Witchcraft in old and New England / by George Lyman Kittredge.

  • George Lyman Kittredge
Date:
1929
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Witchcraft in old and New England / by George Lyman Kittredge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    92/660 page 78
    April, about midnight, as they were “about their work” Master John gave Robert a sharp spit of lead and bade him stick it into the forehead of Richard’s image. Next day he sent Robert to Richard’s house to see how he was, and he found him out of his mind, shrieking and crying “Harrow!” And so Richard continued to suffer until Sunday, the 20th of May (1324), when Master John pulled out the spit and stuck it into the heart of the image. There it remained until the following Wednesday, when Richard died. Thus it appeared that the experiment was a complete success. Such is the sub¬ stance of Robert le Mareschal’s statement before the Coroner on November 30, 1324. Probably the death of Richard de Sowe was being investigated by this official, and Robert, finding himself under suspicion, had decided to “appeal” (i. e. accuse) the master magician and the burghers “of fel¬ ony” — thus (to use the nearest modern equivalent in such a case) turning king’s evidence. At all events, he was the ap¬ pellor both in the coroner’s court and also in the Court of the King’s Bench, to which the case was called up by a writ of certiorari (dated Nov. 6, 18 Ed. II [1324]). It was tried in June, 1325. By this time John de Notingham had died in prison. The Coventry burghers were acquitted. Robert le Mareschal was held in custody, and what became of him we cannot tell.28 An echo of this case is a letter sent in 1324 by Pope John XXII to the younger Despenser (one of the in¬ tended victims). In reply to Despenser’s complaint “ that he is threatened by magical and secret dealings, the pope recom¬ mends him to turn to God with his whole heart, and make a good confession and such satisfaction as shall be enjoined. No other remedies are necessary beyond the general indult which the pope grants him.” 29 Later in this century (1376) a learned friar in the service of Alice Perrers is said to have moulded figures of wax to in¬ fatuate King Edward (see p. 105). The ordinary mental pabulum of Englishmen in the four¬ teenth century may be illustrated by an often-quoted story from one of the most popular of all collections of exempla, the Gesta Romanorum. While a certain knight was in Rome on his way to the Holy Land, his wife at home had an intrigue with a clerk skilled in nigromancia. At her request the clerk
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3