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Belvoir Castle |
As Christmas 1617 approached, the earl
and countess were not preparing Belvoir Castle for festive celebrations, their
minds were filled with darkness. Specifically, they were consumed with the idea
that they were the victims of a plot instigated by witches. Joan Flower and
daughters Philippa and Margaret had been servants at Belvoir Castle until their
master and mistress became dissatisfied with their work. Philippa had become (and I quote) “lewdly
transported with the love of one Thomas Simpson” and her mother was considered
“a monstrous, malicious woman, full of oaths, curses and imprecations,
irreligious and, for anything they saw by her, a plain atheist”.
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Earl Francis Manners |
The trio were sacked. Margaret was the
only one compensated with a payoff of “40 shillings, a bolster (pillow), and a
mattress of wool.” Joan, with her “strange and exotic” behaviour, was enraged
and is said to have placed a curse on the family. Whether coincidence or not, the
earl and his countess soon became ill with serious vomiting and convulsions,
and after their sons, Henry and Francis, died, the three “witches” were blamed.
He ordered them to be arrested and taken to Lincoln for questioning.
At Lincoln, they were questioned about
their involvement with witchcraft. Joan was accused of murder, with her
daughters as accomplices. The mother protested her innocence and to prove it,
she strangely asked for bread and butter. She said that if she was guilty then
‘let it never pass through her.’ She bit into the bread and, moments later, say
accounts from the time, she died on the spot. The inquisitors, who included the
earl, turned their attention to her daughters. Interesting, by their own confession, they had
entered into communion with spirits, in the bodily form of a cat called
Rutterkin. Margaret confessed she had stolen a glove from his lordship’s son,
Henry, and gave it to her mother, who stroked Rutterkin with it, dipped it in
hot water and pricked it. She said that
Henry then became ill when he “sickened very strangely and, after a while,
died”. In order to stop the earl from having any further children, they took a
bunch of feathers from his bed and a pair of gloves, which they boiled in water
and blood.
They didn’t want to take all the blame
either and they implicated Anne Baker of Bottesford, Joan Willimot of Goodby,
and Ellen Greene of Stathorne as fellow witches of the dark arts who helped
them destroy the life of the powerful earl. The two Flower women were tried and
because of their own confessions, they were condemned to death. Margaret and Philippa were executed in
Lincoln, strangled and then, whether already dead or still alive, they were
burned at the stake. Strangely, the three women they named as their accomplices
walked away unscathed.
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The portrayal of three accused witches |
Earl Francis Manners died in 1632 and
was buried at St Mary the Virgin Church in Bottesford. On his tomb is the only
reference to the dark art of witchcraft in an English church. It says: “two
sonnes, both who died in their infancy by wicked practise and sorcerye”. Were
Henry and Frances the only innocents to lose their lives that winter? Not
likely. It is believed among historians that the two girls who were burned at
the stake were tortured into giving their confession by the bitter and twisted
earl, while their mother was probably throttled as opposed to choking on bread.
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Devilish gargoyles can be seen at Belvoir Castle |
Can accounts of the day be trusted? Can
any historical account be truly accurate? We know about the anti-Plantagenet
propaganda after Richard III’s death at the Battle of Bosworth, and the
accounts of the witch-trials are most likely the earl’s excuse for his own
failed life. The three ladies may have been different to the average lady of
their time. Maybe they used ancient British customs and family traditions of
healing with herbs and spices. Maybe they had deformities, looking different
from the rest, or maybe they had a mental illness which the earl was wary of. I
for one think they were the scapegoat of a bitter earl who needed someone to
blame for his own life failings.
In the Leicestershire Chronicle
newspaper a few years ago, George Ferzoco of the University of Leicester said
that “the Belvoir Three should certainly receive some sort of amnesty. It would
set a good example in our times, when people in our midst are being persecuted
because they are different from the majority. In my opinion, the day will come
when some expression of deep regret over persecution on grounds of witchcraft
is made, in the same way that, for example, Pope John Paul II expressed regret
over things such as the Crusades and anti-Jewish actions.”
by Matthew Sibson
by Matthew Sibson
The theft is fact; so are the sad deaths of the Earls sons before their time; the trial and the executions are also true. The inscription on the eldest boys tomb alleges that the women were to blame; belief in witches and their craft was a normal and profound one. However, it is more likely that they died of some family inherited illness, that they blamed the deaths on the women as it was too much of a conincidence and they confessed due to the fact they were most likely tortured. The Earl was also a grieving father and grief can make a person do strange things. He acted on his beliefs and the trial sadly followed. Of course the story of the butter and bread is most likely a legend but it makes a point; that such signs were believed as proof of innocence or guilt. A very good article.
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