Introduction
There may have been others, but according to the records we have, six women were executed in King’s Lynn for being a witch.
- 1590 Margaret Reed, burned
- 1598 Elizabeth Housegoe, burned or hanged
- 1616 Mary Smith, hanged or burned
- 1646 Dororthy Lee, hanged
- 1646 Grace Wright, hanged
- 1650 Dorothy Floyd, hanged
Thankfully it would appear that when Matthew Hopkins (the self-styled Witchfinder General) was called to the town in 1646, he only managed to find two witches, despite being paid a lot of money, and despite having so-called “fool-proof” methods (see The Alleged Witches of Lynn).
What is Witchcraft?
Witchcraft is a perceived facility to summon evil spirits and demons to do harm to others. It has always been linked to religion and the supernatural. The medieval Church had powers to punish those who dabbled in magic and sorcery. Its priests were able to exorcise those who had become possessed by malign spirits.
However, the English laws relating to witchcraft evolved over time, reflecting both changing attitudes towards the supernatural and the role of the legal system in exercising central control and in addressing perceived threats to society.
The Witchcraft Laws
Tudor Legislation
The first formal English law specifically addressing witchcraft was the Witchcraft Act of 1542, enacted during the reign of Henry VIII.

This was groundbreaking legislation for three reasons. First, it placed witchcraft under the jurisdiction of the common law courts rather than ecclesiastical courts. This diminished the Church’s role in judging and controlling matters of supposed heresy and moral misconduct. With secular courts responsible for witchcraft cases, the state could exert its influence, using witchcraft accusations as a way to reinforce royal authority. This was to become especially evident under monarchs like James I, who promoted strict anti-witchcraft laws as part of his ideological campaign against perceived threats to his rule.
Secondly, the crime was defined by someone being a witch, rather than someone causing harm as a witch. This was important because it would be easier to prove that someone was a witch rather than she or he had caused a particular action (such as the death of a cow, for example).
Thirdly, the legislation defined the felony of being a witch as punishable by death.This 1542 act was short-lived and was repealed by Edward VI in 1547 upon Henry VIII’s death.
Primarily, the Act had been largely unenforced during its five-year existence, with no recorded prosecutions. Additionally, the political and religious climate shifted with the accession of Edward VI, who was more reform-oriented and less inclined to maintain his father’s harsh legal measures. The repeal reflected a temporary reduction in the perceived threat of witchcraft.
Witchcraft: The Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Stuart Periods
For approximately the next 100 years there was a significant increase in witchcraft with over 500 cases recorded in the country between 1550 and 1700. It is important to remember the historical background to these trials. There was great disturbance in the country with significant threats to law and order. The dominant Protestants saw themselves under threat from Roman Catholics (“Bloody” Mary, the Spanish Armada, Mary Queen of Scots, James I’s strong belief in witches, the Gunpowder Plot, the Catholic sympathies of Charles I, the Civil War and the execution of Charles). There was a desire to control thought and root out and punish heresy.
Witchcraft, if it could be found, was a significant challenge to religious orthodoxy. The Witchfinder, Matthew Hopkins, who emerged during the Civil War, was a zealous, godly man (albeit misguided).

After a period without specific witchcraft laws, Queen Elizabeth I’s parliament passed the Witchcraft Act of 1563. This legislation was partly motivated by countering Catholic plots against the queen. However, it importantly established a two-stage prosecution process: examination by a Justice of the Peace, followed by trial. In theory this gave the accused a degree of more protection. The law also specifically made causing death through witchcraft punishable by death.
The accession of James I (James VI of Scotland) in 1603 marked a significant shift in witchcraft legislation. James’ bride-to-be, Anne, had nearly drowned in 1589 and James believed witches were behind the event. Within a year of taking the English throne, James I passed a new Witchcraft Act in 1604. The Act of 1604 established harsher penalties and a broader scope of offences, reflecting the king’s heightened anxieties.
The 1604 act:
- Made entertaining evil spirits, or using human corpses for necromancy, capital offences.
- Increased penalties for harming (but not killing) someone through witchcraft from imprisonment to death.
- Made it an offence to use witchcraft to find hidden treasure or rob graves.
- Prohibited encouragement to have “unlawful love” (e.g. adultery, incest, buggery, bestiality) through magical means.
- Allowed the use of child witnesses in witchcraft trials. This was very unusual because evidence from children was not thought to be reliable and was not permitted as evidence of other crimes. It was to have a devastating effect in Salem in colonial America.
- Removed the use of torture to obtain confessions, which led to a decrease in conviction rates. This means that in 1646 Matthew Hopkins was operating outside of the law. People began to suspect his methods as being torture and his popularity started to decline (see below).
Witchcraft: Decline and Repeal
The witch hunt fervour began to wane in the late 17th century. The last documented execution for witchcraft in England occurred in 1682, although trials continued sporadically. In 1735, a new Witchcraft Act was passed that marked a dramatic shift in attitudes.
The 1735 Act
- Replaced penalties for witchcraft with penalties for pretending to have magical powers
- Significantly treated claims of supernatural abilities as fraud rather than genuine witchcraft
- Applied to the whole of Great Britain, repealing both English and Scottish witchcraft acts
This 1735 Act remained in force until 1951 when it was replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act, which was in turn repealed in 2008 and was been replaced by laws governing fraudulent trading practices.
Witchcraft: Impact and Legacy
The various Witchcraft Acts had profound effects on English society. They led to hundreds of women (primarily poor and older women) being executed – some being burned alive. This reflected the fear, intolerance, and lack of understanding in society, and a willingness to find difference as suspicious and a desire to extinguish that threat. As more skeptical views of the supernatural grew there was less belief in witchcraft and a greater willingness to accommodate any perceived threat.
The history of English witchcraft laws demonstrates the complex interplay between popular beliefs, religious doctrine, and legal systems, as well as the gradual shift towards more rational approaches to supernatural claims.
© James Rye 2024
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Sources
- An Act against Witchcraft – The National Archives https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/early-modern-witch-trials/an-act-against-witchcraft/
- England’s Witch Trials Were Lawful – Smithsonian Magazine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/englands-witch-trials-were-lawful-180964514/
- The Horrific History of Witch Trials in England – Oxford Castle & Prison https://www.oxfordcastleandprison.co.uk/about/news/the-horrific-history-of-witch-trials-in-england/
- Hopkins, M (1647) The Discovery of Witches
- James I (1597) Daemonologie
- Levack, B.P. (2006)The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe. Longman
- Oxford LibGuides: Witchcraft & the law in early modern Europe & USA: England https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/law-witch/england
- Sharpe, J. (1996) Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern England. University of Pennsylvania Press
- ‘Unlawful Love’ and the 1604 Witchcraft Act – Legal History Miscellany https://legalhistorymiscellany.com/2024/04/23/unlawful-love-and-the-1604-witchcraft-act/
- WHICH WITCH(CRAFT ACT) IS WHICH? | Parliamentary Archives https://archives.blog.parliament.uk/2020/10/28/which-witchcraft-act-is-which/
- The Witchcraft Act: The End of Witchcraft? http://winsham.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-witchcraft-act-end-of-witchcraft.html
- Witchcraft Acts – Engole https://engole.info/witchcraft-acts/
- Witchcraft Acts – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft_Acts
- Witchcraft & the law in early modern Europe & USA: England https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/law-witch/england
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