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justice_n	baron_n	court_n	sir_n	4,402	5	7.0244	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09875	The vvonderfull discouerie of witches in the countie of Lancaster VVith the arraignement and triall of nineteene notorious witches, at the assizes and general gaole deliuerie, holden at the castle of Lancaster, vpon Munday, the seuenteenth of August last, 1612. Before Sir Iames Altham, and Sir Edward Bromley, Knights; barons of his Maiesties Court of Exchequer: and iustices of assize, oyer and terminor, and generall gaole deliuerie in the circuit of the north parts. Together with the arraignement and triall of Iennet Preston, at the assizes holden at the castle of Yorke, the seuen and twentieth day of Iulie last past, with her execution for the murther of Master Lister by witchcraft. Published and set forth by commandement of his Maiesties iustices of assize in the north parts. By Thomas Potts Esquier.	Potts, Thomas, fl. 1612-1618.; Bromley, Edward, Sir.	1613 (1613)	STC 20138; ESTC S114979	74,814	196

Da ueniam Ignoto non displicuisse meretur Festinat studijs qui placuisse tibi THE ARRAIGNEMENT AND TRIALL OF IENNET PRESTON OF GISBORNE IN CRAVEN in the Countie of Yorke At the Assises and Generall Gaole Deliuerie holden at the Castle of Yorke in the Countie of Yorke the xxvij day of Iuly last past Anno Regni Regis IACOBI Angliae c. Decimo Scotiae quadragesimo quinto Before Sir IAMES ALTHAM Knight one of the Barons of his Maiesties Court of Exchequer and Sir EDVVARD BROMLEY Knight another of the Barons of his Maiesties Court of Exchequer his Maiesties Iustices of Assise Oyer and Terminer and generall Gaole-Deliuerie in the Circuit of the North-parts LONDON Printed by W. STANSBY for IOHN BARNES and are to be sold at his Shoppe neere Holborne Conduit 1612. THE ARRAIGNMENT and Triall of IENNET PRESTON of Gisborne in Crauen in the Countie of Yorke at the Assises and Generall Gaole-deliuerie holden at the Castle of Yorke in the Countie of Yorke the seuen and twentieth day of Iuly last past Anno Regni Regis Iacobi Angliae c. Decimo Scotiae xlvj Jennet Preston MANY haue vndertaken to write great discourses of Witches and many more dispute and speake of them And it were not much if as many wrote of them as could write at al to set forth to the world the particular Rites and Secrets of their vnlawfull Artes with their infinite and wonderfull practises which many men little feare till they seaze vpon them As by this late wonderfull discouerie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster may appeare wherein I find such apparant matter to satisfie the World how dangerous and malitious a Witch this Iennet Preston was How vnfit to liue hauing once so great mercie extended to her And againe to reuiue her practises and returne to her former course of life that I thinke it necessarie not to let the memorie of her life and death die with her But to place her next to her fellowes and to set forth the Arraignement Triall and Conuiction of her with her offences for which she was condemned and executed And a though shee died for her offence before the rest I yet can afford her no better place then in the end of this Booke in respect the proceedings was in an other Countie You that were husband to this Iennet Preston her friends and kinsfolkes who haue not beene sparing to deuise so scandalous a slander out of the malice of your hearts as that shee was maliciously prosecuted by Master Lister and others Her life vniustly taken away by practise and that euen at the Gallowes where shee died impenitent and void of all feare or grace she died an Innocent woman because she would confesse nothing You I say may not hold it strange though at this time being not only moued in conscience but directed for example sake with that which I haue to report of her I suffer you not to wander any further but with this short discourse oppose your idle conceipts able to seduce others And by Charmes of Imputations and slander laid vpon the Iustice of the Land to cleare her that was iustly condemned and executed for her offence That this Iennet Preston was for many yeares well thought of and esteemed by Master Lister who afterwardes died for it Had free accesse to his house kind respect and entertainment nothing denied her she stood in need of Which of you that dwelleth neare them in Crauen but can and will witnesse it which might haue incouraged a Woman of any good condition to haue runne a better course The fauour and goodnesse of this Gentleman Master Lister now liuing at his first entrance after the death of his Father extended towards her and the reliefe she had at all times with many other fauours that succeeded from time to time are so palpable and euident to all men as no man can denie them These were sufficient motiues to haue perswaded her from the murder of so good a friend But such was her execrable Ingratitude as euen this grace and goodnesse was the cause of his miserable and vntimely death And euen in the beginning of his greatest fauours extended to her began shee to worke this mischiefe according to the course of all Witches This Iennet Preston whose Arraignment and Triall with the particular Euidence against her I am now to set forth vnto you one that liued at Gisborne in Crauen in the Countie of Yorke neare Master Lister of Westbie against whom