Witch trials in England

The witch hunt was at its most intense stage during the English Civil War (1642–1651) and the Puritan era of the mid-17th century.

[2] Examples of these were the trials against Eleanor Cobham and Margery Jourdemayne in 1441, which resulted in lifetime imprisonment for the former, and an execution for heresy for the latter.

[1] The typical victim of an English witch trial was a poor old woman with a bad reputation, who was accused by her neighbours of having a familiar and of having injured or caused harm to other people's livestock by use of sorcery.

For St. Osyth, this was a small community who was ready to unleash those disagreements by sharing them with a judge, such as Justice Darcy, to gain something more from their peers.

Many early English villages at this time depended on the barter system due to the poverty they were enlisted to, which is an explanation as to why begging was a part of many trials.

[8] Similar logic justified the execution by burning of Margaret Read, of King's Lynn, in 1590; and of Mary Oliver, of Norwich, in 1659.

In medieval times, "the cage" which is a type of prison, was often a form of public humiliation and confinement used to punish criminals.

The structure was typically a small, barred enclosure, sometimes suspended in public places like market squares or outside castles, where individuals were left exposed to the elements.

It was not only a form of physical restraint but also served to publicly shame the prisoner, reinforcing the societal power dynamics of punishment and authority.