ABSTRACT

THE BACKGROUND TO FORMAL PROSECUTIONS: EVIDENCE FROM THE WITCHCRAFT PAMPHLETS

Reports of the depositions of witnesses and the examinations of suspects have occasionally survived in the form of popular pamphlets whose titles suggest that they were written for the sensation-loving London literary market. It will be one of the major tasks of this chapter to discuss how reliable these accounts are. This is possible, since they often describe trials at the Assize courts, which can be checked against the actual indictments. The comparison of these two sources also allows an estimate to be made concerning the fullness of the Assize indictments. The pamphlets themselves provide three principal kinds of information of value for this study; they give added information about those involved in prosecutions, their age, wealth, personality, and relationships: they indicate how witchcraft was believed to work, the power of cursing, the use of spells and familiars; they reveal the motives ascribed to witches and the actual incident which was believed to have prompted the bewitching. As such they are of vital importance in the subsequent analysis.