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Select document: Florence Newton's trial for witchcraft, Cork, 1661: Sir William Aston's transcript

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2019

Andrew Sneddon
Andrew Sneddon*
Affiliation:
Ulster University
*
*School of Arts and Humanities, Ulster University, a.sneddon@ulster.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article examines the sole extant and complete set of signed witness statements for an Irish witchcraft trial. These testimonies were given at Florence Newton's trial for witchcraft at Cork assizes in September 1661, and were signed by the presiding judge, Sir William Aston. The Aston manuscript has been annotated and transcribed in its full, original form for the first time, providing historians with a unique document with which to explore one of the few Irish witchcraft trials. This article also provides suggestions for new ways of looking at the case, and more importantly demonstrates that Newton was not, as once thought, put to death for witchcraft under the 1586 Irish Witchcraft Act but died during her trial. Furthermore, taken in the context of early modern European witchcraft, the case is shown to be an important example of a witch trial occurring in a highly gendered, contested, post-conflict society.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 43 , Issue 164 , November 2019 , pp. 298 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2019

Ireland avoided the ravages of later medieval and early-modern European witch-hunting that claimed around 50,000 lives, approximately 80 per cent of whom were women. In the early-modern period, Scotland executed 1,500 people for witchcraft, England hanged 500, while Wales put five witches to death.Footnote 1 Ireland hosted only four witchcraft trials under the stipulations of the Irish Witchcraft Act, 1586, involving: Marion Fisher, 1655; Florence Newton, 1661; and the nine ‘Islandmagee witches’, convicted in two groups at the Lent and summer assizes held at Carrickfergus, County Antrim in 1711.Footnote 2 The Boyle papers in the library of the Royal Society, London contain a transcript of witness testimonies given at Florence Newton's trial for witchcraft at Cork assizes in September 1661, signed by the presiding judge, Sir William Aston.Footnote 3 Due to a lack of alternative primary sources, Aston's manuscript provides an unrivalled account of the Youghal trial: Cork assize court records no longer survive, nor do Youghal or Cork Corporation records for the crucial years of 1660 to 1661.Footnote 4 This document is exceptional by definition because of the paucity of Irish witchcraft trials. It is, moreover, the sole, extant, complete set of signed witness statements for an Irish witchcraft trial. Indeed, this form of documentation is rare in early-modern witchcraft scholarship in general. The only published pamphlet account of an Irish witchcraft case relates not to a witch trial but to the extra-judicial killing of a suspected witch in Antrim town in 1698.Footnote 5 The case of the ‘Islandmagee witches’ in 1711 is very well documented but most sources, such as pre-trial depositions and a lengthy, unpublished pamphlet account, dwell on the accusation and prosecution process rather than the trial itself.Footnote 6

Historians who have researched the Youghal case have relied on a shorter, edited version of Aston's manuscript, published by English writer, clergyman and philosopher, Joseph Glanvill in his Saducismus triumphatus.Footnote 7 The first edition of Saducismus triumphatus was edited and published in 1681, a year after Glanvill's death, by associate and fellow clergyman, Cambridge Platonist Henry More.Footnote 8 A second edition was published in London in 1682 with additional material relating to late seventeenth-century Swedish witch trials. The third edition of Saducismus triumphatus appeared in almost identical imprints in 1688 and 1689 and was the work of multiple authors who anonymously edited it using the papers, correspondence and previous publications of Glanvill and More. A fourth edition was published in London in 1726.Footnote 9 The Saducismus triumphatus was an ideologically charged work that formed part of a literary, philosophical and theological crusade by anti-Saducee authors against ‘atheists’ who portrayed the universe in overly materialistic and mechanistic terms. In the seventeenth century, ‘Saducee’ was a pejorative term (derived from a Jewish sect active from the second century B.C. to the first century A.D.) used to describe those sceptical of the existence of a biblically sanctioned spirit world. Anti-Saducee literature used verifiable case studies of supernatural phenomena, including ghosts, witchcraft and demonic possession, as empirical proof of the existence of spirits and, by extrapolation, of God. Men such as Richard Baxter, Nathaniel Crouch, Cotton Mather, and George Sinclair composed anti-Saducee work, which dominated demonological writing in late seventeenth-century England, Scotland and North America.Footnote 10

Although significant changes and additions were made to subsequent editions of the Saducismus triumphatus, Glanvill's account of the 1661 Youghal case remained unchanged from its appearance in the first edition, with the exception of slight and infrequent alterations in spelling and punctuation. The account began with a short preamble, followed by the main body of witness testimonies, and ended with a postscript in italics a few paragraphs in length. This postscript provided additional commentary on the case as well as a telling indication of the provenance of the testimonies: ‘this Relation is taken out of a copy of an Authentick Record, as I conceive, every half sheet having W. Aston writ in the margin, and then again W. Aston at the end of all, who in all likelihood must be some publick Notary, or Record-Keeper’.Footnote 11 This statement was designed to convince readers that Glanvill's ‘Relation’ of the Youghal case was based on the ‘Authentick Record’ of Aston's manuscript, in other words on incontrovertible, surviving empirical evidence of demonic possession and the spirit world. Of course, ‘Wm Aston’ was not a public notary but an English-born pillar of the Irish legal system, who, after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, was rewarded with a knighthood, made second justice of the King's Bench, and served as a justice of the assize between 1661 and 1670.Footnote 12 Peter Elmer has speculated that Glanvill may have acquired the Aston manuscript from Irish-born, natural philosopher, Robert Boyle, who previously supplied him with information on other Irish witchcraft cases. Elmer further suggests that it is likely that Boyle received Aston's manuscript from his brother, Roger Boyle, earl of Orrery, who was president of Munster (1660–72) during the Youghal trial.Footnote 13

When a comparison is made between Glanvill's account and Aston's manuscript, the differences become apparent. Along with the addition of a preamble and postscript, Glanvill chronologically re-ordered the testimonies to impose a more readable narrative structure on the Aston manuscript: it now began with Mary Longdon's initial accusation, followed by Newton's imprisonment, and finished with the killing of gaoler, David Jones. Glanvill also divided Aston's text into smaller, succinct paragraphs, silently corrected his spelling and punctuation, and expanded contracted words while italicising others. More importantly, and for reasons unknown, he excised an important section of Mayor Richard Mayre's testimony in which Mayre detailed past instances of Newton's witchcraft, namely her kissing of four children from the town who later died, including his own infant daughter.Footnote 14 He also deleted the entire testimony of George Lowther, an English soldier stationed in Youghal. In his statement, Lowther accused Newton of cursing him after servants of the house in which he was billeted refused her charity. Lowther was subsequently afflicted by a pain in his head that spread to his stomach after he refused Newton's offer to kiss him to ‘testifie she bore him noe ill will’.Footnote 15

In preparing Aston's manuscript for publication, I aimed to retain the integrity of the original document. I have reinstated the deleted text and the original order of the testimonies, indicating in footnotes where this has been undertaken. I have preserved Aston's original paragraph structure, spelling, and punctuation (or lack thereof). I have, however, deleted the ‘e’ that he appended to words ending in ‘g’, so that ‘sendinge’ becomes ‘sending’ and ‘nothinge’ becomes ‘nothing’. I have also capitalised forenames and surnames and expanded contractions. Consequently, ‘sd’ becomes ‘said’, ‘wch’ becomes ‘which’, ‘wt’ becomes ‘what’, and ‘yt’ becomes ‘that’, and so forth. I have also changed ‘&’ to ‘and’. In cases where a word had a missing letter that affects the sense, this has been inserted in square brackets. For example, ‘se’ becomes ‘se[e]’, and ‘of’ becomes ‘of[f]’. Where a word was repeated and thus deleted, this has been indicated in square brackets with a strike through. By giving Aston's manuscript in its original form before it was edited by Glanvill, historians of witchcraft are now able to consult a reliable source that throws light on a particularly interesting witch trial that occurred in a diaspora community in a gendered, contested, post-conflict society.

