Anne Bodenham (died 1653) was an English woman who was executed for
witchcraft
Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...
.
Anne Bodenham was the assistant of
John Lambe
John Lambe (or Lamb) (c. 1545 – 13 June 1628) was an English astrologer and quack physicianRumsey, Thomas R. (1984). ''Men and Women in Revolution and War, 1600-1815''. Longman Group. p. 20. "In 1628, John Lambe, charlatan, astrologer, quack ...
, who was killed while being accused of black magic in 1628. She worked as a cunning woman in Salisbury.
She was accused of witchcraft by Anne Styles, who was charged with poison murder at the time. Anne Styles stated that Anne Bodenham had made a pact with Satan and had attempted to convince her to do the same.
According to rumours at the time, she could summon demons and transform herself into a dog, lion, bear,
wolf
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...
, or
monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...
.
Anne Bodenham was examined for the
Devil's mark. She was convicted as charged.
She was executed by hanging in
Salisbury
Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
in 1653.
Legacy
Her case was the subject of the pamphlet treatise ''Bower, Edmond. Doctor Lamb Revived, or, Witchcraft Condemned in Anne Bodenham. London: 1653'' as well as ''Doctor Lambs Darling. London: 1653''.
Henry More
Henry More (; 12 October 1614 – 1 September 1687) was an English philosopher of the Cambridge Platonists, Cambridge Platonist school.
Biography
Henry was born in Grantham, Grantham, Lincolnshire on 12 October 1614. He was the seventh son of ...
of
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
examined the case carefully and presented it as a case of the existence of witchcraft in a book about witchcraft he published in 1655, which was given much authority in a time period when England experienced its last intense witch hunt.
References
* Wallace Notestein
A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718'
* Natasha Korda
Working Subjects in Early Modern English Drama'
* Diane Purkiss
The Witch in History: Early Modern and Twentieth-Century Representations'
* Dr Orna Alyagon Darr
Marks of an Absolute Witch: Evidentiary Dilemmas in Early Modern England'
WITCHES IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodenham, Anne
17th-century English criminals
Executed English women
English people executed for witchcraft
1653 deaths
17th-century executions by England
Cunning folk
17th-century English women