she practised much mischiefe for hauing cut off Thomas Lister Esquire father to this gentleman now liuing shee reuenged her selfe vpon his sonne who in short time receiued great losse in his goods and cattell by her meanes These things in time did beget suspition and at the Assizes and Generall Gaole deliuerie holden at the Castle of Yorke in Lent last past before my Lord Bromley shee was Indicted and Arraigned for the murder of a Child of one Dodg-sonnes but by the fauour and mercifull consideration of the Iurie thereof acquited But this fauour and mercie was no sooner extended towardes her and shee set at libertie But shee began to practise the vtter ruine and ouerthrow of the name and bloud of this Gentleman And the better to execute her mischiefe and wicked intent within foure dayes after her deliuerance out of the Castle at Yorke went to the great Assembly of Witches at Malking-Tower vpon Good-friday last to pray aide and helpe for the murder of Master Lister in respect he had prosecuted against her at the same Assizes Which it pleased God in his mercie to discouer and in the end howsoeuer he had blinded her as he did the King of Aegypt and his Instruments for the brighter euidence of his own powerfull glory Yet by a Iudiciall course and triall of the Law cut her off and so deliuered his people from the danger of her Deuilish and wicked practises which you shall heare against her at her Arraignement and Triall which I shall now set forth to you in order as it was performed with the wonderfull signes and tokens of GOD to satisfie the Iurie to finde her guiltie of this bloudie murther committed foure yeares since Indictment THis Iennet Preston being Prisoner in the Castle at Yorke and indicted for that shee felloniously had practised vsed and exercised diuerse wicked and deuillish Arts called Witchcrafts Inchauntments Charmes and Sorceries in and vpon one Thomas Lister of Westby in Crauen in the Countie of Yorke Esquire and by force of the same Witchcraft felloniously the said Thomas Lister had killed Contra Pacem c. beeing at the Barre was arraigned To this Indictment vpon her Arraignement shee pleaded not guiltie and for the Triall of her life put her selfe vpon GOD and her Countrey Whereupon my Lord Altham commaunded Master Sheriffe of the Countie of Yorke in open Court to returne a Iurie of sufficient Gentlemen of vnderstanding to passe betweene our Soueraigne Lord the Kings Majestie and her and

saith shee came somewhat to her selfe and then the said Widow Southworth came againe to this Examinate to her bed-side and tooke her out of bed and said to this Examinate that shee did her no harme the other time in respect of that shee now would after doe to her and thereupon put her vpon a hey-stack standing some three or foure yards high from the earth where shee was found after great search made by a neighbours Wife neare dwelling and then laid in her bed againe where she remained speechlesse and senselesse as before by the space of two or three daies And being recouered within a weeke after shee saith that the said Iane Southworth did come againe to this Examinate at her fathers house and did take her away and laid her in a ditch neare to the house vpon her face and left her there where shee was found shortly after and laid vpon a bedde but had not her senses againe of a day a night or thereabouts And shee further saith that vpon Tuesday last before the taking of this her Examination the said Iane Southworth came to this Examinates Fathers house and finding this Examinate without the doore tooke her and carried her into the Barne and thrust her head amongst a companie of boords that were there standing where shee was shortly after found and laid in a bedde and remained in her old fit till the Thursday at night following And being further examined touching her being at Red-bancke shee saith That the three women by her before named were carried backe againe ouer Ribble by the same blacke things that carried them thither and saith that at their said meeting in the Red-bancke there did come also diuers other women and did meete them there some old some young which this Examinate thinketh did dwell vpon the North-side of Ribble because she saw them not come ouer the Water but this Examinate knew none of them neither did she see them eat or dance or doe any thing else that the rest did sauing that they were there and looked on These particular points of Euidence being thus vrged against the Prisoners the father of this Grace Sowerbutts prayed that Thomas Walshman whose childe they are charged to murther might be examined as a witnes vpon his oath for the Kings Maiestie against the Prisoners at the Barre who vpon this strange deuised accusation deliuered by this impudent wench were in opinion of many of that great Audience guilty of this bloudie murther and more worthy to die then any of these Witches The Examination and Euidence of THOMAS WALSHMAN of Salmesbury in the Countie of Lancaster Yeoman Against IENNET BIERLEY ELLEN BIERLEY and IANE SOVTHVVORTH Prisoners at the Barre vpon their Arraignement and Triall as followeth viz. THe said Examinate Thomas Walshman vpon his oath saith That hee had a childe died about Lent was twelue-month who had beene sicke by the space of a fortnight or three weekes and was afterwards buried in Salmesburie Church which childe when it died was about a