I

Witchcraft accusations in early-modern Ireland arose in Protestant settler communities, especially those of Presbyterian Ulster. It was here that dangerous, harmful witches were thought to destroy life, property and produce by magical means, often in concert with Satan. However, a series of checks and balances implemented by local clergy and judiciaries kept prosecution rates low. Chief among these was the early intervention and arbitration of accusations by Presbyterian church courts, which vitiated the need to carry the matter further with officers of local law enforcement. Following wider British and European trends, later seventeenth and early eighteenth-century Irish judiciaries also proved reluctant to prosecute, try or convict people on traditional proofs of witchcraft.Footnote 16 In this period, Protestants constituted no more than 20 per cent of the country's total population, which ensures that the attitudes of Irish Catholics are crucial to explaining the lack of Irish witch-hunting.Footnote 17 Surviving sources suggest that some Catholic clergy, influenced by Counter-Reformation demonology, saw witchcraft in much the same way as their Protestant counterparts. It remains to be established how prevalent this view was among Irish Catholic lay elites, the urban Old English for example, but there is evidence that they occasionally accused each other of malefic, demonic witchcraft. There is however no evidence that the mass of the Catholic, largely Gaelic-speaking, population, made any formal accusations or initiated legal proceedings against suspected witches. A compelling explanation for this lack of indigenous witch-hunting is that the Gaelic Irish did not fear witches. Unlike those of Protestant settler communities, Gaelic Irish witches were not associated with Satan and did not attack humans, but rather bewitched cattle or stole cow's milk and butter at certain times of the ritual year, May Eve or May Day, by using sympathetic magic or transmogrifying into a hare.Footnote 18

II

Just prior to Christmas 1660, in the English settler port town of Youghal, County Cork, home to around 2,300 inhabitants, Mary Longdon, a servant to a local gentleman, former bailiff and future mayor, John Pyne, turned away Florence Newton who had begged for some of her master's beef.Footnote 19 Longdon stated that Newton, whom she had known for around four years, ‘seemed to be very angry and said thou hadst beene as good have given itt me, and so wentt away Grumbling’. This tension between the two women escalated a week later when Newton tipped out a water pail Longdon had been carrying on her head, ‘violenttly kist her’, and uttered the following words, interpreted by Longdon as threat: ‘Mary, I pray the[e], let the[e] and I be friends for I beare thee noe ill will, and I pray the[e] doe thou beare me none.’Footnote 20 A few days after this altercation, the spectral forms of Newton and the devil visited Longdon to tempt her into joining the ranks of Satanic witches. Within a month of being kissed, Longdon began to display a range of symptoms readily recognisable by contemporaries as demonic possession.Footnote 21 These included paranormal strength, fits and trances, the vomiting of household objects, an adverse reaction to the Bible, and the appearance of mysterious stones hurled by unseen hands. During her fits, Longdon claimed that Newton, in spectral form, had stuck pins into her flesh and dragged her to various locations in the house against her will. Having been identified by Longdon as the cause of her preternatural malady, Newton was brought, on the authority of Mayor Mayre, to be tested against traditional proofs of witchcraft. Newton was asked to repeat the Lord's Prayer and then brought before Longdon to test if the girl's symptoms would worsen in her presence. Newton's inability to say the Lord's Prayer and Longdon's adverse reaction to her approach was regarded as enough evidence for her to be arrested and imprisoned to await trial at the next assizes. While imprisoned, Newton was tested again for witchcraft, including being watched for the appearance of her familiars. More importantly, she was further accused of bewitching her jailor, David Jones, by kissing his hand ‘through the Grate’ of her cell. Convinced he had been bewitched by Newton, Jones quickly became very ill and died a fortnight later.Footnote 22

Florence Newton stood trial on 11 September 1661 at Cork summer assizes on two indictments to which she pleaded not guilty: the bewitchment of Mary Longdon, which carried a maximum sentence of one year's imprisonment under the 1586 act, and the killing by means of witchcraft of David Jones, a capital crime for which the punishment was execution by hanging.Footnote 23 The Cork assizes lay on the Munster circuit which was travelled twice yearly, at Lent and in late summer, by two circuit judges assigned to try individuals who had been delivered from the county gaol upon their arrival.Footnote 24 The majority of the witness testimonies in the Aston manuscript are concerned with Newton's indictment for the bewitchment of Longdon, the prosecution of which was directed by a recently appointed attorney general of Ireland, Sir William Domville.Footnote 25 Although Glanvill's account in the Saducismus triumphatus remains silent on the outcome of Newton's trial, historians, including myself, have speculated that given the evidence against Newton, along with the fact that she was accused of a capital crime, it is probable that she was convicted of witchcraft and executed shortly afterwards.Footnote 26 Speculations of this type are not uncommon in the wider literature on early-modern witchcraft. Historians of Scottish witchcraft have extrapolated execution numbers from incomplete records which often provide details of a witchcraft accusation but not the verdict of the subsequent trial.Footnote 27 However, text excised by Glanvill from the Aston manuscript informs us, crucially, of Newton's age and that she died during the trial: ‘Florence Newton of yoghall spinster dyed aboute sixty five or there abouts att the last Assizes held for the County of Corke the Eleventh of September 1661’.Footnote 28 This could indicate that Florence Newton was indeed found guilty of witchcraft and sentenced to death, making her the only woman to be executed for witchcraft under the 1586 act.Footnote 29 More convincingly, perhaps, it could be argued that Newton died from natural causes during her trial. Aston's manuscript after all does not explicitly state that Newton was executed, which might be expected given that the hanging of an elderly woman would have been unusual enough at that time to warrant special mention. If Newton did die before the verdict was reached, this would explain why it was never recorded in contemporary documents, even in Aston's manuscript.

III

Our historical understanding of the accusation and trial of Florence Newton has developed substantially in recent years. Its close relationship to witchcraft in England, for example, has been firmly established. The fact that Longdon's accusation came after an act of charity refusal involving an elderly ‘spinster’ reliant on begging for survival fits perfectly with a key English witchcraft accusation scenario developed by Alan Macfarlane and Keith Thomas.Footnote 30 It has also been noted that after this initial stage of charity refusal, the Youghal case began to resemble English demonic possession/witchcraft trials of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Longdon was in many ways a typical demoniac, or demonically possessed person, in that she manipulated a recognised set of symptoms to escape the bonds of restrictive religious upbringing and overturn strict age hierarchies to endanger and rebuke her elders without consequence.Footnote 31 It has also been argued that Newton confessed to having ‘overlooked the Mayd’ (Longdon) but denied bewitching her in order to tap into the widely-held belief in the maleficent power of the evil-eye (magical power located in the eyes) to allow her to admit to having used this innate power unintentionally to harm Longdon while side-stepping the more serious allegation of witchcraft. The importance of reputation in the allegation process has also been demonstrated. After Newton was accused of bewitching Longdon, Youghal elites recalled past mysterious illnesses and deaths in their community and reinterpreted them as the fruits of Newton's malevolent magic.Footnote 32 The use of sympathetic magic by elite, local men to link Newton to Longdon's bewitchment, as well as to nullify its effects, has also been studied, allowing us to peer into the mental worlds of Youghal inhabitants who still firmly viewed their universe in magical terms.Footnote 33

The crucial role of gender in fomenting and solidifying allegations against Newton has received particular attention. It has been demonstrated that Irish women who displayed behaviour considered socially unacceptable for their sex in a male-dominated society were more susceptible to charges of witchcraft than women who did not challenge gender norms. Mary McAuliffe has shown that Newton transgressed generally accepted, moral boundaries by kissing her victims, an act of overt, female sexuality that embodied the social anathema of unregulated touch and represented an impermissible threat to Youghal's patriarchal society.Footnote 34 The restored text in the Aston manuscript further emphasises the centrality of the kiss to the accusation and prosecution of Newton, and offers additional opportunity for research into kissing in the context of witchcraft accusation.Footnote 35 Newton claimed that her kisses were meant as reconciliatory gestures, although they were not interpreted in this manner by Longdon, Jones and Lowther. The emotional and physical power that Jones attributed to Newton's kisses could be explained using recent historical approaches grounded in evolutionary psychology and neurobiology. It has been suggested, for example, that in some witchcraft cases the ‘experience of bewitchment and its attendant ills derives from the somatoform and psychophysical disorders caused by a witch's emotional aggression’.Footnote 36 The question must also be mooted as to whether there was agency in Newton's kiss: was it a sincere attempt at reconciliation or a subversive attempt to antagonise those who had crossed her? Similarly, was Longdon's interpretation of the kiss as a threat calculated to overturn existing hierarchies in a restrictive social sphere, or was it the result of a genuine generational and/or cultural misunderstanding of the social act of kissing? In other words, it could be argued that Newton, Longdon and others were sophisticated social actors who deftly negotiated the blurred lines between socially acceptable and unacceptable kissing. The kiss in early-modern society possessed a very broad spectrum of meanings but retained erotic potential, lending it an inherent ambiguity that could be exploited for social ends. In early-modern England ‘the ambiguity of kissing was taken as an opportunity to toy with the range and limits of intimate relationships, in particular the shady ground between platonic friendship and erotic love’.Footnote 37

Finally, Peter Elmer has demonstrated that the appearance of a witch provided both an explanation and outlet for the religious and political tensions palpable in Youghal in the aftermath of the Restoration. Elmer's painstaking prosopography has revealed that many of those involved in the case were particularly affected by tensions unresolved at the Restoration, as they came from Godly families that had allied themselves with Puritanism and the Cromwellian regime. They thus not only had to contend with the re-establishment of the Church of Ireland but wrestled with sectarian fears of subversion by radical Protestant Dissenters and Roman Catholics.Footnote 38 Further research is however required to establish the impact of these religious and political tensions on the gender relations of those involved in the accusation and trial of Newton. In any case, the wide range of social, political, and religious interconnections that existed between the main protagonists in the Youghal case demonstrates that in common with many European witch trials Florence Newton not only had the alleged victims ranged against her but her whole community. In such circumstances, it might be reasonable to suggest that if she was not executed by the state then the emotional stress of being an elderly, lonely, economically and socially marginalised woman in the male world of the legal system could be regarded as a factor in hastening her death during her trial.

Royal Society, London, Boyle papers, RB 1/37/5, ff 96r–102v.

