17th century notebook reveals how women were punished for witchcraft
March 4th, 2011 - 3:32 pm ICT by ANILondon, Mar 4 (ANI): A 17th Century notebook revealing how women were tried, tortured, convicted and hanged for witchcraft has been published online.
Experts from University of Manchester photographed the notebook, kept at Tatton Park, Cheshire, and said they were “delighted” at being able to preserve it.
In the book, puritan writer Nehemiah Wallington described how Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins found “a coven of witches” and 19 women were hanged.
“July the XX111 there were at Least XXXV111 witches imprisoned in the Town of Ipswich…” Wallington wrote about the Chelmsford trial in July 1645.
The Tatton notebook also describes battles and skirmishes of the English Civil War period and the disturbing violence of the 1640s, in which dozens of East Anglian women were killed.
By 1654 Wallington had catalogued 50 notebooks, of which only seven are known to have survived.
Four are in the British Library, one in the Guildhall Library, one in the Folger Library in Washington DC and one at Tatton Park.
“The Wallington manuscripts are hugely important primary sources for scholars of the period,” the BBC quoted Tatton Park mansion and collections manager Caroline Schofield as saying. (ANI)
- Sensex creeps up from day's lows (Lead) - Apr 26, 2011
- 'Witch hunting' on the rise in Assam - Mar 29, 2012
- Single women victims of witch-hunt in tribal Assam - Nov 02, 2011
- Woman forced to eat human excreta on witchcraft charge - Apr 28, 2012
- Emma Watson begins Oxford classes - Oct 18, 2011
- Assam sexagenarian vows to save witch-hunt victims - May 19, 2012
- Charlie Sheen's radio tirade 'angers' witch community - Mar 07, 2011
- John Milton's 160-year-old poetry book covered in skin of hanged murderer - Feb 26, 2011
- Man jailed for stealing ambulance in Britain - Dec 17, 2011
- Iran hangs four rapists - Oct 12, 2011
- Christine O'Donnell Makes Light of Witchcraft Comment - Sep 20, 2010
- 'Witch' hunt continues in Rajasthan - Oct 04, 2011
- Christine O'Donnell: 'I dabbled in witchcraft' - Sep 19, 2010
- Woman attacked for 'witchcraft' - Mar 05, 2011
- Six booked for branding woman as witch - May 31, 2011
Tags: 17th century, british library, civil war period, coven of witches, dozens, english civil war, folger library, guildhall, guildhall library, manuscripts, matthew hopkins, park mansion, primary sources, schofield, skirmishes, tatton park, tatton park cheshire, university of manchester, witchcraft, witchfinder general