yeare old But how it came to the death of it this Examinate knoweth not And he further saith that about the fifteenth of Aprill last or thereabouts the said Grace Sowerbutts was found in this Examinates fathers Barne laid vnder a little hay and straw and from thence was carried into this Examinates house and there laid till the Monday at night following during which time shee did not speak but lay as if she had beene dead The Examination of IOHN SINGLETON Taken at Salmesbury in the Countie of Lancaster the seuenth day of August Anno Reg. Regis IACOBI Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Fidei Defensor c. Decimo Scotiae xlvj Before ROBERT HOVLDEN Esquire one of his Maiesties Iustices of Peace in the County of Lancaster Against IENNET BIERLEY ELLEN BIERLEY and IANE SOVTHVVORTH which hereafter followeth THe said Examinate vpon his oath saith That hee hath often heard his old Master Sir Iohn Southworth Knight now deceased say touching the late wife of Iohn Southworth now in the Gaole for suspition of Witchcraft That the said wife was as he thought an euill woman and a Witch and he said that he was sorry for her husband that was his kinsman for he thought she would kill him And this Examinate further saith That the said Sir Iohn Southworth in his comming or going betweene his owne house at Salmesbury and the Towne of Preston did for the most part forbeare to passe by the house where the said wife dwelled though it was his nearest and best way and rode another way only for feare of the said wife as this Examinate verily thinketh The Examination of WILLIAM ALKER of Salmesbury in the Countie of Lancaster Yeoman Taken the fifteenth day of Aprill Anno Reg. Regis IACOBI Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Decimo Scotiae quadragesimo quinto Before ROBERT HOVLDEN one of his Maiesties Iustices of Peace in the County of Lancaster Against IENNET BIERLEY ELLEN BIERLEY and IANE BIERLEY which hereafter followeth viz. THe said Examinate vpon his oath saith That hee hath seene the said Sir Iohn Southworth shunne to meet the said wife of Iohn Southworth now Prisoner in the Gaole when he came neere where she was And hath heard the said Sir Iohn Southworth say that he liked her not and that he doubted she would bewitch him Here was likewise Thomas Sowerbutts father of Grace Sowerbutts examined vpon his oath and many other witnesses to little purpose who being examined by the Court could depose little against them But the finding of the wench vpon the hay in her counterfeit fits wherfore I leaue to trouble you with the particular declaration of their Euidence against the Prisoners In respect there was not any one witnes able to charge them with one direct matter of Withcraft nor proue any thing for the murther of the childe Herein before we come to the particular declaration of that wicked and damnable practise of this Iesuite or Seminary I shall commend vnto your examination and iudgement some points of her Euidence wherein you shal see what impossibilities are in this accusatiō brought to this perfection by the great care and paines of this officious Doctor Master Tompson or Southworth who commonly worketh vpon the Feminine disposition being more Passiue then Actiue The particular points of the Euidence of GRACE SOVVERBVTTS viz. Euidence THat for the space of some yeares she hath been haunted and vexed with some women who haue vsed to come to her The Iesuite forgot to instruct his Scholler how long it is since she was tormented it seemes it is long since he read the old Badge of a Lyer Oportet mendacem esse memorem He knowes not how long it is since they came to church after which time they began to practise Witchcraft It is a likely thing the Torment and Panges of Witchcraft can be forgotten and therefore no time can be set downe Shee saith that now lately these foure women did violently draw her

accusing an other all things were laid open at large In the end his Lordship tooke away the Girle from her Father and committed her to M. Leigh a very religious Preacher and M. Chisnal two Iustices of the Peace to be carefully examined Who tooke great paines to examine her of euery particular point In the end they came into the Court and there deliuered this Examination as followeth ⸫ The Examination of GRACE SOWERBVTS of Salmesburie in the Countie of Lancaster Spinster Taken vpon Wednesday the 19. of August 1612. Annoque Reg. Regis IACOBI Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Fidei Defensoris c. decimo Scotiae xlvi Before WILLIAM LEICH and EDWARD CHISNAL Esquires two of his Maiesties Iustices of Peace in the same Countie At the Assizes and generall Gaole deliuerie holden at Lancaster By Direction of Sir EDWARD BROMLEY Knight one of his Maiesties Iustices of Assize at Lancaster BEing demanded whether the accusation shee laid vppon her Grand-mother Iennet Bierley Ellen Bierley and Iane Southworth of Witchcraft viz. of the killing of the child of Thomas Walshman with a naile in the Nauell the boyling eating and oyling thereby to transforme themselues into diuers shapes was true shee doth vtterly denie the same or that euer shee saw any such practises done by them Shee further saith that one Master Thompson which she taketh to be Master Christopher Southworth to whom shee was sent to learne her prayers did perswade counsell and aduise her to deale as formerly hath beene