[96r] Florence Newton of yoghall spinster dyed aboute sixty five or there abouts being att the last Assizes held for the County of Corke the Eleventh of September 1661 Indicted for Bewitching David Jones to death the twentieth of April last; pleaded not guilty, And upon her tryall the evidence against her was as follows.Footnote 39

Elinor JonesFootnote 40 relict of the said David JonesFootnote 41 being sworn and examined in open Courtt what shee knew concerning any practise of witchcraft by the said Florence Newton upon the said David her husband, Gave in the evidence that on Aprill last the said David her late husband having beene outt all the night came home Early in the morning and said to the said Elinor his wife, where dost thou thinke I have beene all night, to which she answered shee knew nott whereupon he replyed I and Frank BeseleyFootnote 42 have beene standing Centinel over the witch all night, To which shee said Elinor why what hurt is thatt? hurt: (Quoth he) Mary I doubt itts never a jott the better for me (for she has kist my hand through the Grate) and ever since she kist my hand I have had a greate paine in that Arme and I veryly beleeve she hath bewitched me, if ever shee Bewitched any man, to which she answered the lord for bidd Thatt all the night and Continuously from that time he was restlesse and ill complaining exceedingly, of a greate payne in his Arme for seaven dayes together and att the seaven dayes and he Complained thatt the payne was gone from his arme to his heart and then kept his bedd night and day Grievously afflicted and Cryeing out against Florence Newton and about fourteen dayes after he dyed : /

[in margin] 2dly Wm Aston

Francis BeseleyFootnote 43 being sworne and examined thatt aboutt the time aforementioned meeting with the said David Jones and Discussing with him of the severall reports then stirring concerneing this Florence Newton who was then in prisson att yoghall for bewitching Mary Longdon (servant),Footnote 44 thatt she had several familliarsFootnote 45 resorting to her in sundry shapes the said David Jones told him the said Francis Beseley thatt he had a greate mynd to watch her the said FlorenceFootnote 46 [96v] Newton one night to se[e] whether he could observe any Catts or other Creatures resort to her through the Grate as was reported they did and desired the said Francis to goe with him with her did, And that when they came thetherFootnote 47 David Jones Called to Florence and told her that he heard shee could nott say the lords prayer,Footnote 48 to which shee answered she could, he then desired her to say itt, but she excused her selfe by the decay of memory through old age then David Jones began to teach her butt shee could nott or would not say itt, though often taught itt, upon which the said David Jones and Beseley being withdrawne a litle from her, and discoursing of her, nott being able to learne this prayer, she called outt to David Jones, and said, David, David, come hetherFootnote 49 I cann say the Lord's Prayer now, upon which David wentt towards her, and said Deponentt would have pluckt him backe, and perswaded him nott to have gonne to her, but he would nott be perswaded, butt went to the Grate to her and [she] began to say the lords prayer, butt Could nott say forgive us our trespasses, soe that David againe taught her which shee seemed to take very thankfully, and told him she had a greate mynd to have kist him, butt tthat the Grate hindred, Butt desired she might kisse his hand, whereupon he gave her his hand through the grate, and shee kist itt, And towards breake of day, they wentt away and parted, and soone after the Deponentt heard, thatt David Jones was ill where upon he wentt to vissitt him, and found him aboute two or three dayes after very ill of a payne in the Arme which he exceedingly Complained of and told the Deponentt thatt ever since he parted with him he had beene seized on with thatt paine and that the old hagg had bewitched him when shee kist his hand and that shee had him now by the hand, and was pulling of his arme and said doe you nott see the old hagg how shee pulls me?Footnote 50 Well; I lay my death on her she hath bewitched me and severall times after would Complaine thatt she had tormented him, and had bewitched him, and that he layd his Death on her, And after fourteen dayes languishing, he the said David Jones dyed : /Footnote 51

[97r] This is all the Evidence against her for the death of David Jones,Footnote 52 the following Evidence was by way of further Indictment offered by the Kings Attorney GenerallFootnote 53

Mary LongdonFootnote 54 (for bewitching of whome the said Florence was Comitted by the Mayor of yoghallFootnote 55 to yoghall prisson as afforesaid) being likewise sworne and examined, what shee could say against the said Florence Newton for any practice of witchcraft upon herselfe, and being bidden to looke on the prisoner her Countenance changed pale, and shee very fearful to looke towards her, butt att last she did, and being askt whether shee knew her shee said shee did, and wished shee never had, being askt how long she had known her, shee said for three or fowerFootnote 56 yeares, And that att Christmas last the said Florence came to the Deponentt att the house of John Pyne in yoghall,Footnote 57 where the Deponentt was a servant And askt the Deponentt to give her a piece of beefe outt of the powdering tubb, And the Deponentt answering her that she Could nott give away her Masters Beefe the said Florence seemed to be very angry and said thou hadst beene as good have given itt me, and so wentt away Grumbling Thatt aboutt a weeke after the Deponentt being goeing to the water with a paile of Cloath on her head, she met the said Florence Newton, whoe came full in her face and threw the paile of[f] her head and violenttly kist her and said, Mary, I pray the[e], lett the[e] and I be friends for I beare thee noe ill will, and I pray the[e] doe thou beare me none And thatt she the Deponentt wentt afterwards home and that within a few dayes after she saw a woman with a vaile over her faice and a Cloake upon her headFootnote 58 stand by her bedside and one standing by her like a litle old man in silke Cloaths and thatt this man which shee tooke to be a spirritt,Footnote 59 drew the vaile from of[f] the Womans faice, and then she knew it to be Goody Newton, and that the spirritt spake to the Deponentt, and would have had her promisse him to follow his advice and she should have all things after her owne heart, To which she sayes she answered that she would have nothing to say to him for her trust was in the Lord.Footnote 60

[97v] Thatt within a monthe after the said Florence kist her she this Deponentt fell very ill of fits or trances, which would take on the suddaine in that violence thatt three or four men could not hold her, and in her fitts she would often be taken with vomiting and would vomitt upp needles, pins, horse-nails, stubbs, wooll and straw and that very often,Footnote 61 And being asked whether she perceived att these times what she vomited she said she did for then she was not in soe greate distraction as in other parts of her fitts she was, And thatt a little before the first beginning of her fitts several and very many small stones would fall upon here as shee went upp and down;Footnote 62 and would follow her from place and from one room to another and would hit her on the head, shoulders and armes, and fall to the ground and vanish away, butt that she and several others would see them both fall upon her and on the ground butt Could never taken them save only some few which she and her maister caught in their hands. Amongst which one thatt had a hole in it she tyed (as she was advised) with a leather thong to her purse but it was vanisht immediately,Footnote 63 though the leather Continued tyed on a fast knot, Thatt in her fitts she often saw this Florence Newton, and Cryed out against her for tormenting her of her for she sayes thatt she would several times stick pinnes into her Armes, and some of them soe fast thatt a man must pluck Three or four times to gett outt the pinn, and some were stuck betwixt the skin and the flesh, Thatt some times she should be removed outt of her Bedd into another roome sometimes she should be carryed to the topp of the house layd on a board betwixt two Soller BeamesFootnote 64 sometimes put into a Chest, sometimes under a parcel of Wool sometimes betwixt two feather-beds on which shee used to lie, and sometimes betwixt the bedd and the Matt in her masters Chambers in the day time, And being asked how she knew she was thus carried about and disposed of seeing in her fitts she was in a violent distraction, she answered she never knew where she was till they of the familie and the neighbours with them [98r] would be taking her out of the places whither she was so Carryed and removed And being asked the reason wherefore she Cryed out so much against the said Florence Newton in her fitts she answered because shee saw her and felt her torturing And being asked how she could thinke it was Florence Newton thatt did her this prejudice, she said first because she threatened her, then because (after she had kist her) she fell into those fitts, And thatt shee both saw and felt her tormenting, And lastly thatt when the people of the familie by advice of the neighbours and Consent of the Mayor had sentt for Florence Newton to come to the Deponentt she was always worse when she was brought unto her and her fitts more violent than att any other time, And thatt after the said Florence was Committed at yoghall, the Deponentt was not troubled, butt was very well till a little while after the said Florence was removed to Corke, And then the Deponentt was as ill as ever before and the Mayor of yoghall one Mr Mayre then sent to know whether the said Florence were bolted (as the Deponentt was told, and fynding she was nott order was given to putt the bolts on her which being done the Deponentt saith she was well againe and soe hath Continued ever since,Footnote 65 And being Asked whether shee had such like fitts before the said Florence gave her thatt Kisse, she saith she never had any butt because with that Kisse she bewitched her Because she hath heard from Nicholas Pine,Footnote 66 and others that the said Florence had confessed as much. This Mary Longdon having closed upp her Evidence, Florence Newton peeped att her (as it were) betwixt the heads of the by standers thatt interposed betwixt her and the said Mary and lifting upp both her hands together (as they were Mannacleed) cast them in an angry violent kynd of motion towards the said Mary as if she intended to strike att her if she would have reacht her and sayd (Now shee is downe) upon which the maid fell suddenly downe to the ground like a stone and fell in to a most violent fit that all the people that could come to lay hands on her could scarce hold her

[in the margin near the bottom of 98r] movement of her hands saw and observed by W Aston.

