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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.
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.