East Anglian Witches and Wizards

DescriptionMichael Howard examines the Craft of East Anglian Witches and Wizards. One of the richest areas of historical witchcraft and folk magic in England. From the private witch of William the Conqueror, the cunning folk of the marshes, to the Toad-witches & appalling deeds of the witch-finders. This book is a trove of historical information on the actual folk magical practices of East Anglia. Also examined are the spirits of locality. Old Shuck, the spectral black dog known to haunt country lanes, and a special chapter on Imps and Familiars.In 1643 several men and women appeared in court at Chelmsford, Essex. Charged with practicing the curious combination of ‘conjuration, magic and lechery’. The chief witness was Martha Hurrell. Who claimed that she and a group of people met regularly to practice magic with a‘conjuror’ or summoner of spirits. Hurrell described how the group conjured up spirits, by drawing a circle on the floor in their master’s hall and burning three candles. After which they feasted and danced to the music of a fiddler. These rites, according to Hurrell, were ‘all of high and low order mingled together.’As much as it was a place of witchcraft. East Anglia also produced some of the more outspoken writers on ‘The Damned Art’. The sixteenth century lawyer William Smith described the figure of the witch as ‘being deluded by a league made with the Devil, through his persuasion and juggling and who thinkest she can design what manner of things so ever…’ This ‘manner of things’ included the raising of storms to destroy crops and to be carried to another place by familiar spirits who took animal form as a pig, calf or goat. Once there Smith said the witch spent the night ‘playing, sporting, banqueting, dalliance and diverse other devilish lusts and lewd disports…’This was a reference to the so-called Witches Sabbath, a ritual more usually found in European accounts of witchcraft.Three Hands Press ✢ Softcover