[98v] Biteing her owne Armes and shreeking out on a most hideous manner to the Amazement of all the beholders And continuing soe for aboutt a Quarter of an houre (the said Florence Newton sitting by her selfe all thatt while pinching her owne hands and armes as was sworne by some that observed her) The mayd was ordered to be carryed outt of Court and taken into a house whence severall persons after thatt brought word thatt the maid was in a vomitting fitt and brought in severall Crooked pinns and straws and wooll in white fomeFootnote 67 like spitleFootnote 68 in great proportions; whereupon the Court having taken notice thatt the maid had said she had beene very well when the said Florence was in Bolts and ill againe when outt of them till they were againe put on her demanded of the Gaoler if she were in bolts or noe to which he said she was nott, butt onley mannacled; upon which order was given to put on her bolts; and upon putting them on she Cryed outt she was killed, she was undone she was spoyled, why do you tormentt me thus, and soe Continued Complaining Greviously for half a quarter of an houre, And then came in a messenger from the Mayd and informed the Court the mayd was well, att which Florence immediately and Cholerickly uttered these words (she is nott well yett), And being demanded how she knew she was not well yett, she denyed she said soe, though many in Court heard her say the words, and sayd if she did she knew nott what she sayd, being old and disquieted and distracted with her sufferings; but the mayd being reasonable well came to her selfe was (before the Court knew any thing of itt) sentt outt of towne to yoghall and soe was noe further examined by the Courtt; the fitt of the mayd being urged by the Court with all the Circumstances of it upon Florence to have beene a Continuance of her devilish practice, she denyed itt and likewise the motion of her hands or the saying Now shees Downe, though the Court saw the first and the words were sworne by one Roger Moore, and Thomas HarrisonFootnote 69 swore thatt he had observed the sayd Florence peepe att her, and use thatt motion with her hands and saw the Mayd fall immediately upon that motion and the words Now shee is down uttered.

[99r] Nicholas StoutFootnote 70 was next produced by Mr Attorney Generall who being sworne and examined said that he had oft Tryed her (having heard say thatt witches could nott say the lords prayer) whether she could say thatt Prayer or noe and found she could nott, whereupon she sayd she could say itt, and had oft said it, and the Court being desired by her to hear her say itt, Gave her leave, and fower tymes together after these words (give us this day our dayly bread) she continually sayd as wee forgive them and leaving always outt the words (And forgive us our Trespasses) upon which the Court appointed one neare her to teach her these words she soe left outt, butt shee either would nott or could nott say them (using onely these or the like words) when these were repeated (Ay, Ay Trespasses, Thatts the word) and being oft pressed to utter the words as they were repeated to her she did nott and being asked the reason, she sayd she was old and had a bad memory and being asked how her memory served her soe well for other parts of the prayer and onely faile her for thatt said she knew not neither Could she helpe it : /

[99r] John PynneFootnote 71 being likewise sworne and examined thatt about January last the sayd Mary Longdon being his servantt was much troubled with litle stones thatt were throwne att her where ever she wentt and that he hath seene them come as if they were throwne att her others as if they dropt on her and thatt he hath seene very greate Quantities of them and thatt they would after they had hitt her fall on the ground and then vanish soe that none of them could be found and further thatt the Mayd once Caught one of them and he himself another, and one of them with a hole in itt she tyed to her purse but itt vanished in a litle tyme butt the knot of the leather thatt tyed itt remained unaltered That after the stones had thus haunted her she fell into most grievous fitts wherein she was soe violently distracted that fower Men would have very much adoe to hold her and thatt in the highest extremity of her fitts she would Cry outt against Gammer Newton for hurting and tormenting of her; thatt some tymes the Mayd would be reading on a bible and on a suddaine he hath seen the Bible struck outt of her hand into the midle of the [99v] Roome and shee immediately Cast into a violent fitt That [that] in the fitts he hath seene two bibles layd on her breast and in the twinkling of an eye they would be cast betwixt the two bedds the Mayd lay uppon, some tyme throwne into the midle of the roome and that Nicholas Pynne held the bible in the Mayds hands soe fast thatt itt being suddenly snatcht away, two of the leaves were torne, thatt in many other fitts the Mayd was removed strangely in the twinkling of an eye outt of the bedd sometimes into the bottome of a Chest with lining, under all the lining and the lynnenFootnote 72 nott at all disordered sometimes betwixt the two bedds she lay on, sometimes under a parcel of wooll, sometimes betwixt his bedd and the Matt of itt in another roome, and once she was laid on a small Deale board which lay on the topp of the House betwixt two Soller beames where he was forced to reare up laders to have her fetched downe, Thatt in her fits she hath often vomitted up wooll pynns horse nailes stubbs straw needles and mosse with a kynd of white foame or spyttle and hath had severall pynnes stucke into her Armes and hands thatt sometymes a Man must pull three or fower tymes before he could pull one of them outt and some have beene stuck between the flesh and the skine where they might be perfectly seene butt not taken outt, nor noe place seene where they were putt in. Thatt when the witch was brought into the roome where she was she would be in more violent and longer lasting fitts than at other tymes; thatt all the tyme the witche was att liberty the mayd was ill and as soone as she was Comitted and bolted she recovered and was well, and that when the witch was removed to Corke the Mayd fell ill and thereupon the Mayor of yoghall sent to see if she were bolted or noe and to acquaint them the maid was ill and desired them if the witche were nott bolted they would bolt her, Thatt shee immediately mended and was as well as ever she was: and when the messenger came from Corke, and told them when the witch was bolted itt fell out to be the very tyme the Mayd amended att yoghall Nicholas PynneFootnote 73 saith Thatt the second night after that the Witch was in prisson being the 24 of March last, he and Joseph Thompson Roger Hawkins and some [100r] others wentt to speak with her Concerning the mayd, and told her thatt it was the general oppinon of the towne thatt she had Bewitched her, and desired her to Deale freely with them whether she had bewitched her or noe, she said she had not bewitched her, but itt may be she had over looked her and that there was a great difference betwixt bewitching and overlooking and that she could not have done her any harme if she had not toucht her and that therefore she had kist her, and she said that what mischeefe she thought of at thatt time she kyst her that would fall uppon her, and that she would nott but Confesse she had wronged the Mayd, and thereuppon fell downe upon her knees and prayed god to forgive her for wronging the poore wench thatt she might not be wholy destroyed by her, to which she sayd itt must be another thatt must helpe her, and nott they that did the harme, And then she sayd there were others, As Goody Halfpenny and Goody Dodd in towne thatt could doe these things as well as shee, And thatt it might be one of them thatt had done the Mayd wrong. That towards Evening the doore of the prisson shaktFootnote 74 and she arose upp hastily and said what makest thou heere this tyme a night and then there was a very greate noyse, as if some body with bolts and Chaines had beene running upp and downe the roome and they asked her what itt was she spoke too, and what itt was made the noyse and she sayd she saw nothing neither did she speake and if she did itt was she knew nott what butt the next day she confest it was a spirritt and her familiar in the shape of a GreyhoundFootnote 75 he saith further, that he and Mr. Edward PerryFootnote 76 and others for tryall of her took a tyle off the prisson next to the place where the witch lay and carryed itt to the house where the mayd lived, and putt it into the fire till it was redd hott, and then dropt some of the Mayds water upon it, and the witch was then grievously tormented and when the water was consumed she was well againeFootnote 77 And as to the stones falling on and cast att the Mayd, as to the maids fitts her removall into the chest, under the wooll, betwixt the feather-bedds; on the topp of the Deale board betwixt two Soller Beames Concerning the bibles and their remove, his holding one of them in the maids hands till two leaves were torn Concerning the maids vomitting and her Calling outt [100v] against the witch he agreeth perfectly throughout with John Pynne as before : /

