An unusual witchcraft case in Ipswich

Mary Lackland, or Lakeland, was burned on the Cornhill on 9th September 1645 but why? The heresy laws had been repealed in 1558/9 although they were invoked later, up to 1612/3.

This execution took place at the peak of the Matthew Hopkins witch mania but those convicted of witchcraft under English law, unlike Scotland and the continent, were routinely hanged – which was not just far more comfortable for the convict but makes life easier for scientists and historians today who can analyse bones.

About twelve years ago, I attended a talk at the University of Essex by that institution’s Professor Alison Rowlands, in which she spoke about evidence towards the identification of the St. Osyth witches, before Hopkins’ time. Hopkins himself, son of a vicar of Framlingham and Great Wenham, only lived from c.1620 to 1647 but, coinciding with the legal vacuum of the Civil War, procured the hanging of three hundred people from 1644, as well as some who died awaiting execution.

A good comparison would be the case of Margery Jourdemayne, which John Ashdown-Hill related on pp.66-8 of his Royal Marriage Secrets, who sought to foretell the future of Henry VI, for the benefit of his aunt by marriage, Eleanor Cobham. Jourdemayne was burned in 1441, and her male conspirator drawn, hanged and quartered, because this form of witchcraft amounted to high treason. There is no record of Jourdemayne predictng her own end. Other forms of treason, for which female commoners could be executed by burning in England and Wales until just over two centuries ago included the forging of coins, which bore the monarch’s face, or the killing of a husband, or a master or mistress by a servant, as such a person was considered to be a representative of the monarch.

So it was this definition of treason, together with the Witchcraft Act of 1604, under which Mary Lackland was to suffer, as the five or more people she was deemed to have killed by magic included her husband John, a barber. Although executed on the Cornhill, she is said to haunt the Buttermarket, including the Ancient House, now occupied by … Lakeland Plastics.

h/t Sam Murray.

There’s a dentist in … Hertfordshire

{with apologies to the Barron Knights}

Back in August of last year I drove over to a dental practice in St Albans for my annual check-up. Yes, it is a long way from where I live in Yoxford but the dentist and I go back a long way. I have actually been his patient since 1982 so my visits if not the favourite days on my calendar at least have a social side with an opportunity to catch up on things. In a break in proceedings in which some conversation took place his nurse/assistant, Nicky, happened to mention she lived in Hinxworth. I was familiar with the village as a close friend of mine used to live there many years ago but I was sure it had cropped up in a totally different context in more recent times. The best I could come up with was that it was something to do with the church but I was not sure what.

Thinking about it on the drive back I decided that it must have a Ricardian connection as I could not imagine how it could have been mentioned in anything else I had read.  Bearing that in mind I came to the conclusion it must be referred to in one of John Ashdown-Hill’s books but which one?  On arriving home it did not take long to find the reference in The Private Life of Edward IV.  Hinxworth church has the tomb of none other than “Jane Shore” or Elizabeth Lambert to use her correct name. As you are no doubt aware she was an alleged mistress of King Edward but as John points out in his book there is no real evidence of an affair.  She is also alleged to have had relationships with Lord Hastings and the Marquess of Dorset before eventually going on to marry Richard’s solicitor, Thomas Lynom. She was obviously a very popular lady in the 15^th century!

I have to confess to being intrigued by the events surrounding her marriage to William Shore.  She initially petitioned the Bishop of London with regards to the annulment of her marriage on the grounds of non-consummation.  He in turn referred the matter to the Pope no less. The Pope not surprisingly referred the matter back to local bishops who then appointed a team of “experienced local women” to visit William Shore and perform a “physical examination” on him. We can only guess at what this entailed but it appears the unfortunate Mr Shore failed the examination as the marriage was annulled.

Unfortunately I have not as yet been able to discover how Elizabeth Lambert came to be buried at Hinxworth, there does not appear to be anything connecting her to that part of Hertfordshire. Also not having visited the church I am curious as to how she is referred to on her tomb. I assume it would not be as Jane Shore as that was an invention a long time after her death.

An image appears on the M&B blog.