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Announcement for new book Welsh Witches by Richard Suggett and with foreword from Ronald Hutton

Peter Giles

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Forthcoming publication by Atramentous Press
Welsh Witches: narratives of witchcraft and magic in 16th and 17th century Wales by Richard Suggett, with foreword by Ronald Hutton.

Two editions available a deluxe and a standard

Deluxe limited to 13 copies, only two left with rest having sold out in 12 hours of pre-orders going live.

Standard edition 777 copies.

Pre-orders are live at www.atramentouspress.com

Authentic accounts of witchcraft accusations in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England and Wales are rare. There is of course a sensational pamphlet literature based on witchcraft trials but this source can be problematic, especially as the trial documents have disappeared. However, a rich archive of pre-trial documents relating to witchcraft accusations has been discovered in the records of the Court of Great Sessions of Wales. These unique documents are the complaints of those who believed themselves bewitched, the depositions of witnesses, and the examinations of suspected witches.

The Court of Great Sessions had the power of life and death and sent many convicted felons to the gallows. We know exactly when the first prosecution for murder by witchcraft took place in Wales. In 1594 Gwen ferch Ellis of Denbighshire was tried for felonious witchcraft, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. This case was something of a cause celebre. Remarkably the record survives of Gwen’s interrogation by the bishop of St Asaph as well as the depositions of her accusers.

Richard Suggett is a historian, currently senior investigator at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, and Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. He is the author of the A History of Magic and Witchcraft in Wales (2005) as well as studies on the architecture and social history of medieval and later Wales.
 
Thank you for the announcement, but we'll just have a single copy of it in the announcement forum.
 
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Some more info regarding our forthcoming publication

Welsh Witches: narratives of witchcraft and magic in 16th and 17th century Wales.

By Richard Suggett, with a foreword by Ronald Hutton.


Witchcraft was not perceived as a pandemic threat in Wales compared to the rest of Europe. In Richard Suggett’s new book he brings to the reader for the very first time the documents relating to witchcraft, magic, and faeries according to the people who were there at the time. This window into the past has often been obscured by the prevalent pamphlet literature, and whereas across Britain there is little that remains of the pre-trial indictments, Suggett has discovered a plethora of accounts recorded at the time in the archive of the National Library of Wales. As a consequence Welsh Witches is a vital contributor for understanding the imagination and reality of witchcraft and related practices in a way which has not for the most part been achieved before.


A subsequent outcome of this exciting development is the emplacement of the witch to the metaphysical, along with the acculturation of terms responsible for making the witch an irreversible icon. Looking back into the past has often be regarded as a troublesome undertaking because of the inevitable distortions that take place when making narratives, however we have here the most direct focal lens for understanding how the world was inhabited by visible and invisible beings.

While the book naturally lends itself to the Ewan L’Estrange style, there is much here that practitioners of the olde cunning ways will find useful, and it should therefore be considered a work which crosses the divide between academia and practitioner. For many the prospect of it being about Welsh witchcraft and magic may cause them to wonder whether this book belongs in their collection, however, for anyone interested in the history of witchcraft, or those who are inclined to look for significant indicators to enhance their own work, this book is an absolute must buy.

A requisite for both historians as well other academics interested in the topic, along with those who are concerned in ‘mining’ the material so they might make more from the world they inhabit indicates Welsh Witches: narratives of witchcraft and magic in 16th and 17th century Wales by Richard Suggett will be a valuable addition to everyone’s ‘witching’ collection.
 
ooooh! :cheer:

Really enjoy Hutton's writing style too.
 
And yes I think his style is erudite and sophisticated and while this is only a foreword he does a good job contextualising what was going on in Wales. What is of particular interest is the resonating similarities with how people spoke about witchcraft, faeries and sorcerers back then to how we accommodate these icons now. You get a real sense of time being compressed which is a real strength to the book. And when it comes to pre-ordering there has been a huge amount of interest with all but one of the deluxes selling in less than twelve hours of the pre-order going live, but currently I think we only have one order from the UK. That seems strange indeed and I don't have an explanation for it.....
 
I see Ronald Hutton in Sainsbury's most mornings.  :adored:
 
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