The Pendle Witch Trials (1612): Suspicion, Belief, and Execution

February 5
20 mins

Episode Description

The 1612 Pendle witch trials remain among the most famous in English history. What began with a single accusation soon expanded into a prosecution that would send ten people to the gallows.


Source Materials

Potts, Thomas. The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster (1613)

Almond, Philip C. The Lancashire Witches: A Chronicle of Sorcery and Death on Pendle Hill.

Poole, Robert (ed.). The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories.

Sharpe, James. Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern England.

Gibson, Marion. Witchcraft and Society in England and America, 1550–1750

Gaskill, Malcolm. Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy.

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