A ‘Cabal of Witches’: Justice, Fear and Superstition in Restoration England
A witch holding a plant in one hand and a fan in the other. Woodcut, ca. 1700-1720. Wellcome Collection. Source: Wellcome Collection.
John Aubrey believed in magic. The 17th-century Wiltshire antiquary noted down folk remedies and practical magical techniques used by cunning folk. This did not mean that he believed all practitioners of magic were benign or that all magic was always used for good. He suggested that horseshoes and ‘Whitty trees’ (possibly referring to Rowan trees) deterred witches; such a thing was necessary. And, in 1666, he had a bad year ‘under an ill tongue’, probably believing a witch had cursed him.
Witches could be real, and their malevolent presence could have real effects. Malmesbury, in particular, had a long-standing reputation for them. The inference was that this abundance in the town was due to Malmesbury’s wet clay soil. Aubrey identified a local problem but recorded only one specific example, writing, ‘About 167- there was a Cabal of Witches detected at Malmsbury [sic]: They were examined by Sir James Long of Dracot-Cerne, and committed by him to Salisbury Gaole. I think there were 7 or 8 old women hanged. There were odd things sworne against them, as the strange manner of the dying of H Dennny’s [sic] Horse: of flying the Air on a staffe &c. These examinations of Sir James &c hath fairly written in a Book, which He promised to give to the Royall Society.’ Aubrey's friend and collaborator, Long, never presented a manuscript to the Royal Society, nor was it published. Although, a partial transcript of the paper was published in the Gentlemen’s Magazine in 1832.
Indictments to the Western circuit assize in 1670 and 1672 provide evidence of the judicial proceedings and suggest Aubrey was somewhat inaccurate in his remembrance, or maybe he wished to paint Long as more successful in his quest to take down the witches of Malmesbury. In 1670, the titular head of the Malmesbury coven/ cabal, Elizabeth Peacock was charged with one count of laming a boy, Thomas Webb, by witchcraft and found not guilty. In 1672, she was again charged with wounding the boy, but to that was added four counts of murder by witchcraft against Marye Tanner, Margey Neale, Mary Sharp, and Mary Brown, cases which went back years, and the killing of 15 horses owned by Henry Dennynge (likely the H Denny referred to by Aubrey). Elizabeth was again found not guilty on all counts. However, her sister, Judith Witchall, and another woman, Anne Tillinge, were found guilty of the laming of Thomas Webb and were left for execution, the only two Malmesbury defendants to face the full vigour of the law as convicted witches. Anne had confessed her guilt to the family, perhaps Judith had done the same in gaol. Thomas Webb had accused all three of being his tormentors. Unfortunately gaps in the documentary evidence make inferences as to why Judith was found guilty, and not Elizabeth almost impossible.
How Elizabeth had earned the dubious reputation of being an important local witch is unrecorded too, but James Long was not pleased and possibly somewhat fearful. He approached the judge, Justice Rainsford, claiming Elizabeth’s presence would ruin his estate by driving people away. It was perhaps an exaggeration, given the eight miles between his estate and the town. However, the judge was nonetheless sympathetic to Long's concerns and ordered Elizabeth to be kept in the county gaol at Fisherton Anger with the town paying 2 shillings 6 pence weekly for her maintenance there. Ironically, at the next session, Long returned and requested that she return to town because it would be cheaper to detain her there. How long Elizabeth, who was not guilty of a crime, was imprisoned by the caprice of Long and Rainsford is not recorded, but by the time she wrote her will in June 1675, she appeared to have been freed. Elizabeth died and was buried a few days later in Malmesbury Abbey churchyard, leaving her cottage to her surviving sister, Mary Browne, and her bed to her kinsman William Witchall.