague

Review: Lancashire Witches

I was very grateful to receive a copy of Mary Sharratt's "Daughters of the Witching Hill" recently.  I had only heard mention of one the the characters in Mary's book - only briefly - and was not aware of the full story.  So this was a delightful read.

The book opens with one Bess Southerns - Old Demdike - telling her story of how she became a "cunning woman" and goes on to detail her life in the Pendle Forest.  She tells of her first meeting with her "familiar" and how local folk consulted her for cures and blessings.  Little by little her family and close friends are drawn into her circle - some share in her gifts - others fear them.

The second part of the story is told by Alizon Device, Bess' granddaughter.  Here there is more about Alizon, her brother James - a "simple" lad with an agenda of his own - and her half-sister Jennet.  Without giving too much away, the family eventually implodes and when the local magistrate finally catches up with then, none of their cunning can save them from their ultimate fate.

"Daughters of the Witching Hill" is set in the latter years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and the early years of the reign of King James I (or VI of Scotland).  The dominant religion of the time is that of the Reformers or Protestants.  The Catholics are considered heretics and any attempt the maintain the "old religion" is dealt with quite harshly.  It is into the cross-current of religious dogma that Bess and her family are caught.  Many still remember and practice the "old religion" and disguise it in local folk remedies.  Times are harsh for the folk of Pendle Forest and any misfortune is seized upon as the work of those of "ill-repute".

But ultimately, like it's Salem counterpart, the small community is torn apart by the political aspirations of one, the greed of others, by revenge of another, and through spite and misunderstanding.

Although Mary herself admits to some slight modification in the names of her characters (to save unnecessary confusion), the story is quite true.

In addition to Mary's wonderful book, I would also recommend an older and slightly different version of events in "The Lancashire Witches" by William Harrision Ainsworth, Esq (Pub: 1849).