The St Osyth Witches were 14 women who were tried 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 ...
in
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
in 1582. A village near
Brightlingsea
Brightlingsea (, traditionally , , ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the Tendring District, Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, at the mouth of the River Colne, Essex, River Colne, on ...
in Essex,
St Osyth
St Osyth is an English village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Tendring District of north-east Essex, about west of Clacton-on-Sea and southeast of Colchester. It lies on the B1027, Colchester–Clacton road. The village is ...
was home to 14 women who were put on trial for witchcraft, some of whom were duly convicted according to law.
Ursula Kemp
Ursula Kemp had a reputation of being able to undo
curse
A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...
s that had been placed upon people by the means of witchcraft,
this had led her to be one of the first accused of witchcraft by Grace Thurlowe.
Kemp’s case showed what happens when a woman does not conform to societal expectations due to the accusations made by Thurlow and Letherdale.
Trial
Brian Darcy, Grace Thurlowe's employer, imprisoned Ursula and committed her for trial in February 1582 at the seasonal criminal court (
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 ...
).
The testimony of Ursula Kemp's eight-year-old son helped to secure a conviction: partly because of her son's
evidence
Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...
and partly because of the court's promise to treat her with
clemency
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...
, she confessed to the art of witchcraft, and in this confession (as was often the case) she implicated others that she knew.
The charges brought against Kemp ranged from preventing
beer
Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...
from brewing to causing a death through the means of sorcery, the punishment for which was
execution
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...
. When the trial ended Kemp was executed by
hanging
Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
along with Elizabeth Bennet, who was found guilty of
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
ing four people through witchcraft and confessed to having two
familiars
In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars (strictly familiar spirits, as "familiar" also meant just "close friend" or companion, and may be seen in the scientific name for dog, ''Canis familiaris'') were believed ...
.
See also
*
Witch-hunt
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 ...
*
Witchcraft Acts
The Witchcraft Acts were a historical succession of governing laws in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and the British colonies on penalties for the practice, or—in later years—rather for pretending to practice witchcraft.
Witchcraft Act ...
References
Further reading
*Geddes and Grosset, ''Witchcraft''
*Marion Gibson, ''Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Tales''
External links
*http://www.witchtrials.co.uk/1582.html
*http://www.bloodylexicon.com/monsters/ursula-kemp-and-the-st-osyth-witches/
PRWebDan Snow's History of St Osyth" Podcast
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1582 in law
1582 in England
16th-century trials
16th-century English people
16th-century English women
Witch trials in England
St Osyth