[100v] Edward PerryFootnote 78 being likewise sworne deposeth thatt he Mr. GreatrixFootnote 79 and Mr. BlackwallFootnote 80 wentt to the Mayd and Mr Greatrix and he had reddFootnote 81 of a way to discover a witch,Footnote 82 which he would putt in practice and soe they sentt for the witch and set her on a stoole and a shoemaker with a strong AwleFootnote 83 endeavored to stick itt in the stoole butt could nott till the third tyme And then they bad her come of[f] the stoole but shee said shee was very weary and could nott stirr Then two of them pulled her of[f] and the man wentt to pull outt his Awle and it dropt into his hand with halfe an Inch broke of[f] the blade of itt and they all looked to have found where itt had been stucke, butt could fynd noe place where any Entrey had beene made by itt, then they took another Awle and putt it into the maids hand and one of them tooke the maids hand and rann violently at the witches hand with itt butt could nott Enter itt though the Awle was soe bent thatt none of them could put it straiteFootnote 84 againe Then Mr. Blackwell tooke a Launce and lanct one of her hands An Inch and a half long and a quarter of an Inch deepe but itt bled not att allFootnote 85 Then he lanct the other hand, and then they bled, he saith, thatt after shee was in prisson he went with Roger Hawkins and others to discourse with the witch aboutt the Maide and they askt what itt was she spake to the day before and after some denyall she said it was a Greyhound which was her familliar and went outt att the window, and then she said if I have done the Maid hurt I am sorry for it, and being then asked whether she had donne her any hurt, she said she never did bewitch her Butt confessed she had overlookedFootnote 86 her thatt time she kist her, butt thatt she could nott now helpe her for none Could helpe that did the mischiefe but others And further the deponentt saith thatt afterwards at the Assize at Cashall he meeting with one William Lap and discoursing aboutt these passages with him the said Lapp he was well acquainted with the wayes to discover a witch and that if he weere neere her he would make her changeFootnote 87 and told the Deponentt thatt if he would butt take a Tyle of[f] the house neere the place where the Witch laye and hett it redd hott in the fire and then take some of the Maids Water and dropp uppon it, Thatt soe long as this was [101r] doing he should fynd the witch most grievously tormented That afterwards he, Edward Perry, Nicholas Pynne and others putt this in practice, and found thatt the witch was extreamly tormented and vexed and upon the experiment was over she came to her selfe and then they askt her how she Came to hurt the Maid and she said that what evil she thought against the Mayd thatt time she kist her thatt would fall upon her, And thatt she Could nott have hurt her except she had toucht her, and then she fell on her knees and Confest she had wronged the Mayd and desired god to forgive her, and then they putt upon [her] saying the lords prayer butt she could nott say the words (And forgive us our Trespasses).

[101r] M[r] WoodFootnote 88 being a minister being likewise sworne and examined Deposeth Thatt having heard of the stones dropt and throwne att the Mayd and her fitts And meeting with the Mayds Brother he wentt a long with him to the Mayd and found her in her fitt Crying outt against Gammer Newton, thatt she prickt her and hurt her, and when she Came to her selfe he asked her what had troubled her, and she said Gammer Newton and the Deponentt said, why; she was nott there yes, said she I saw her by my bed side; The Deponentt then Asked her the originall of all which she related from the tyme of her begging the beefe and after kissing and soe to thatt tyme Thatt then they Caused the Mayd to be got up and sentt for Florence Newton, but she refused to come, pretending she was sicke, though indeed itt appeared she was well; then the Mayor of yoghall came in and spoke to the mayd, and then sent againe and Caused Florence Newton to be brought in and Immediately the Mayd fell into her fitt far more violentt and three tymes as long as att any other tyme and all the tyme the witch was in the Chamber the Mayd Cryed out continually of being hurt heere and there, butt never named the witch, but as soon as she was removed, then she Cryed outt against her by the name of Gammer Newton, And this for several times, And still when the witch was out of the Chamber the Mayd would desire to goe to prayers and he found good affections in her in time of prayer But when the witch was brought in againe (though never so privately) and though she Could nott possibely as the Deponentt conceives see her, she would be Immediately senseless and lyke to be strangled and soe would Continue till the witch were taken outt, and then though [101v] never soe privately carryed, she would come againe to her senses, That afterwards Mr. Greatrix Mr. Blackwall and some others who would needs satisfy themselves in the influence of the witches presence tryed it and found itt several times, Although they did it with all possible privacie, and soe as none Could think itt possible; for the Maid to know, either of the witches Coming in or going outt : /Footnote 89

[in brackets at bottom of 101r] W. Aston

[101v] Richard MayreFootnote 90 Mayor of yoghall, being likewise sworne saith thatt aboutt the twenty fourth of March last he sentt for Florence Newton and examined her aboutt the Mayd, and she att first denyed itt and accused Goodwife Halfepenny and good wife Dodd, butt att length when he had Caused a boat to be provided and had thought to have tryed the water experiment on them all three,Footnote 91 Then Florence Newton confessed she had overlooked the Mayd and donne her wrong with a kisse for which she was heartily sorry and desired god to forgive her, That then he likewise Examined the other two Women Halfpenny and Dodd butt they utterly denyed itt and were Content to abyde any tryall, whereupon he Caused both Florence, Halfpenny and Dodd to be carryed to the Mayd And he told her these two women or one of them were said by Gammer Newton to have donne her hurtt, butt she answered Noe, Noe they are honest women, butt it is Gammer Newton that hurts me and I believe she is not fare off that then they afterwards brought in Newton privately and then she fell into a most violent fitt ready to be strangled till the witch was removed, and then [she was] well againe and this for three several times; he further deposeth, thatt there were three Aldermen in yoghall,Footnote 92 whose Children she had kist (as he had heard them affirme And all the Children dyed presently afterFootnote 93 and thatt he himself had one Childe which she kist that dyed which was after this Manner This Florence Newton came into his house and asked the name of one of his children the Mayd told her itt was Grace; a gratious name said Florence Newton and tooke itt up in her Armes and kist itt and about five weeks after the Child dyed and he believes by her practice for these reasons; first because when he wentt to her and charged her with itt, she denyed that ever she had beene in his house of these monthes Though his wife and Mayd told him they would take their oathes shee [102r] had beene there within three weekes, and next because when [when] the Bell wentt for the ChildFootnote 94 Florence mett a Boy and asked him whoe the Bell wentt for, and he telling her itt was for a Child of the Mayors, Then she said; I shall bee hanged, and he further saith thatt the Child was opened by persons of Judgement and skill butt noe Inwarde Imperfection or defect would be discovered,Footnote 95 Butt he and all his family beleeved itt was bewitched by thatt Kisse of Florence Newton, And as to the sending to Corke to have the bolts put on sweares as is formerly deposed : /

[In margin at top of page, 102r] It[em] the boy sworne; Court

[102r] Joseph ThomsonFootnote 96 being likewise sworne said, thatt he wentt in March last with Roger Hawkins Nicholas Pynne and others to the prisson to confer with Florence Newton about the Mayd, Butt she would confess nothing that time Butt towards Night there was a noyse at the prisson doore, as if some thing had shakt the doore and Florence started upp and said what ayled the[e] to be here att this time of the night and there was much noyse and they asked her what she spoke to, and what made the great noyse Butt she denyed that she spake or that she knew of any noise, And said if I spoke I sayd I knew not what And they wentt their wayes att thatt time and wentt to her againe the next night and asked her very seriously about the last nights passage and the noyse and then she confessed to them that itt was a Greyhound thatt came to her and thatt she had seene it formerly and thatt it wentt outt att the window and then she confest she had done the Mayd wrong, for which she was sorry and desired god to forgive her : /

[In margin at bottom of 102r] W Aston

[102r] George LowtherFootnote 97 being likewise sworne saith thatt he being a soldier that came outt of England landed att yoghall and was quartered there att Richard Handcockes house and Florence Newton came thither and demanded some things which the servantts would nott give her whereuppon she began to Murmur and to be very troublesome as he thought insoemuch that he said [102v] to her, what a doe is here with this old hagg upon which she instantly replyed; the hagg may Ryde the[e]Footnote 98 and went away Thatt within two or three nights after he was taken with a strange oppressing payne in his hedd, which he was never before troubled with [at] all and was soe troubled for many nights together and told the people of the house of itt; And further he saith thatt Florence Newton would afterwards have kist him to testifie she bore him noe ill will; Butt he refused saying he would kisse noe such old hagg as she was; he further saith he hath beene troubled very stangeley and on the sudden with an oppressive payne on his stomach since she spoke these words to him; and that one night a Mayd of the house where he quartered Came to his Bedd side to observe him as she said, and satt or lay downe by him and he apprehending it had beene the witche layd hands on her and shaktFootnote 99 her with all the strength he had Cryeing out oh thou hagg I have Caught the[e]; till he by the Mayd discovery of her selfe saw his mistake :/

W Aston

References

1 Goodare, Julian, The European witch-hunt (London, 2016), pp 27CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 267; Levack, Brian, Witch-hunting in Scotland: law, politics and religion (London, 2008), pp 1–2Google Scholar; Suggett, Richard, A history of magic and witchcraft in Wales (Stroud, 2008), p. 12Google Scholar.

2 Sneddon, Andrew, Witchcraft and magic in Ireland (Basingstoke, 2015), p. 71CrossRefGoogle Scholar; An Act against Witchcraft and Sorcerie, 1586 (28 Eliz. I, c. 2, [Ire.]). Maeve Brigid Callan has recently argued that the prosecution of Alice Kyteler and associates in Kilkenny in 1324 was a medieval prototype of an early-modern witch trial (Maeve Brigid Callan, The Templars, the witch, and the wild Irish: vengeance and heresy in medieval Ireland (Ithaca, 2015), pp 28–117). Other historians have pointed out that although the Kyteler case differed from the usual pattern of elite sorcery-cum-treason trials in the medieval period, it did not resemble most criminal trials for witchcraft in early-modern Europe or Ireland, as it principally involved a politically motivated charge of heresy involving demonic magic by fellow elites, in which accusations of harmful magic played a relatively minor role (Goodare, European witch-hunt, pp 38–9; Sneddon, Witchcraft and magic in Ireland, pp 16–17, 71, 112; idem, rev. of Callan, The Templars, the witch, and the wild Irish in Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, xii, no.1 (Spring 2017), pp 139–42.

