07/18/2019
WOW!!
On this day in 1616 nine women in Husbands Bosworth were executed on suspicion of being witches in what became known as the Leicester Boy Trial. A 13 year old boy named John Smith began suffering fits and accused nine local women of bewitching him, describing in detail how they would send animal spirits to possess him. The women were hanged on the same day as their trial.
Later in October Smith accused a further 6 women of witchcraft. By coincidence King James I was in the area and- having a keen interest in witchhunting- decided to take a personal look at the case. He was appalled to discover that the trials rested on the testimony of a child, and cross-examination quickly determined that Smith had been lying for attention. The six women were acquitted, but only five freed as the sixth had since died in prison. The collapse of the case caused considerable fallout on English law, with judges becoming reluctant to accept testimony from children as evidence. It's only in the past few decades that this attitude has started to change.
From our archives, Nichols' seminal 1798 History Of Leicester books contains a copy of a letter written by Robert Heyrick on the day of the women's ex*****on, with followups about the October trials. Even Nichols comments that it is 'scarcely credible in these enlightened times' what happened on that day 403 years ago. It was a dark day in Leicestershire's history, and we can only hope that we can learn from the mistakes of the past.
If you're interested in learning about other important events in Leicestershire and Rutland's history please contact us on [email protected], or call in to see us.
