On the 15th of June 1659 an order was made at he Norwich Mayor's court...
For as muche as Anne Carsey in prison vpon suspicion for a witch and there are many things w(hi)ch give great cause for suspicion. It is therfore thought fitt that m(istres)s Brooke, goodwife Wamsley goodwife Fann and others be desired to search hir the said Anne and certifie to the court
Ann Carsey was accused as a witch and a search ordered of her body. They were looking for witches marks; usually no more than a birthmark, perhaps on the inner thigh that would be interpreted as a third nipple on which she suckled her familiars (A cat, dog, ferret or some other animal) with her own blood. And in Anne's case they found one. For later that same month Anne's case was back before the court and...
Abigail Ram, Lidea Potter and Elizabeth Robinson (did) enforme that ther m(istres)s Brooke and goodwife Wamsley did vpon Wednesday last searche Anne Carsey in Prison, who is suspected for a witch and saye that they founde in hir privy P(ar)ts a thing like a teat w(hi)ch looked as if it had bene newly sucked and strange thinges hunge upon hir breasts like bladders.
It is of course highly unlikely that the women found what they claimed, although their evidence did result in Anne's death for she was one of many accused of witchcraft hanged in Norwich Castle ditches at this time. The court record is then is evidence of the witch craze that was sweeping the country at this time and being exploited by the likes of Matthew Hopkins, the Witch-finder General. But it was just that, a craze and this evidence of gross paranoia and subsequent executions should not be taken as evidence that our ancestors were nothing more than primitive, superstitious fools.
Certainly the evidence from the period tends to bring out the worst in us today and we feed upon misinformation about the time, often focusing on grisly details about witches being burnt and boiled alive. This did not happen and in England burning was a punishment reserved for those men and women who spoke heresy and for women who committed Petty Treason (The killing of ones husband) Now this of course would be of no comfort for women like Anne, for hanging was a cruel enough death especially for the many hundreds of innocent women and some men who fell prey to the hysteria of the time.
But it is a case of setting the accusations in the context of their time. England in the mid seventeenth century was a world turned upside down. The Reformation was still in full swing and over the course of the later sixteenth and early seventeenth century traditional forms of charity and hierarchical relationships were being swept away or at the very least challenged. In religious terms, this had seen a flowering of many religious sects by the 1650s, many of which challenged traditional codes of behavior as well as political status quo. These would have been worrying times for the leaders at all level of society and what better way to divert the masses than to scapegoat others for the problems of the time. Meaning quite simply that there were many things such as prostitution and even homosexuality that although illegal, were often tolerated in earlier times, until that is there was some crisis or other and a scapegoat/diversion was needed. And the same was true of witchcraft; for at other times it too was less harshly treated. Just look at the case of Ann Robson who came before the very same Mayor's Court in March of 1587/8...
This daye Anne Robson of Trowse next Norw(i)ch in the countie of this citie widowe for abusing the constables and threatining the towne that she will revengyd vpon the towne recyvyng rougues and l(e)wd persons into her howse thretening som that if they will not spend their monye in her howse she will make them dance naked in the howes and that by her black catt as she sayeth...
So here we have Anne Robson who is said to have threatened the whole of the city and some in particular with witchcraft. She is even accused of admitting to having a familier; a black cat (Popularly thought to have been given by the Devil) whom she drew her powers from. Clearly this is serious stuff and we might expect Anne to receive a harsh punishment for her 'crimes'. But no; for Anne is simply commanded to leave the city, or her children shall be whipped. A harsh punishment in some ways you might say, but remember that it is a punishment as much for threatening to maintain rogues in her house as it is for the accusation of witchcraft. In 1587, a time when 'masterless men' were said to be everywhere, wandering from town to town in search of charity, the illegal harboring of vagrants was a far greater concern to the Mayor and his Alderman than Witchcraft ever was!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The shaming of Agnes Leman cont.
Norwich Mayor's Court Book NCR/16a/7 1555-62, fol. 521
Extract dated 10th September 1561.....
T(h)is day Angnes Leman wedowe for that she was taken vpon Sundaye nyght last past in the Cockey lane w(i)th one John Gorney in the comytting the abomynable acte of whordome / Yt ys this daye ordeyned that at one of the clock at afternoone she shall be taken oute of prison and lede abowte the markett and so by my lordes howse and ov(er) Coslany brydge and to seynt Georges and ov(er) Fyebrigg w(i)th a bason tynklyd before hyr and so set upon the cuckingstoole and ducked in the water/ And from thens to cum with a bason tynked before her vp tum lande and seynt Andrew and so to saynt Stephens.
There are many things that can be said about this extract....
Firstly the surname Leman or Leaman could mean 'lover' or 'Prostitute' and so I suppose if you were feeling uncharitable you could say that Agnes may have had quite a reputation already! And Agnes is listed as a widow, which meant that she probably had no other means of support other than what she could earn herself. On the other hand, it may well be be a coincidence as surnames had already been in common use from the 13th-14th century onwards.