3 Royal Society, London, Boyle papers, RB 1/37/5, ff 96r–102v.

4 Caulfield, Richard (ed.), The council book of the corporation of Youghal, from 1610 to 1659, from 1666 and 1687, and from 1690 to 1800 (Guildford, 1878)Google Scholar; idem (ed.), The council book of the corporation of the city of Cork, from 1609 to 1643, and from 1690 to 1800 (Guildford, 1876).

5 See Andrew Sneddon, ‘Medicine, belief, witchcraft and demonic possession in late seventeenth-century Ulster’ in Medical Humanities, xlii, no. 2 (June 2016), pp 1–6.

6 Sneddon, Andrew, Possessed by the devil: the real history of the Islandmagee witches and Ireland's only mass witchcraft trial (Dublin, 2013), pp 173–5Google Scholar, notes 1–3, 12–16. The prosecution of Kyteler and her associates for demonic heresy in medieval Kilkenny is also well documented, see A contemporary narrative of the proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler, prosecuted for sorcery in 1324, by Richard de Ledrede, bishop of Ossory, ed. Thomas Wright (London, 1843).

7 McAuliffe, Mary, ‘Gender, history and witchcraft in early modern Ireland: a re-reading of the Florence Newton trial’ in Valiulis, Mary Ann Gialenella (ed.), Gender and power in Irish history (Dublin, 2009), pp 39–58Google Scholar; Lapoint, Elwyn C., ‘Irish immunity to witch-hunting, 1534–1711’ in Éire-Ireland, xxvii, no. 2 (1992), pp 82nGoogle Scholar; Sneddon, Andrew, ‘Witchcraft belief and trials in early modern Ireland’ in Irish Economic and Social History, xxxix (2012), pp 1–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Seymour, St John D., Irish witchcraft and demonology (Dublin, 1913, repr., London, 1989)Google Scholar, chapter 5. Peter Elmer used Aston's manuscript in a recent, brief account of the trial. See Elmer, Peter, The miraculous conformist: Valentine Greatrakes, the body politic, and the politics of healing in Restoration Britain (Oxford, 2013), pp 127–32Google Scholar.

8 Joseph Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, or, full and plain evidence concerning witches and apparitions in two parts: the first treating of their possibility, the second of their real existence by Joseph Glanvil. With a letter of Dr. Henry More on the same subject and an authentick but wonderful story of certain Swedish witches done into English by Anth. Horneck (London, 1681); Gibson, Marian (ed.), Witchcraft and society in England and America, 1550–1750 (London, 2003), p. 227Google Scholar.

9 Henry More and Joseph Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, or, full and plain evidence concerning witches and apparitions. In two parts. The first treating of their possibility; the second of their real existence. The third edition. The Avantanges whereof above the former, the Reader may understand out of Dr H. More's account prefixed thereunto. With two authentick but wonderful story of certain Swedish witches; done into English by Anth. Horneck, D.D. (3rd ed., London, 1689); Cameron, Euan, Enchanted Europe: superstition, reason, and religion, 1250–1750 (Oxford, 2010), pp 276CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 408n. The third edition of Saducismus triumphatus has been used in this article.

10 Cameron, Enchanted Europe, chapters 16–17; Levack, Witch-hunting in Scotland, pp 125–8.

11 More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, pp 386–7 (quote at p. 386).

12 Ball, Francis Elrington, The judges in Ireland, 1221-1921 (1926, repr. 2 vols, New Jersey, 2005)Google Scholar, i, 266, 268, 270–2, 309, 347.

13 Elmer, Miraculous conformist, p. 127n.

14 See below, pp 316–17 (ff 101v–102r); Elmer, Miraculous conformist, p. 130.

15 See below, pp 317–18 (ff 102r–102v).

16 Sneddon, ‘Witchcraft belief and trials’, pp 10–17; idem, Possessed by the devil.

17 Connolly, S. J., Religion, law and power: the making of Protestant Ireland, 1660–1760 (Oxford, 1992), pp 43, 145–7Google Scholar.

18 Sneddon, Witchcraft and magic in Ireland, chapters 1, 4–6; Ronald Hutton, ‘Witch-hunting in Celtic societies’ in Past & Present, no. 202 (Aug. 2011), pp 43–71; Ronald Hutton has warned, however, against making a simplistic association between belief in butter-stealing witchcraft and low witch prosecution rates (idem, The witch: a history of fear from ancient times to the present day (London, 2017), pp 248–50). Elwyn Lapoint has argued that a lack of formal accusations was the result of the preference among insular Catholic communities to fight witchcraft using official religious or informal magical means rather than by involving secular authorities, which were resented as an Elizabethan imposition of agencies of English rule and law (Lapoint, ‘Irish immunity to witch-hunting’, pp 76–92). Others have pointed to a lack of state concern over witchcraft in Ireland, as well as an absence of the social and gender tensions believed to have fomented accusations elsewhere in the Atlantic archipelago. See Gillespie, Raymond, ‘Women and crime in seventeenth-century Ireland’ in MacCurtain, Margaret and O'Dowd, Mary (eds), Women in early modern Ireland (Edinburgh, 1998), pp 45–7Google Scholar; idem, ‘Ireland’ in Richard M. Golden (ed.), Encyclopaedia of witchcraft: the western tradition (4 vols, Oxford, 2007), ii, 568.

19 The following narrative is based on Aston's manuscript.

20 See below, pp 308–9 (f. 97r).

21 Andrew Cambers, ‘Demonic possession, literacy and “superstition” in early modern England’ in Past & Present, no. 202 (Feb. 2009), pp 13–14; Almond, Phillip C., Demonic possession and exorcism in early modern England: contemporary texts and their cultural contexts (Cambridge, 2004), pp 27–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Clark, Stuart, Thinking with demons: the idea of witchcraft in early modern Europe (Oxford, 1997), p. 391Google Scholar.

22 See below pp 308–9 (ff 96r–97r, 97v–98v, 99v–100v).

23 Sneddon, Witchcraft and magic in Ireland, p. 27.

24 Francis Elrington Ball, ‘Some notes on the Irish judiciary in the reign of Charles II, 1660–1685’ in Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, series 2, vii, no. 49 (1901), p. 28.

25 See footnote 52 below.

26 See Seymour, Irish witchcraft and demonology, pp 107, 127; Lapoint, ‘Irish immunity to witch-hunting’, p. 75; Sneddon, Witchcraft and magic in Ireland, p. 78.

27 Julian Goodare, Lauren Martin, Joyce Miller and Louise Yeoman, ‘The survey of Scottish witchcraft’ (http://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/witches/) (archived Jan. 2003; accessed Aug. 2018).

28 See below, pp 306–7 (f. 96r).

29 An elderly woman suspected of the demonical possession of a young girl was, however, murdered by a local mob in Antrim town in 1698 (see footnote 5 above).

30 McAuliffe, ‘Gender, history and witchcraft’, pp 45, 48–9; Sneddon, Witchcraft and magic in Ireland, pp 79–83; idem, ‘Witchcraft belief and trials’, pp 3–4, 17–19.

31 Sneddon, Witchcraft and magic in Ireland, pp 79–82.

32 Ibid., pp 14, 19.

33 Ibid., p. 40. See also below, pp 309–10, 312–14 (ff 97v, 99r, 100r).

34 McAuliffe, ‘Gender, history and witchcraft’, pp 40, 48–54. See also Sneddon, Witchcraft and magic in Ireland, p. 82.

35 For kissing in German witchcraft confession narratives, see Durrant, Jonathan, ‘The osculum infame: heresy, secular culture and the image of the witches’ sabbath’ in Harvey, Karvey (ed.), The kiss in history (Manchester, 2005), pp 36–59Google Scholar.

36 Ostling, Michael, ‘Speaking of love in the Polish Witch Trials’ in Kounine, Laura and Ostling, Michael (eds), Emotions in the history of witchcraft (London, 2016), p. 157Google Scholar. See also Edward Bever, ‘Bullying, the neurobiology of emotional aggression, and the experience of witchcraft’ in ibid., pp 193–212; idem, The realities of witchcraft and popular magic in early modern Europe (Basingstoke, 2008), pp 11–20.

37 Karen Harvey, ‘Introduction’ in eadem (ed.), The kiss in history, p. 10.

38 Elmer, Miraculous conformist, pp 128–32.

39 Aston's indented preamble, detailing Newton's alleged murder of David Jones, was replaced in Glanvill's account with the following words: ‘Touching Newton an Irish Witch of Youghal, taken out of her Tryal at the Assizes held for the County of Corke, Septem, 11. Ann. 1661’ (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, p. 372).

40 Instead of being placed first, as in the Aston manuscript, Elinor Jones's testimony was placed second to last in Glanvill's text (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, pp 384–5).

41 David Jones attended to Newton while she awaited the arrival of the assize judges to try her. By the mid-seventeenth century, Youghal's Trinity Gate provided access between the inner and outer walled areas of the town and functioned as a prison (Anna-Maria Hajba, ‘Clock gate, Youghal, Co. Cork’ in History Ireland, xviii, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 2010), p. 25).

