We
have seen that Thomas Potts The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the
County of Lancaster (1613), is the primary source of our information about
the trial. The second outbreak of witchcraft, in 1633, is reported by Dr John
Webster of Clitheroe in his The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft of
1677, but his book is not a historical work, it is a theological examination of
the evidence upon the very existence of witches.
The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft - John Webster - 1677 |
This second outbreak is fully
reported, using Webster as source, in the extensive study by Dr Thomas Dunham
Whitaker, the 'History of the Original Parish of Whalley and Honour of
Clitheroe, in the Counties of Lancaster and York’, of 1801. But Whitaker
makes no reference to the 1612 trials, which for an antiquarian of his calibre
is uncanny. He must have had no knowledge whatsoever of the events, as if he
had heard even a rumour, it is certain he would have investigated it.
History of the Parish of Whalley - T D Whitaker - 1801 |
The
revised 4th edition of 1872-6, edited by J G Nichols and P A Lyons,
does include a full account and has a footnote: -
“It is rather strange (remarks Mr. Crossley) that Dr. Whitaker, to whom local superstitions were, always matters of the strongest interest, and welcome as manna to the sojourners in the wilderness, should have been ignorant, not merely of Master Potts's discovery, but even of the fact of this trial of the witches in 1612: and that notwithstanding the pamphlet had been already reprinted in the Somers Collection of Tracts.”
History of the County Palatine - Edward Baines - 1836 |
In History of the County
Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster 2 vols. (1836), Edward Baines has an
extremely detailed account of the trials, and cites Potts as his source. And
then, barring fictional works and entries in general works about witchcraft and
folklore, there is next to nothing dedicated to the Lancashire witches, other
than The Trial of the Lancaster Witches (1929) by G B Harrison, which is
largely a reprint of Potts.
The Pendle Witches - W Bennett - 1957 |
In 1957, Walter Bennett wrote a slim pamphlet for
Burnley Libraries and Arts Committee entitled The Pendle Witches. It is
an interesting little introduction, although not without some minor errors, and
can be read in less than an hour. Now this isn’t going to be a comprehensive
examination of all the literature that has followed since, but I will point to
some other works.
The Trials of the Lancashire Witches - Edgar Peel and Pat Southern - 1969 |
The Trials of the Lancashire Witches by Edgar Peel and
Pat Southern (1969) is a nice study, set largely in chronological order of
events, and places the trials against the greater seventeenth century
background. It’s a little dated now, and would benefit from a revised edition,
but it’s a good place to start if you’re interested.
The Pendle Witches - Richard Catlow - 1976 |
Another shorter booklet
called The Pendle Witches by Richard Catlow appeared in 1976, based on a
series of articles from the Burnley Express newspaper, and interesting
mainly for some excellent, if at times dated, photographs of the Pendle
district.
The Pendle Witch Trial 1612 - R A C Hasted - 1993 |
An excellent general history is Rachel Hasted’s The Pendle Witch
Trial 1612, (1993), a short (fifty-odd pages) but well-written book, which
draws heavily on Potts (and that is a Good Thing), and this may well be the
best introduction to the new reader on the subject, although it too has its
errors (the author conflates the father and son Thomas Listers in the case of
Jennet Preston, for instance).
The Lancashire Witch Craze - Jonathan Lumby 1995 |
Much more scholarly, but eminently readable, is
Jonathan Lumby’s The Lancashire Witch-Craze (1995), which breaks the
events down into small, individual topics and incidents. Lumby also examines
the particular case of Jennet Preston in detail, which is very interesting
indeed, and the footnotes add to the depth of this book. Recommended.
The Lancashire Witches - ed. Robert Poole - 2002 |
The
Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories (2002) edited by Robert Poole is
another scholarly work, a collection of essays on specialised aspects of the
trials and their aftermath, and so maybe is a little too specialised for the
general reader. It is accessible, please don’t be put off, but it is an
academic work and not a general history.
Wicked Enchantments - Joyce Froome - 2010 |
Finally, Wicked Enchantments: A
History of the Pendle Witches & their Magic (2010), by Joyce Froome,
who is assistant curator at the Museum of Witchcraft, Boscastle, Devon. Froome
is keen to place the witches in a tradition of Wicca, and is very good on
spells, charms and cunning folk. There are some errors – for some reason Froome
has Malking Tower instead of Malkin Tower throughout, for example – but on the
whole it is a welcome addition to the literature, with a pleasingly different
slant on the subject, although I imagine Dr John Webster of Clitheroe might beg
to differ.
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