said against her said Grand-mother Aunt and Southworths wife And further shee confesseth and saith that shee neuer did know or saw any Deuils nor any other Visions as formerly by her hath beene alleaged and informed Also shee confesseth and saith That shee was not throwne or cast vpon the Henne-ruffe and Hay-mow in the Barne but that shee went vp vpon the Mow her selfe by the wall side Being further demanded whether shee euer was at the Church shee saith shee was not but promised her after to goe to the Church and that very willingly Signum ✚ Grace Sowerbuts William Leigh Edward Chisnal The Examination of IENNET BIERLEY ELLEN BIERLEY and IANE SOVTHWORTH of Salmesburie in the Countie of Lancaster Taken vpon Wednesday the nineteenth of August 1612. Annoque Reg. Regis IACOBI Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Fidei Defensoris c. decimo Scotiae xlvi Before WILLIAM LEIGH and EDWARD CHISNAL Esquires two of his Maiesties Iustices of Peace in the same Countie At the Assizes and generall Gaole deliuerie holden at Lancaster By Direction of Sir EDWARD BROMLEY Knight one of his Maiesties Iustices of Assize at Lancaster IEnnet Bierley being demanded what shee knoweth or hath heard how Grace Sowerbuts was brought to Christopher Southworth Priest shee answereth that shee was brought to M. Singletons house by her owne Mother where the said Priest was and that shee further heard her said Mother say after her Daughter had been in her fit that shee should be brought vnto her Master meaning the said Priest And shee further saith that shee thinketh it was by and through the Counsell of the said M. Thomson alias Southworth Priest That Grace Sowerbuts her Grandchild accused her of Witchcraft and of such practises as shee is accused of And thinketh further the cause why the said Thompson alias Southworth Priest should practise with the Wench to doe it was for that shee went to the Church Iane Southworth saith shee saw Master Thompson alias Southworth the Priest a month or sixe weekes before she was committed to the Gaole and had conference with him in a place called Barne-hey-lane where and when shee challenged him for slandering her to bee a Witch wherunto he answered that what he had heard thereof he heard from her mother and her Aunt yet she this Examinate thinketh in her heart it was by his procurement and is moued so to thinke for that shee would not be disswaded from the Church Ellen Bierley saith Shee saw Master Thompson alias Southworth sixe or eight weeks before she was committed and thinketh the said Priest was the practiser with Grace Sowerbutts to accuse her of Witchcraft and knoweth no cause why he should so doe but because she goeth to the Church Signum ✚ Iennet Bierley Signum £ Iane Southworth Signum Θ Ellen Bierley William Leigh Edward Chisnall These Examinations being taken they were brought into the Court and there openly in the presence of this great Audience published and declared to the Iurie of Life and Death and thereupon the Gentlemen of their Iury required to consider of them For although they stood vpon their Triall for matter of Fact of Witchcraft Murther and much more of the like nature yet in respect all their Accusations did appeare to bee practise they were now to consider of them and to acquit them Thus were these poore Innocent creatures by the great care and paines of this honorable Iudge deliuered from the danger of this conspiracie this bloudie practise of the Priest laid open of whose fact I may lawfully say Etiam si ego tacuero clamabunt lapides These are but ordinary with Priests and Iesuites no respect of Bloud kindred or friendship can moue them to forbeare their Conspiracies for when he had laboured treacherously to seduce and conuert them and yet could doe no good then deuised he this meanes God of his great mercie deliuer vs all from them and their damnable conspiracies and when any of his Maiesties subiects so free and innocent as these shall come in question grant them as honorable a Triall as Reuerend and worthy a Iudge to sit in Iudgement vpon them and in the end as speedie a deliuerance And for that which I haue heard of them seene with my eyes and taken paines to Reade of them My humble prayer shall be to God Almightie Vt Conuertantur ne pereant Aut consundantur ne noceant To conclude because the discourse of these three women of Salmesbury hath beene long and troublesome to you it is heere placed amongst the Witches by special order and commandement to set forth to the World the practise and conspiracie of this bloudy Butcher And because I haue presented to your view a Kalender in the Frontispice of this Booke of twentie notorious Witches I shall shew you their deliuerance in order as they came to their Arraignement and Triall euery day and as the Gentlemen of euery Iury for life and death stood charged with them THE ARRAIGNMENT and Triall of ANNE REDFERNE Daughter of ANNE WHITTLE alias CHATTOX of the Forrest of Pendle in the Countie of Lancaster for Witchcraft vpon Wednesday the nineteenth of August at the Assises and Generall Gaole-deliuerie holden at Lancaster Before Sir EDVVARD BROMLEY Knight one of his Maiesties Iustices of Assise at Lancaster Anne Redferne SVch is the horror of Murther and the crying sinne of Bloud that it will neuer bee satisfied but with Bloud So fell it out with this miserable creature Anne Redferne the daughter of