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Post by dem bones on Jan 21, 2020 18:56:51 GMT
Peter Haining - The Witchcraft Papers: Contemporary Records of the Witchcraft Hysteria in Essex 1560-1700 (Robert Hale, 1974) Peter Haining - Introduction
Anonymous - Deposition Against a Witch
John Philip - The First Witch Trial in England
Sir Thomas Smith - The Memoirs of a Witchcraft Judge
Raphael Holinshed - The Witchcraft Apprentice
Privy Council Report - An Alleged Witchcraft Plot Against Queen Elizabeth
'W.W.' - The St. Osyth Witch Trial
Reginald Scot - The Fables of Witchcraft
Anonymous - A New Ballad of the Life and Death of Three Chelmsford Witches
George Gifford - A Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcraft
Thomas Pickering & William Perkins - On the Punishment of Witches
Anonymous - How a Witch Served a Fellow in an Alehouse
Anonymous - A Child Possessed by the Devil
Sir Francis Hubert - A Poem of Witchcraft
Martha Hurrell - The Witches' Meeting
Anonymous - The Labours of Satan
Matthew Hopkins - The Discovery of Witchcraft
Reverend Ralph Josselin - An Experiment in Necromancy
Thomas Ady - An Essex Cunning Man Exposed
'A Holy Sister' - A Magical Vision
Reverend James Boys - The Swimming of a Witch Blurb: THE WITCHCRAFT PAPERS
Collected and Edited by PETER HAINING
The Witchcraft Papers is the first book to re-tell the story of the terrible Witch Persecutions which blighted the English countryside from 1560 to the close of the Seventeenth Century — utilising contemporary documents and reports. The book specifically concentrates on Essex which, as a result of the fury and number of its bloody persecutions and merciless trials, earned itself the enduring epithet of being the ‘Witch County’. Drawing on pamphlets reporting the trials, the eye-witness accounts of residents, and long-forgotten publications and notes, the work presents a unique new look at a subject of ever-increasing interest.
Much of the material has been taken from handwritten manuscripts not previously published and to this the editor has added source material of great interest to student and layman.
Peter Haining, who has written several previous books on the topic of Witchcraft, has brought years of research to bear on this fascinating topic.The editor has his academic head on for this one, a far cry from the adorable collaboration with A.V. Sellwood that is Devil Worship In Britain (Corgi, 1964). Despite Haining's reassurances that the text is easy to follow, I found it heavy going, but then I am not the brightest. Privy Council Report - An Alleged Witchcraft Plot Against Queen Elizabeth: Nicholas Johnson of Woodham Ferrers, Essex, is accused of sorcery. To be more specific, of "making of Her Majesty a picture in wax" with intent of doing it harm. To play sat, he is jailed "for some years" until it is decided that there is no evidence to convict him, whereupon he is set free. No word on what became of kindly neighbours who denounced him. Anonymous - How a Witch Served a Fellow in an Alehouse: A drunken boor, showing off in front of equally inebriated chums in a bar, picks on an old woman of unfortunate looks. The crone gives as good as she gets, and, apparently, casts a spell, blighting his nose with a monstrous boil "the size of a cherry." Meeting her on the road the following morning, our hero manfully beats the "witch" to pulp before handing her in to the authorities. Pamphleteer signs off with a reassuring "she worthily suffered death on the gallows" for her Devil's work. Raphael Holinshed - The Witchcraft Apprentice: A crime of association, November 1579. Thirteen year old Thomas Lever rots forgotten in Cambridge Gaol awaiting charges, if any, arising from his acquaintance with William Randall, a "notorious Suffolk conjurer or wizard," recently found guilty of witchcraft and executed accordingly. Is the lad still there? Someone ought to check. He could be due a substantial compensation settlement.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 21, 2020 19:31:07 GMT
I never viewed Haining as so versatile. The idea not to write a non-fiction book but to just present a choice of documents has merit. This really sounds interesting. (If the presented material is real and not made up.)
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Post by humgoo on Jan 22, 2020 8:48:10 GMT
The collecting of Mr. Haining's books seems an endless process! Every time I see a new Haining thread I'm like "this must be the last one and Dem has finally completed his collection", but of course then comes yet another (not that I'm complaining). How many Haining books you reckon you still miss?