42 Unfortunately, nothing is known of Frank Beseley, and early essays on the Youghal trial provide no indication of his station or background, see for example: ‘Another evening with the witch-finders’ in Dublin University Magazine, xxx, no. 176 (Aug. 1847), pp 155–6.

43 Beseley's testimony was placed last by Glanvill, but follows on from that of Elinor Jones in the Aston manuscript.

44 Mary Longdon, servant to John Pyne, is referred to as a ‘mayd’ repeatedly in the testimonies and was probably a young adult in common with the majority if not all demoniacs (Sneddon, ‘Witchcraft belief and trials’, pp 17–18).

45 In England, from the sixteenth century onward, the main contact witches were thought to have with Satan was through their familiar spirits, often in the form of an animal. For doing the witch's bidding, familiars received sustenance from teats on their bodies. See Gaskill, Malcolm, Witchfinders a seventeenth century tragedy (London, 2005), pp 4Google Scholar, 29, 44; Hutton, The witch, pp 273–6; Goodare, European witch-hunt, p. 62.

46 ‘Watching’ suspected witches for the appearance of familiars was infamously employed during the mass witch-hunts in East Anglia, England, in 1645–6 by ‘Witchfinder General’, Matthew Hopkins and his associates, some of whom were paid watchers. ‘Watching’ for familiars could last for extended periods of time leading to sleep deprivation and leaving suspects more pliable and willing to confess. See Gaskill, Witchfinders, pp 80–81, 100, 102, 184, 233.

47 Thither.

48 The inability to say the Lord's Prayer was regarded as a legal proof of witchcraft in early-modern England and was used as late as 1712 at the trial of Jane Wenham in Hertfordshire. The parallels between the Newton and Wenham demonic possession/witchcraft cases has been long noted. For example, Francis Bragge, junior, compared the 1661 and 1712 trials in an anonymously published tract written in defence of belief in witchcraft and the prosecution of Wenham, Jane (Witchcraft further display'd (London, 1712)Google Scholar). Bragge had read Saducismus triumphatus carefully and was convinced of the value of documented cases of witchcraft, such as those of Newton and Wenham, as an antidote to atheism. See Monod, Paul Kleber, Solomon's secret arts: the occult in the age of Enlightenment (London, 2013), pp 152–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For the trial of Wenham, see Guskin, P. J, ‘The context of witchcraft: the case of Jane Wenham (1712)’ in Eighteenth-Century Studies, xv, no. 1 (Autumn 1981), pp 48–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Knights, Mark, The devil in disguise: deception, delusion and fanaticism in the early English Enlightenment (Oxford, 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, chapter 6; Bostridge, Ian, Witchcraft and transformations, c.1650–c.1750 (Oxford, 1997), pp 132–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 143–4.

49 Hither.

50 Witches were often charged by victims of attacking them in spirit or spectral forms only they could see, especially in cases involving demonic possession. When used as a legal proof of witchcraft, this was referred to as spectral evidence, which became increasingly controversial in later seventeenth-century England and North America. However, it was on the strength of spectral evidence that eight of the nine ‘Islandmagee Witches’ were convicted in County Antrim in 1711. See Sneddon, Witchcraft and magic in Ireland, p. 72; idem, Possessed by the devil, chapter 7; Sharpe, James, Instruments of darkness: witchcraft in early modern England (Philadelphia, 1997), pp 191Google Scholar, 226.

51 The allegation that David Jones's death had been caused by Newton's kiss turned her case into a capital crime.

52 In Glanvill's published version witness testimonies relating to Mary Longdon's bewitchment were placed before those dealing with the death of David Jones. In the Aston manuscript, an indented section of text informed the reader that the testimonies that followed related to Newton's indictment for bewitching Mary Longdon. Glanvill excluded this text and instead coupled the two sets of testimonies using his own link paragraph (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, p. 384).

53 Sir William Domville was appointed attorney general of Ireland after the Restoration in 1660. He conducted the prosecution of Florence Newton, as well as those arrested in connection to the Dublin Plot (see footnote 88 below). The involvement of a man of such high legal status attests to the notoriety of the case at the time. The attorney general was part of the Dublin government and advisor to the crown. See Hazel Maynard and Patrick H. Kelly, ‘Domvile (Domville), Sir William (1609–89)’ in D.I.B.; Elaine Murphy, ‘Newton, Florence (d. 1661?)’ in ibid.

54 Mary Longdon's testimony is placed first in Glanvill's account (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, pp 372–5).

55 Richard Mayre, see footnote 90 below.

56 Four.

57 John Pyne helped to relieve Youghal when it was besieged by Catholic troops in the 1640s, was a friend of Valentine Greatrakes (see footnote 79 below), and served as baliff for the town in 1664, along with Edward Perry (see footnote 76 below). Pyne tested Newton's ability to read or hold a Bible, a task it was believed that demoniacs were unable to perform. See Elmer, Miraculous conformist, p. 129; James F. Fuller, ‘Trial of Florence Newton for witchcraft in Cork, 1661’ in Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, second series, x, no. 63 (1904), p. 182n.

58 The following words, ‘and Cloake upon her head’, were deleted by Glanvill.

59 In early-modern British popular culture the devil was variously represented as a black, handsome, old or deformed man. See Darren Oldridge, The devil in early modern England (2000), chapter 4; Miller, Joyce, Magic and witchcraft in Scotland (Musselburgh, 2004), pp 86–9Google Scholar; Millar, Charlotte-Rose, Witchcraft, the devil and emotions in early modern England (Abingdon, 2017), pp 67–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Maxwell-Stuart, P. G., Satan: a biography (Stroud, 2008), pp 116–26Google Scholar; Almond, Philip C., The devil: a new biography (New York, 2014)Google Scholar, chapters 6–7.

60 Demoniacs often portrayed themselves as paragons of virtue by reporting their prolonged resistance to Satanic temptation, despite the demonic assaults on their bodies and senses. In Burton-On-Trent, Staffordshire in 1596 demoniac, Thomas Darling, held frequent conversations with the devil and repeatedly rejected his promises and temptations. Mary Dunbar also rejected the devil's advances during her demonically-induced trances in County Antrim in 1711. See Sneddon, Possessed by the devil, chapter 2; Almond, Demonic possession, pp 18, 150–5.

61 This juncture marks the expansion of Newton's repertoire of possession symptoms, which, in common with many such cases in England, changed and developed over time, often in reaction to perceived expectations of onlookers, legal and medical men (Almond, Demonic possession, p. 40).

62 Mysterious stone throwing, or in Greek, lithobolia, was reported from the early medieval period onwards, but in England and America in the seventeenth century it was associated with the devil, the demonic, and witchcraft rather than with the activity of ghosts. See Chamberlain, Richard, Lithobolia, or, the stone-throwing devil (London, 1698), pp 3–16Google Scholar; Burr, George Lincoln (ed.), Narratives of the New England witchcraft cases, 1648–1706 (New York, 1914), pp 53–77Google Scholar; Maxwell-Stuart, P. G., Poltergeists: a history of violent ghostly phenomena (Stroud, 2011), pp 78, 110, 126–7Google Scholar; Davies, Owen, The haunted: a social history of ghosts (Basingstoke, 2007), pp 31–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

63 Longdon was possibly trying to fashion a ‘witch-stone’ out of one of the mysterious stones thrown at her but its innate magical properties ensured it disappeared almost immediately after it was put on a leather ‘thong’. Witch stones were naturally occurring holed pebbles or stones, usually made of flint, and were hung in loops of string in byres or about the necks of cattle to protect them from fairy or witch attack. See J. G. Dent, ‘The witchstone in Ulster and England’ in Ulster Folklife, x (1964), p. 46.

64 The solar beam was a joist in an upper room of a medieval or early modern English house (Fuller, ‘Newton’, p. 182n).

65 Numerous requests are made in the testimonies to restrain Newton by putting her in ‘bolts’, as it was believed that iron prevented witches attacking their victims spectrally.

66 Nicholas Pyne was an old associate of Valentine Greatrakes and a relation of John Pyne (see footnote 57 above). See Elmer, Miraculous conformist, pp 127, 131. For the wider Pyne family: Morris, H. F., ‘The Pynes of Co. Cork’ in Irish Genealogist, vi, no. 6 (1985), pp 696–710Google Scholar; idem, ‘The Pynes of Co. Cork revisited’ in Irish Genealogist, ix, no. 4 (1997), pp 494–529.

67 Foam. In the 1711 Islandmagee case, a handful of objects, from pins, to cotton and buttons, were produced in court as proof of Mary Dunbar's bewitchment. Numerous witnesses testified that they had seen the objects pour from Dunbar's mouth (McSkimmin, Samuel (ed.), The Islandmagee witches: a narrative of the suffering of a young girl called Mary Dunbar (Belfast, 1822), p. 37Google Scholar).

68 Spittle.

69 In common with Frank Beseley, Roger Moore and Thomas Harrison were not prominent enough citizens of Youghal to leave much trace in surviving historical records.

