Why so few witches were executed in Wales in the Middle Ages

The fear of witchcraft led to centuries of persecution and executions across Europe. While there were an estimated 500 executions in England and between 3,000 and 4,000 murders in Scotland, only five people were hanged for witchcraft in Wales.

Early modern Wales was unique in its view of witchcraft. Various elements of Welsh culture, including superstition and religion, put an end to the witch trials in the rest of Britain and Europe.

In fact, the witch is steeped in Welsh culture. There is speculation among some researchers that the traditional tall, black hat of the Welsh woman served as the inspiration for the wide-brimmed hat of the fairy witch. Yet Wales saw no witch hunt. What are the reasons behind the lack of prosecutions in Wales?

It’s not that the people of Wales weren’t afraid of witchcraft or supernatural damage – they were. But this fear usually manifested itself in arguments between neighbors and relatives, which amounted to little more than name-calling.

There were other factors, such as the preference for unreformed religion. And the people’s dependence on wise women and fortune tellers who could cure diseases and find missing objects, and the ever-present influence of ancient beggar women, made witchcraft less likely to be brought to the attention of the courts. If it came to court very occasionally, it was usually rejected.

Accusations of witchcraft

Welsh court records dating back to the 16th century are held in the National Library of Wales. We know from those court documents that suspicions and verbal accusations of witchcraft, like those in the rest of Britain and Europe, were common in Wales. They also took place under similar circumstances, with accusations often following an argument or a request for charity that was rejected.

The archives record bitter quarrels between neighbors and relatives. Horses are killed, cattle are bewitched, pigs are killed, men and women are injured, there are miscarriages and even murders. When someone was accused of being a witch, they were usually accused by other people in the community. Their accusers were neighbors, relatives and, in many cases, people with financial and personal reasons to make accusations.

Wales has long been seen by outsiders as a land of magic, superstition and the supernatural. English men and women sometimes traveled to Wales seeking consultations with sorcerers and fortune tellers.

Women in Wales even looked like witches. They tended to dress in long, thick woolen skirts, aprons, blouses and large woolen scarves. Most farm women would have brewed mead and beer. They would let their community know that beer was for sale by posting some form of signage outside their cottages. The most popular and best known of these signs was a broomstick.

There are similarities between the average Welsh woman and the witches written about in early modern literature, such as the Malleus Maleficarum, written by a German Catholic minister in 1486. ​​These similarities, such as appearance, unreformed religion and tendency to relying on charms and herbs, his painted a picture of Wales as a magical land full of witchcraft. This left juries in early modern Wales with serious doubts about the wisdom of witch accusations.

Religion

The people of Wales were not without religion, but they preferred prayer to doctrine. This may have been the result of language barriers. In general, Welsh people could not read or understand the Bible, which was not fully translated into Welsh until the late 16th century.

Rather than conforming to Protestant worship as directed by the Reformed Church, Welsh tradition preferred to worship within the household in a manner that mimicked Catholic practices. There is evidence that many people continued to seek the help of charmers rather than the church. And so Elizabethan and Stuart politicians often spoke of religious ‘ignorance’ in Wales.

The Church in Wales also participated in practices that some would describe as witchcraft. There was even a strong medieval tradition of swearing by clergymen. These types of formal curses were often phrased as a petition to God, emphasizing the overlap between witchcraft and religion in Wales. Parsons was also responsible for writing protective prayers.

It was perhaps for this reason that religious radicals in the south of England saw Wales, as well as Cornwall and the north of England, as ‘dark corners of the country’. Religious ignorance, superstition and residual Catholicism all contributed to Wales being full of magic and mystery.

Both spells and curses across Wales contain Christian references and quotes from the Bible, showing the overlap between different belief systems. In many Welsh spells and curses, small crosses are written in the margin, indicating that the symbol of the cross is to be performed.

A charm shared by Gwen Ferch Ellis, the first woman hanged for witchcraft in Wales, contained the words “Enw’r Tad, y Mab, a’r Ysbryd Duw glân a’r tair Mair” (translated as “the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit of God, and the three Marys”). Her execution was probably the result of her attacking the wrong people, who had enough influence to influence the assize judges.

Ultimately, there is no reason why Wales has never experienced a witch hunt. Wise women, cunning people and fortune tellers were highly regarded in Wales and used ‘magic’ to perform important services for the community. Even clergymen were part of this ritual of charming and cursing.

Whether brewing, swearing, charming or fortune-telling, in Wales the accused rarely did anything out of the ordinary. Although fear of the supernatural was widespread among the common people, it appears that juries in Wales were more concerned with prosecuting theft than witchcraft.

Mari Ellis Dunning, PhD candidate, Welsh History, Aberystwyth University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.