More importantly the extract is quite unusual in the amount of detail it contains. Detailing how she was to be carted from the market place, through at least three other parishes before being ducked and then carted back to her home parish of St Stephens. A normal order for ducking would be short and with little extra humiliation. An example from July 1560, simply states.. This daye Alys cocker the wyfe of Will(ia)m Cocker was ducked vpon a cokingstole for a com(m) en skolde and braller. NCR/16a/7, fol 401. Although Alice's crimes were deemed less extreme than those of Agnes (A scold is merely an argumentative wife) the detailed extra shaming in Agnes's case suggests that she was a persistent offender and so singled out in the court.
The other thing to say is that duckings were seen as a particularly cruel punishment even in Tudor times and so not that common. Some people will tell you that the stool on Fyebridge in Norwich was in continual use, but in the early 1600s there were on average only two cases a year. Even then there are cases of duckings being suspended in cold weather and evidence of women set upon the ducking stool, but not actually ducked, although when they were ducked it was common place to duck them three times... diving and ducking down, though against their will as ducks do under the water, William Sheppard, A grande abridgment of common and statute law (1695)
It must be remembered that the punishment was not just about the actual ducking, but also the other humiliation such as the... bason tynklyd before hyr and other loud discordant 'rough music' that often accompanied duckings and is said to have symbolized the woman's' disordered behavior.
The other thing that stands out about the Agnes Leman case is that there is no mention of John Gorney's punishment, but this was unusual and should not be taken as the norm. Firstly men were sometimes ducked, although this tended to be for 'ill rule' (Disorderly behavior) And men accused of whoredom would often suffer whipping at the carts tail about the market place, a punishment very rarely meted out on Women. If they were whipped it would be at the post or in private. We must not fall for the typical way of thinking that women's place was much worse in Tudor times and that their lower place in society was accepted by them or their men. Indeed, there is evidence that many men were willing to stand up for women. In the following year after Agnes was ducked a young women called Bennet Goodwyn was caught in a garden committing whoredom with William Tesmonde. It was ordered that she ride in a cart with a paper on her head describing her crime and that she would be processed with rough music and finally ducked. But there is no mention of a punishment for William and it turns out that he was a well connected young man! Clearly this rankled with some in Tudor Norwich, because her punishment did not go smoothly. We know this because in September of 1562 Robert Lloyd came before the Mayor's Court, because on... the xviii daye of July last past ... he tooke the pap(er) from the hed of one Bennet goodwyn .... [and did].. cast it into the ryver.
The point is that you can't generalize about history. Certainly there were laws that often treated woman harshly, but we mustn't assume that these laws were always rigidly applied or supported. There are those who would have you believe that life was hard for all of the lower orders of medieval and Tudor times, but its simply not always true.
And while we are on the subject, the ducking stool was not used to swim witches (The punishment of witches will be the subject of my next blog) And if you are ever on a dungeon tour at Norwich Castle Museum looking at the Victorian copy of the ducking stool, you will also see some scolds bridles and no doubt be told that these were in common use.. Put over a woman's head, the spiked plate forced into her mouth to stop her talking. But these are also copies; copies of copies and there is no evidence to show that bridles were ever used in the southern parts of England at any time.
But don't be discouraged by all this debunking, for if you continue reading this blog you will see that truth can be just as strange and exciting as the fiction often put about at heritage sites, museums and on the web. And hopefully you will see that people in the past were not that different to us, which by my reckoning should make them very strange and exciting indeed!
Extract dated 10th September 1561.....
T(h)is day Angnes Leman wedowe for that she was taken vpon Sundaye nyght last past in the Cockey lane w(i)th one John Gorney in the comytting the abomynable acte of whordome / Yt ys this daye ordeyned that at one of the clock at afternoone she shall be taken oute of prison and lede abowte the markett and so by my lordes howse and ov(er) Coslany brydge and to seynt Georges and ov(er) Fyebrigg w(i)th a bason tynklyd before hyr and so set upon the cuckingstoole and ducked in the water/ And from thens to cum with a bason tynked before her vp tum lande and seynt Andrew and so to saynt Stephens.
There are many things that can be said about this extract....
Firstly the surname Leman or Leaman could mean 'lover' or 'Prostitute' and so I suppose if you were feeling uncharitable you could say that Agnes may have had quite a reputation already! And Agnes is listed as a widow, which meant that she probably had no other means of support other than what she could earn herself. On the other hand, it may well be be a coincidence as surnames had already been in common use from the 13th-14th century onwards.
More importantly the extract is quite unusual in the amount of detail it contains. Detailing how she was to be carted from the market place, through at least three other parishes before being ducked and then carted back to her home parish of St Stephens. A normal order for ducking would be short and with little extra humiliation. An example from July 1560, simply states.. This daye Alys cocker the wyfe of Will(ia)m Cocker was ducked vpon a cokingstole for a com(m) en skolde and braller. NCR/16a/7, fol 401. Although Alice's crimes were deemed less extreme than those of Agnes (A scold is merely an argumentative wife) the detailed extra shaming in Agnes's case suggests that she was a persistent offender and so singled out in the court.
