Just like a man to suggest the most obvious thing in the world as though it might be revelation to a woman’s cottony mind. When it seems to me all the most obvious things in the world must be done by women, or else they wouldn’t get done.” Wiccans do believe in an ultimate Deity, but not of a male God exclusively. For Wiccans, God/Goddess/All That IS is probably a better way to expresses the duality and transcendent Oneness of the natural world. In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I (Act 2 Scene 4), Flastaff is referred to as “that roasted Manningtree ox“. [13] This was marked in 2000 with a sculpture of an ox in the town centre. [14]

Hopkins’ favourite confessional method of torture however was the infamous “swimming test”. This unbelievably simple but effective test involved binding the arms and legs of the accused to a chair before throwing them into the village pond. If they sank and drowned, they would be innocent and received into heaven; if they floated, they would be tried as a witch. The Ascension By John Constable RA (1776–1837)". Dedham and Ardleigh Parishes . Retrieved 23 July 2023. Harwich and Manningtree Standard is the town's local newspaper which publishes on Fridays. [12] In fiction [ edit ] That tolerance was lost when King James I, a staunch Catholic and vehement critic of the Occult, ascended the English throne in 1603. Within a year, he had sponsored yet another in a succession of British laws aimed at suppressing perceived anti-Christian acts. The Witchcraft Statute of 1604 ruled that “witchcraft” was a crime punishable by death. More significantly, it prescribed that guilt in such cases was no longer to be decided by the ecclesiastical courts but by the courts of the common law. While this change in jurisdiction afforded the accused some semblance of a trial before punishment, the burden of proof was lower. Witnesses could be called against the accused where the only evidence was hearsay. Alison Rowlands: "The idea being that that would give you proof, proof very much in inverted commas, that they were witches. But it amounted obviously to torture, because watching was effectively sleep deprivation. I don’t know if you’ve seen the image on the front of the pamphlet, the Hopkins publication in 1647, it shows him and two women on chairs and they would have been watched. They’d often be tied to the chairs with the familiars. But you could only do that in somebody’s home, because that could often go on for two or three days and nights and but you’d have local people helping, acting as, they were called watchers, they would actually watch to see what would happen. So there’s a massive communal investment of effort in the witch finding."

More

England, 1643. Puritanical fervor has gripped the nation. And in Manningtree, a town depleted of men since the wars began, the hot terror of damnation burns in the hearts of women left to their own devices. Taschen’s “The Library of Esoterica,” a series that begins with “Tarot” and “Astrology,” honors the history of mysticism and its democratization. We also get a sense of many other characters through a close third-person narration, in places, including several chapters about Matthew Hopkins. While modern readers can identify with Rebecca, the central character, she hasn't been turned into a present-day everywoman. Blakemore creates her as a woman of her time. Wicca is not a religion; it has no church, no central authority, no sacred text. Indeed, you are more likely to find tea, a vast quantity of crystals, a thriving plant collection and a dog or cat or two in a Wiccan household.

I have to give credit where credit is due, and say that the research into real historical events and their incorporation into the narrative was very well done and thorough. However, there are way too many issues with characterisation, atmosphere and the tone of the narrative. The novel also feels remarkably modern. A situation where society is destabilised and women face violence. Those who do not conform are scapegoated and persecuted.

The big difference between the societal norms of 17th-century England and the notoriety of “Witch-finder General” Matthew Hopkins is the sheer scale of the horrors he enacted. Hopkins and his cohorts were responsible for the deaths of more “witches” within a two-year period than had been killed in the previous 100 years. Between 1644 and 1646, Hopkins is believed to have secured the convictions of around 300 women, leading directly to their execution. To put this in context, approximately 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials, and 20 were executed.

Given the entrenched misogyny, together with religious zealotry sanctioned by both Church and State in the 1640s, there was little hope for any woman accused of being a witch. Yet those accusations were but one step in the execution of these women by hanging. Next, was the extraction of a confession of Devil worship.It was this new technique of “watching” that was so successful in getting these initial eight women of Manningtree tried for malfeasance. That success led to an explosion of persecution and death, particularly at the hand of Hopkins and his cohorts. It was also this technique of “watching” that led directly to the infamous witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts.