The Chelmsford Witches

Mother Waterhouse was a healer, and a defendant in the Chelmsford witch trials. In witchcraft Elizabeth Francis was not only her equal, but also her sister.

Elizabeth Francis stood accused of cursing a pregnant neighbor, causing a boy infant to be born paralyzed. To this "crime" she would freely confess. Five months later Elizabeth was furloughed from her prison cell.

A woman received a sentence to one year in prison in February 1566, a mere thirty miles from London. Elizabeth was furloughed from her prison cell for the purpose of giving testimony in the trial of another witch... her sister.

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The county seat of the witchcraft trial court was in the town of Chelmsford. As the Gutenberg Press had been in use for more than a century, the enlightened judiciary of England permitted the publication of the testimony given at a witch trial in the form of unbound pamphlets, available for sale to the public.

The use of an evil pet known as a familiar, was common in Witchcraft narratives of the period. Elizabeth's familiar was a cat whose coat was white with spots. The familiar might execute the nefarious agenda of its owner, or it just might promulgate evil on its own. At times it was the witch's only friend.

One who confessed to being a witch would often dwell on stories of their charmed pet, to include the conversations had with it. Elizabeth Francis testified that at the age of 12 she began to learn the dark art at the foot of her grandmother, Eve. At the age of consent Grandmother gave her a cat and instructed that she feed her familiar lavishly with bread and milk, even if Elizabeth had to go without, which was not unusual in her neighborhood. The cat's name was Satan, and Eve told her granddaughter to let it sleep in a fine basket.

Elizabeth's first wish was to be rich. She made this request of the cat. "Satan, bring me sheep." She testified the cat brought sheep into her pasture... 28 of them. However she was a poor steward. Those sheep that did not escape, grew sick and died.

Her next wish was to have Andrew Byles as her husband. He was a man of some wealth. The cat advised her to lay with Andrew, and she did. But the man refused to marry her, even though she found herself with child. She asked the cat to ruin his finances. His harvest fell to waste. She asked that he fall ill. The cat brushed against his leg, and Mr. Byles died.

This testimony was part of the trial of Elizabeth's sister, Agnes Waterhouse. Perhaps she was trying to distract attention from the charges against her sibling. But Elizabeth admitted that she visited her sister, to find her baking a cake in the oven. Elizabeth was in such a state of hunger that she made a trade of Satan for the cake. She instructed Agnes how to use the familiar and what its reward should be. For each service provided by the cat, it was to be fed one drop of blood, obtained by sticking one's flesh with a thorn. At the order of the magistrate, both women displayed marks on their arms and hands, appearing as red spots where in the past they had drawn their own blood.

Some women of limited means who bore the ill will of their neighbors, had magical ability to even the score, giving them a sense of empowerment in a society where they occupied the lowest rung. The so-called "coven" of witches was actually the support network they formed, because they were excluded from the women's network in town.

Agnes was called "Mother Waterhouse" because of her reputation as a healer. Now 64 years of age, she confessed at trial to the death of her husband, the death of a neighbor, and the wasting of another neighbor's livestock. She prayed to the court for the forgiveness of god.

Mother Waterhouse became the first woman executed for witchcraft in England when two days after her trial, she was taken to the gallows on the crest of Primrose Hill in Chelmsford. The English allowed examination by the public in the shadow of the hangman's noose. They demanded to know if Agnes ever went to church. She said, "Yes." They demanded to know how she prayed. Agnes answered, "The Lord's Prayer, and the Ave Maria."

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