The other thing to say is that duckings were seen as a particularly cruel punishment even in Tudor times and so not that common. Some people will tell you that the stool on Fyebridge in Norwich was in continual use, but in the early 1600s there were on average only two cases a year. Even then there are cases of duckings being suspended in cold weather and evidence of women set upon the ducking stool, but not actually ducked, although when they were ducked it was common place to duck them three times... diving and ducking down, though against their will as ducks do under the water, William Sheppard, A grande abridgment of common and statute law (1695)
It must be remembered that the punishment was not just about the actual ducking, but also the other humiliation such as the... bason tynklyd before hyr and other loud discordant 'rough music' that often accompanied duckings and is said to have symbolized the woman's' disordered behavior.
The other thing that stands out about the Agnes Leman case is that there is no mention of John Gorney's punishment, but this was unusual and should not be taken as the norm. Firstly men were sometimes ducked, although this tended to be for 'ill rule' (Disorderly behavior) And men accused of whoredom would often suffer whipping at the carts tail about the market place, a punishment very rarely meted out on Women. If they were whipped it would be at the post or in private. We must not fall for the typical way of thinking that women's place was much worse in Tudor times and that their lower place in society was accepted by them or their men. Indeed, there is evidence that many men were willing to stand up for women. In the following year after Agnes was ducked a young women called Bennet Goodwyn was caught in a garden committing whoredom with William Tesmonde. It was ordered that she ride in a cart with a paper on her head describing her crime and that she would be processed with rough music and finally ducked. But there is no mention of a punishment for William and it turns out that he was a well connected young man! Clearly this rankled with some in Tudor Norwich, because her punishment did not go smoothly. We know this because in September of 1562 Robert Lloyd came before the Mayor's Court, because on... the xviii daye of July last past ... he tooke the pap(er) from the hed of one Bennet goodwyn .... [and did].. cast it into the ryver.
The point is that you can't generalize about history. Certainly there were laws that often treated woman harshly, but we mustn't assume that these laws were always rigidly applied or supported. There are those who would have you believe that life was hard for all of the lower orders of medieval and Tudor times, but its simply not always true.
And while we are on the subject, the ducking stool was not used to swim witches (The punishment of witches will be the subject of my next blog) And if you are ever on a dungeon tour at Norwich Castle Museum looking at the Victorian copy of the ducking stool, you will also see some scolds bridles and no doubt be told that these were in common use.. Put over a woman's head, the spiked plate forced into her mouth to stop her talking. But these are also copies; copies of copies and there is no evidence to show that bridles were ever used in the southern parts of England at any time.
But don't be discouraged by all this debunking, for if you continue reading this blog you will see that truth can be just as strange and exciting as the fiction often put about at heritage sites, museums and on the web. And hopefully you will see that people in the past were not that different to us, which by my reckoning should make them very strange and exciting indeed!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Welcome to Agnes's world...
Welcome to all of you who are wondering who exactly Agnes Leman was? Well, as my intro says, she was just one of many men and women who we only know of because she appeared in the various court records of Norwich in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. I first discovered her whilst studying for an MA at the University of East Anglia which focused on both male and female sexual control and punishments in late Tudor and Stuart times. She then went on to headline an alternative tour of Norwich performed by both myself and a museum colleague, Colin Howey under the name of Tangle & Hump, Pedlar's of the Past. The tour was called:The Shaming of Agnes Leman,
or
a Tour of the Fine city of Norwich following in the steps of an unfortunate wretch processed and ducked in 1561, being also a true and faithful account of the sometimes disorderly nature of the same City, taken from court records and other miscellanea that explore its origins & development, expose its underbelly and reproduce the stories of its:
PEOPLE WITHOUT PLAQUES.
It was a serious attempt on our part to avoid the traditional tour of the 'great and the good' and rather to focus on the underbelly of Norwich life, the people who made up the great majority at the time but who left very little evidence behind. For as well as Agnes we told of other people who fell out with the Mayor, Alderman and other 'great' citizens of Norwich and often didn't know or didn't care about their place in early modern society!
As you will see from my profile, I have moved on from my days as an historical interpreter and am now a storyteller by trade, but for some time now I have wanted to do more with my old research . This is why I have set up this blog and also two others dealing with my story telling activities (See my links and blogs. The first is account of life as a traveling storyteller and looks at the places I will be performing this year, whilst the other will give written examples of some of the stories I tell) This blog however will be about my old passion of history and historical interpretation. It will over time include the accounts from the Agnes Leman tour and my other academic research, along with original court extracts, my own commentary and even the occasional debunking of a myth or two about life in the past. The next post will be about Agnes herself...
As you will see from my profile, I have moved on from my days as an historical interpreter and am now a storyteller by trade, but for some time now I have wanted to do more with my old research . This is why I have set up this blog and also two others dealing with my story telling activities (See my links and blogs. The first is account of life as a traveling storyteller and looks at the places I will be performing this year, whilst the other will give written examples of some of the stories I tell) This blog however will be about my old passion of history and historical interpretation. It will over time include the accounts from the Agnes Leman tour and my other academic research, along with original court extracts, my own commentary and even the occasional debunking of a myth or two about life in the past. The next post will be about Agnes herself...
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