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Post by dem bones on Jan 22, 2020 10:44:41 GMT
The collecting of Mr. Haining's books seems an endless process! Every time I see a new Haining thread I'm like "this must be the last one and Dem has finally completed his collection", but of course then comes yet another (not that I'm complaining). How many Haining books you reckon you still miss? I'm sure it is several! Inside The Witchcraft Papers is a listing of "Books written or compiled by Peter Haining," thirty-five in all (including Eurotunnel, The Graveyard Wit, and A Thousand Afternoons: An Anthology of Bullfighting) by 1974. On closer inspection, the listing is missing Legends of the Dark, The Craft of Terror, Dr. Caligari's Black Book, Devil Worship In Britain, Witchcraft and Black Magic, Terror! A History of Horror Illustrations from the Pulp Magazines, The Devil in the Suburbs (as 'Alexander Peters'), the Four Square 'Alfred Hitchcock' anthologies - and those are just the macabre titles. The Unexpurgated 'Penthouse' or The Channel Islands, which both appeared in 1972, are likewise overlooked. Bearing in mind that he kept going up to (and beyond) his death in 2007, writing, ghost-writing and editing under a variety of pseudonyms, whoever fancies attempting the complete bibliography has their work cut out! I never viewed Haining as so versatile. The idea not to write a non-fiction book but to just present a choice of documents has merit. This really sounds interesting. (If the presented material is real and not made up.) It's Peter Haining. You know the risks and take your chances.  My gut feeling is that, this being a project close to his heart, he is on his best behaviour as far as the papers are concerned (though a swift google reveals the entry on The St Osyth Witch Trial as a truncated edit of the original paper. Peter also seems to have complimented W.W.'s report with additional material to help things along). The veracity of his lively commentary is perhaps, another matter, and there are a few moments where I suspect the old journalistic training got the better of him. Anonymous - Deposition Against a Witch: Chelmsford, 1563. Trial of Elizabeth Lewys of Waltham, accused of "exercysinge her wycherie" to inflict illness on neighbours and death on their livestock. Most wizard spell: "John Canell ... affirms that his child sickened and was so deformed as never was seen, viz, the right arm turning completely contrary, and the leg contrary to that, and both rising to the head of the child." Atypically, a happy outcome. Elizabeth pleaded pregnancy and was allowed to go free. |
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Post by andydecker on Jan 22, 2020 17:34:25 GMT
I never viewed Haining as so versatile. The idea not to write a non-fiction book but to just present a choice of documents has merit. This really sounds interesting. (If the presented material is real and not made up.) It's Peter Haining. You know the risks and take your chances. You know, I had exactly two Haining's before being seduced by the ghastly Vault - The Midnight People and Everyman's Book of Classic Horror Stories which back then I found boring. - Now I have a half dozen, some nice originals like Terror, but also some translations which were published by quite upmarket houses. Even in hardcover. I can't remember if I did scans and content in the Vault. Will have to check. |
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Post by dem bones on Jan 22, 2020 19:24:06 GMT
It's Peter Haining. You know the risks and take your chances. You know, I had exactly two Haining's before being seduced by the ghastly Vault - The Midnight People and Everyman's Book of Classic Horror Stories which back then I found boring. - Now I have a half dozen, some nice originals like Terror, but also some translations which were published by quite upmarket houses. Even in hardcover. I can't remember if I did scans and content in the Vault. Will have to check. That would be great. I don't think you posted them as I'd surely have noted details and downloaded the cover scans. BTW, Humgoo, Everyman's Book of Classic Horror Stories is yet another I don't own a copy of. The man was a one-man industry. 'W.W.' - The St. Osyth Witch Trial: A true and just recorde, of the information, examination and confession of all the witches, taken at S. Ofes in the countie of Essex whereof some were executed, and other some entreated according to the determination of lawe. Wherein all men may see what a pestilent people witches are, and how vnworthy to lyue in a Christian Commonwealth. Written orderly, as the cases were tryed by euidence, by W. W., Thomas Dawson, 1582. Trial presided over by Lord Brian D'Arcy at Chelmsford in 1582, amid claims that an astonishing 23 people in the tiny village had been bewitched to death, while numerous others had fallen ill. Those accused also faced a variety of, in the circumstances, lesser charges relating to crop spoiling, imp suckling, duckling theft, and attempted plum extortion. D'Arcy hinted at "leniency" provided the women confessed to their crimes, which thirteen of the poor creatures did, only to be executed or imprisoned which, in terms of life expectancy, amounted to much the same thing. Some, like alleged ringleader Ursula Kemp, dobbed in a friend so as not to be lonely on the gallows. Children were also imposed upon to give evidence against a parent and duly obliged fearing the consequences of doing otherwise. An appalling episode in England's history. W.W.'s opening salvo - in which he/she anticipates the Arthur J Burks 'never-ending sentence' technique - captures the prevailing mood of the time. |
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Post by dem bones on Jan 23, 2020 11:24:29 GMT
This book is Dedicated to
the Memory of all those who
Died because of Ignorance and
Bigotry in the County of
Essex 1560-1700 Reverend Ralph Josselin - An Experiment in Necromancy: Colchester, c. 1652. John Locke summons spirits of the dead to locate the whereabouts of fabrics stolen from his friend and fellow weaver, William Fayrcloth. Elizabeth Fayrcloth, informs on the necromancer for fear "her husband might be carried off by the Devil instead of having his cloth returned." It is a 'spell' behind bars and for, Mr. Locke! Martha Hurrell - The Witches' Meeting: Steamy testimony of a servant regarding what appear to have been a series of Black Magic orgies conducted during the spring of 1643. ".... Then they fetched her husband and laid him by her and then Elizabeth Waite and Sarah Fletcher kissed him and pulled up his shirt, and took up their coats, and lay down on top of him, and they said that he did them some good." Sir Francis Hubert - A Poem of Witchcraft: From The Historie of Edward II, as banned by Elizabeth I. Concludes with lines "It is a vulgar Plea that weak ones use:
I was bewitched: I could not will: nor choose." Replacement blame will never fall out of fashion. Anonymous - A Child Possessed by the Devil: Upton, Westham 1622. Elizabeth Saunders coaches her granddaughter, Katherine Malpas, to feign fits, toss around a Bible, gurn, throw up, and generally act demoniacally possessed to procure pennies from pitying strangers. Mrs. Saunders also prevails upon the child to denounce two neighbours with whom she has a feud, Goodwives Hedlyn and White, as witches. It is as well for them that; "Thomas Saunders, knowing nothing of the deception, employed one Dr. Fracklin of Ratcliffe, and one Gouldman. To Fracklin a dealer in 'sawcerie', he gave 20s., whereupon one said; "God's bread, Tom Saunders, whie wouldest thou give this fellowe money being thou knowest shee counterfeites." The truth came out. His Majesty, King James, grew so fed up with these cases of bogus possession that he was moved to pronounce the workings of so-called witches and devils as "but falsehoods and delusions." |
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