70 Nicholas Stout was bailiff for Youghal in 1655 and became mayor of the town immediately after Richard Mayre in 1661–2, at which time, as Peter Elmer has pointed out, he was suffering from financial difficulties and found it hard to shake off his earlier association with the parliamentary cause and the Cromwellian regime (Elmer, Miraculous conformist, p. 130n). See also, Robert Day, ‘Memoirs of the town of Youghal’ in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, fifth series, i, no. 1 (1890), p. 64; Henry F. Berry, ‘The old Youghal family of Stout’ in Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, second series, xxiii, no. 113 (1917), p. 26. Stout's testimony is placed second in Glanvill's account (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, p. 377).

71 John Pyne's testimony is placed third by Glanvill (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, p. 377).

72 Linen.

73 The words ‘being sworn’ were inserted before ‘saith’ by Glanvill to make it clear that Nicholas Pyne was the next witness to give evidence in court. Pyne's testimony was placed fourth by Glanvill (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, p. 379). Pyne's testimony is indicated in the Aston manuscript by the insertion in parenthesis in the margin of the words, ‘Nicho. Pynne’.

74 Shook.

75 One of the first witches investigated by Hopkins and his accomplice, John Stearne, was Elizabeth Clarke, who confessed to watchers to owning numerous animal familiars, including one in the shape of a greyhound named ‘Vinegar Tom’ (Gaskill, Witchfinders, pp 48–52). ‘Vinegar Tom’ was depicted in hybridised form, replete with horns, in an image for the frontispiece of Matthew Hopkins's The discovery of witches (London, 1647). See Millar, Witchcraft, devil, emotions, p. 63.

76 Edward Perry was a freeman of the borough of Youghal in 1655, a bailiff in 1664, and mayor in 1674 (Day, ‘Memoirs of Youghal’, p. 65; Elmer, Miraculous conformist, pp 127, 131).

77 Sympathetic counter-magic was designed to cause a witch intense pain, forcing them to try to alleviate their discomfort, which caused them not only to reveal their identity but also to compelled them to cease their magical attacks. Variants of the counter magic used in Youghal can be found in other parts of Ireland and England, and included the heating of a witch's bottle containing urine and hair of the victim, and the burning of thatch or clothes belonging to a suspect. See Camden, William, Britain, or a chorographicall description of the most flourishing kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London, 1610), p. 146Google Scholar; Echard, Laurence, An exact description of Ireland (London, 1691), p. 22Google Scholar; Sharpe, Instruments of darkness, pp 160–61, 271; Davies, Popular magic, pp 103–9; Macfarlane, Alan, Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: a regional and comparative study (London, 1970, 2nd ed., London, 1999), pp 122–3Google Scholar.

78 Perry's testimony was placed fifth in Glanvill's account (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, pp 380–1).

79 Valentine Greatrakes, Irish gentlemen, justice of the peace and celebrity faith healer, owned property in Youghal. As noted above, he was acquainted with many of the leading protagonists in the Newton case. Due to his reputation for special expertise in matters of witchcraft, he was involved in many of the tests of Newton's guilt, including the use of the awl and bringing the victim, Mary, near to Newton to judge her reaction. See Elmer, Miraculous conformist, pp 114, 127–32; Gribben, Crawford, ‘Angels and demons in Cromwellian and Restoration Ireland: heresy and the supernatural’ in Huntingdon Library Quarterly, lxxvi, no. 3 (Autumn 2013), pp 387–9Google Scholar.

80 Thomas Blackwell was ‘a sequestrated Church of Ireland minister who sought re-instatement at the Restoration’. He was resident in Youghal from 1644, made freeman in 1650, and practised medicine in the town in the 1650s. See Elmer, Miraculous conformist, p. 128n.

81 Read.

82 No indication is given as to where Perry or Greatrakes might have read about this ‘way to discover a witch’. They may have consulted any number of witchcraft pamphlets detailing English trials, or indeed the innumerable continental or English demonological texts that provided lengthier and more theoretical, legal, philosophical, and theological musings on witches and witchcraft (Sharpe, James, Witchcraft in early modern England (Harlow, 2001), pp 16–21Google Scholar).

83 This is, presumably, a reference to a stitching awl used by tailors to pierce holes in leather.

84 Straight.

85 In early-modern Europe, the devil's mark was a common proof of witchcraft rooted in elite demonology and popular folk belief. It took the form of a blemish on the skin or a spot insensible to pain that could be identified by pricking it with a sharp object such as a pin. Some ‘prickers’ turned professional during large witch panics, receiving money for services rendered. See Goodare, European witch-hunt, pp 62, 77, 199.

86 See p. 13 above.

87 The text, ‘he was well acquainted with the wayes to discover a witch and that if he weere neere her he would make her’, was deleted by Glanvill (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, p. 381). In English witch trials, untrained, interested locals often helped the accusation and prosecution process on its way, functioning as William Lapp does here as amateur witch-finders (Sharpe, Instruments of darkness, p. 159.)

88 James Wood was Congregational minster in Youghal. Educated in England, he began preaching in the town in the early 1650s, and became freeman of the borough in 1656. He was deprived of his living in 1662 when he did not conform to the Church of Ireland and was imprisoned a year later in 1663 for holding unofficial religious meetings in Youghal. He was also implicated in a plot of the same year, led by Thomas Blood and his Cromwellian associates, to overthrow the Irish government by attacking Dublin Castle. See Fuller, ‘Newton’, pp 180, 183n; Elmer, Miraculous conformist, p. 131n; W. T. Latimer, ‘Blood's plot in 1663’ in Ulster Journal of Archaeology, second series, vii, no. 4 (Oct. 1901), pp 197–9. Wood's testimony was placed sixth by Glanvill (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, pp 381–3).

89 It was widely accepted at the time that symptoms of demoniacs, particularly fits and trances, would worsen on the approach of those responsible. Witches were thus brought before alleged victims (sometimes in a private dwelling, sometimes in open court) to test this theory. This test was also carried out ‘blind’ by blindfolding the victim, or making them turn towards the wall, before the suspected witch entered the room. Blind testing was carried out repeatedly on Mary Dunbar in Islandmagee in 1711 (Sneddon, Witchcraft and magic in Ireland, p. 86; Sharpe, Instruments of darkness, pp 223–6).

90 Richard Mayre first served as mayor of Youghal in 1647 and held the post again in 1660 (Day, ‘Memoirs of Youghal’, p. 64; Elmer, Miraculous conformist, p. 130n). Mayre's testimony was placed seventh in Glanvill's published account (More & Glanvill, Saducismus triumphatus, p. 383).

91 The ‘water experiment’ or ‘swimming test’ suggested by Mayor Mayre was used to determine whether a suspect was guilty of witchcraft by testing whether they floated when submerged in water. Although never formally recognised as a legal proof of witchcraft, it was often accepted as such by judiciaries and figures of authority in local communities in England, especially in the first half of the seventeenth century. Public opinion began to turn against it after 1645, when parliament condemned it in reaction to its excessive recent use by Hopkins and Stearne (Davies, Owen, Magic, witchcraft and culture, 1736–1949 (Manchester, 1999), pp 86–91Google Scholar; Sharpe, Instruments of darkness, pp 218–19; Knights, Devil in disguise, p. 224).

92 These allegations, made by prominent Youghal citizens, of Newton's past acts of witchcraft helped to seal her reputation as a witch.

93 The section of Mayor Mayre's testimony, from this point to the sentence beginning, ‘And as to the sending to Cork’, was deleted, for reasons unknown, by Glanvill (More & Glanvill, Saducismus Triumphatus, p. 383). This important section details Mayre's belief that Newton had murdered his daughter using witchcraft, which may explain why he was so eager to pursue her prosecution in 1661.

94 It was common practice at the time to ring the town bell located in the clock tower of Trinity Gate, Youghal, upon the death of a very young child. See Tait, Clodagh, ‘Causes of death and cultures of care in Co. Cork, 1660–1720: the evidence of the Youghal parish registers’ in Cunningham, John (ed.), Early modern Ireland and the world of medicine: practitioners, collectors and contexts (Manchester, 2019), pp 123–46Google Scholar; Hajba, ‘Clock Gate, Youghal’, p. 25.

95 Unfortunately, we do not know the names of the ‘persons of Judgement’ who ‘opened’, or carried out an autopsy on, Mayre's daughter. See also Elmer, Miraculous conformist, p. 130.

96 Joseph Thompson's testimony was placed eighth by Glanvill (More & Glanvill, Saducismus Triumphatus, pp 383–4).

97 George Lowther's testimony was excised from the final version by Joseph Glanvill and replaced in the running order by those of Ellinor Jones and Francis Beseley (More & Glanvill, Saducismus Triumphatus, pp 384–6).

98 Hag riding refers to the belief that witches stole horses or other livestock at night and rode them until sweating and exhausted. Less frequently, it referred to witches who attacked victims at night in spirit form (Davies, Magic, witchcraft and culture, pp 41, 186, 189; Ralph Merrifield, The archaeology of ritual and magic (London, 1987), pp 161–2).

99 Shook. I would like to thank Dr Clodagh Tait for looking over an earlier draft of this article and providing insightful comments and suggestions.