Florence Newton (died 1661) was an alleged Irish witch, known as the "Witch of

Youghal Youghal ( ; ) is a seaside resort town in County Cork, Ireland. Located on the estuary of the Munster Blackwater, River Blackwater, the town is a former military and economic centre. Located on the edge of a steep riverbank, the town has a long ...

", who died during what St John Seymour said was one of the most important examples of Irish

witch trial A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or Incantation, incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the ...

Witch trial

Florence Newton was described as an old beggar woman in the town of Youghal. She was arrested and imprisoned on 24 March 1661. She was put on trial on 11 September 1661 at the summer

Assizes The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

for

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

held in

Cork city Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

, for two offences under the Witchcraft Act 1586 (28 Eliz. 1. c. 2 (I)). Newton was accused of having enchanted Mary Longdon and employing

sorcery Sorcery commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), the application of beliefs, rituals or actions employed to manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces ** Goetia, ''Goetia'', magic involving the evocation of spirits ** Witchcraft, the ...

to cause the death of David Jones. The presiding judge was Sir

William Aston Sir William John Aston, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (19 September 1916 – 21 May 1997) was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he attended state schools before becoming an accountant and company director. He served in World W ...

, whose transcript of the trial survives and is the

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an Artifact (archaeology), artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was cre ...

for the affair. The Crown appears to have regarded the trial as one of some importance, as evidenced by the fact that Sir

William Domville William Domville (or Domvile) (1609–1689) was a leading Irish politician, barrister and Constitutional writer of the Restoration era. Due to the great trust which the English Crown had in him, he served as Attorney General for Ireland throug ...

, the

Attorney General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish and then, from 1801 under the Acts of Union 1800, United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on ...

, travelled from

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to Cork to prosecute her in person. Witch trials were not common in Ireland: when Newton was put on trial, no witch trial had taken place in southern Ireland since the execution of two women in

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

in 1578. According to accounts of her trial, at Christmas of 1660, Newton was heard to mumble curses after she was denied a piece of beef at the house of John Pyne. Afterwards, she met an employee of Pyne, the maidservant Mary Longdon, on the street and bewitched her by "violently" kissed her. Longdon then became sick, and experienced fits, cramps, and visions. She also allegedly vomited horse nails, needles, pins, straw and wool and was pelted by stones that vanished when they hit the ground. Sorcery was suspected, and a

coven A coven () is a group or gathering of Witchcraft, witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English lan ...

of witches was claimed to exist in the area. Longdon claimed that Newton was responsible for her illness. Newton was also accused of causing the death of her gaoler, David Jones, by sorcery, after he attempted to teacher her the Lords prayer. At Newton's trial, Jones' widow said that Newton had kissed the hand of Jones through the bars of a prison gate, and afterwards, he had become sick and died after having screamed the name of Newton on his death bed. While Seymour in 1913 believed Newton had probably been convicted and executed, Andrew Sneddon in 2019 published proof that she had in fact died before the trial could be concluded.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Florence 1661 deaths People from Youghal 17th-century Irish people 17th-century Irish women People accused of witchcraft Beggars

Witch trial

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