Leicester boy (original) (raw)
The Leicester boy trial was one of Leicester's most notorious witchcraft cases, in which a thirteen-year-old boy publicly accused 15 women of causing a possession within him. The case took place in Husbands Bosworth, a small village not far from Leicester in 1616. John Smith fell into a series of violent fits, not even several men could hold him down. He made strange noises, and, as noted in a letter from Alderman Robert Heyrick to his brother Sir William, he would beat himself with inhuman strength, yet somehow remain unharmed. He gave extensive details on their familiars. The two judges, Sir Humphrey Winch and Sir Ranulph Crewe quickly condemned the women, rounding all 15 of them up. Nine of them were tried, found guilty and hanged for allegedly possessing John Smith. The other six were
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| dbo:abstract | The Leicester boy trial was one of Leicester's most notorious witchcraft cases, in which a thirteen-year-old boy publicly accused 15 women of causing a possession within him. The case took place in Husbands Bosworth, a small village not far from Leicester in 1616. John Smith fell into a series of violent fits, not even several men could hold him down. He made strange noises, and, as noted in a letter from Alderman Robert Heyrick to his brother Sir William, he would beat himself with inhuman strength, yet somehow remain unharmed. He gave extensive details on their familiars. The two judges, Sir Humphrey Winch and Sir Ranulph Crewe quickly condemned the women, rounding all 15 of them up. Nine of them were tried, found guilty and hanged for allegedly possessing John Smith. The other six were placed in prison to wait their turn. None of them were named before being hanged. King James I happened to be passing through about a month later, and heard what was going on. He called for John Smith to be questioned, and had little trouble determining the child was fraudulent. He broke down, and confessed the truth. Of the six women who had been imprisoned, only five of them were released, as one of them died inside. According to a timeline, the woman who had died told the jailer she was working with the witches against Smith the day before she died. She had begged him not to say anything because the witches would harm her. It was not until recently that courts began to consider child testimonies again, though they still deeply consider them before trusting them. Due to the Leicester Boy case, and others like it, many judges were wary of trusting anyone, especially children, in claims of witchcraft. The two judges associated with the cases had their reputations seriously damaged, and the story was transformed into a satirical comedy making fun of them in The Devil Is an Ass by Ben Jonson. (en) |
| dbo:wikiPageExternalLink | http://liberalengland.blogspot.com/2009/08/witches-of-husbands-bosworth.html https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14490790 |
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| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink | dbr:Sarah_Good dbr:Sarah_Osborne dbc:Leicester dbr:Ben_Jonson dbr:Husbands_Bosworth dbr:Pendle_witches dbr:Leicester dbc:Witch_trials_in_England dbr:Wallace_Notestein dbr:Gävle_Boy dbr:Laurentius_Christophori_Hornæus dbr:Ranulph_Crewe dbr:James_VI_and_I dbr:Jennet_Device dbr:Humphrey_Winch dbc:Accusers_in_witch_trials dbr:Torsåker_witch_trials dbr:Witchcraft_Acts dbr:Tituba dbr:The_Devil_Is_an_Ass dbr:Assize dbr:Benefit_of_the_clergy |
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| dct:subject | dbc:Leicester dbc:Witch_trials_in_England dbc:Accusers_in_witch_trials |
| gold:hypernym | dbr:’ |
| rdfs:comment | The Leicester boy trial was one of Leicester's most notorious witchcraft cases, in which a thirteen-year-old boy publicly accused 15 women of causing a possession within him. The case took place in Husbands Bosworth, a small village not far from Leicester in 1616. John Smith fell into a series of violent fits, not even several men could hold him down. He made strange noises, and, as noted in a letter from Alderman Robert Heyrick to his brother Sir William, he would beat himself with inhuman strength, yet somehow remain unharmed. He gave extensive details on their familiars. The two judges, Sir Humphrey Winch and Sir Ranulph Crewe quickly condemned the women, rounding all 15 of them up. Nine of them were tried, found guilty and hanged for allegedly possessing John Smith. The other six were (en) |
| rdfs:label | Leicester boy (en) |
| owl:sameAs | freebase:Leicester boy wikidata:Leicester boy https://global.dbpedia.org/id/uPkU |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Leicester_boy?oldid=1122400073&ns=0 |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:Leicester_boy |
| is dbo:wikiPageWikiLink of | dbr:Gävle_Boy dbr:Ranulph_Crewe dbr:Humphrey_Winch |
| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:Leicester_boy |