Paper 3, Option 33: The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580–c1750 - 2 The Lancashire witches of 1604–13 — Edexcel A-Level History
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Paper 3, Option 33: The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580–c1750 - 2 The Lancashire witches of 1604–13 explained
Paper 3, Option 33: The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580–c1750 - 2 The Lancashire witches of 1604–13 covers 3 specification points, including The influence of social, economic and… and Alizon Device and John Law; the investigations….
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The influence of social, economic and religious context of the area around Pendle in the early seventeenth century and the significance of the new witchcraft statute of 1604.
Pendle in the early 1600s was a scattered upland parish of small farmers, weavers and cattle dealers, where poverty, poor harvests and disputed boundaries bred tension. Socially, reputation and neighbourly obligation mattered: a refused beggar might curse, and illness afterwards was read as maleficium. Economically, enclosure, rent pressure and dearth sharpened envy between households such as the Devices and the Chattoxes. Religiously, the area was a conservative, partly recusant region where Catholic survival and Protestant reform competed, so religious nonconformity could be recast as devilish. Legally, the 1604 statute made a pact with a familiar spirit a capital felony without benefit of clergy, so a confession of a familiar, not just harm, could hang a suspect.
The origins of the case: Alizon Device and John Law; the investigations of Roger Nowell; Old Demdike and Old Chattox and their witchcraft families; the meeting at Malkin Tower.
The case began in March 1612 when Alizon Device, begging on the road, was refused pins by the pedlar John Law; shortly afterwards Law suffered a stroke, and Alizon's confession to harming him brought her before the magistrate Roger Nowell. Nowell's examinations widened the case: he recorded accusations involving Old Demdike and Old Chattox, two rival matriarchs whose families were already reputed as witches, and their alleged familiars and maleficium. In April 1612 a gathering at Malkin Tower, probably a meeting to plan resistance or a feast, was interpreted by Nowell as a witches' sabbath and used to implicate further suspects, turning a local dispute into a large conspiracy prosecution.
The trial 1612: the Judges Bromley and Altham; the conduct and outcomes of the trial; impact of Thomas Potts's account.
The 1612 Lancashire trial at Lancaster Assizes was presided over by Judges Bromley and Altham. The conduct of the trial was shaped by the judges' willingness to accept unusual evidence, such as the testimony of nine-year-old Jennet Device, and the absence of defence counsel. Outcomes included convictions and executions, notably of the Device family, while some accused were acquitted. Thomas Potts, the clerk of the court, published 'The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches' in 1613. This account, commissioned by Bromley, shaped later perceptions by presenting the trial as a legitimate discovery of witchcraft, influencing how the Lancashire witches were remembered and how evidence was interpreted in subsequent cases.
Your focus
- Explain how social, economic and religious conditions around Pendle generated witchcraft suspicions in the early seventeenth century.
- Analyse the specific provisions of the 1604 witchcraft statute and their consequences for prosecution.
- Evaluate the relative significance of local context and the new statute in shaping the Lancashire witch cases.
Show all 9 objectives
- Describe the sequence of events from Alizon Device's encounter with John Law to the meeting at Malkin Tower.
- Explain the roles of Roger Nowell, Old Demdike and Old Chattox in expanding the investigation.
- Analyse how local disputes and magisterial interpretation together produced the Lancashire witch case.
- Identify Judges Bromley and Altham and describe their conduct of the 1612 trial.
- Evaluate the outcomes of the trial and the impact of Thomas Potts's account on later perceptions.
- Analyse the reliability of Potts's account as a historical source.
Paper 3, Option 33: The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580–c1750 - 2 The Lancashire witches of 1604–13 exam tips
Marking Points
- Explains how upland farming, weaving and cattle dealing produced fragile household economies in which a sudden death of livestock or a child's illness could be blamed on a neighbour's curse.
- Shows that social reputation and the duty of neighbourly charity shaped accusations: refusing alms to a poor woman such as Alizon Device could be presented as the provocation for maleficium.
- Uses economic pressure, including enclosure, rents and dearth, to explain why envy and disputes over property or grazing fed local witchcraft suspicions.
- Analyses the religious context: a conservative, partly recusant area where Catholic survival and Protestant reform coexisted, allowing religious difference to be linked to diabolical influence.
- Explains the significance of the 1604 statute: it made a covenant with an evil spirit a capital offence without benefit of clergy, so evidence of a familiar or pact could be enough to convict.
- Weighs the statute against local context, arguing whether the law created the prosecutions or merely gave local tensions a sharper legal weapon.
- Narrates the trigger incident: Alizon Device's encounter with John Law, the refusal of pins, Law's subsequent illness and Alizon's confession.
- Explains how Roger Nowell's examinations converted a single accusation into a wider investigation, recording confessions and naming further suspects.
- Describes Old Demdike and Old Chattox as rival witchcraft matriarchs whose families, including Elizabeth Device and James Device, were drawn into the case.
- Explains the significance of the Malkin Tower meeting in April 1612 and how Nowell interpreted it as evidence of a organised diabolical conspiracy.
- Shows how the origins of the case combined personal quarrel, local reputation and magisterial investigation, rather than a single cause.
- Uses the sequence of events to assess how far the case was driven by the accused's own words and how far by Nowell's framing of evidence.
- Identify Judges Bromley and Altham as the presiding judges at the 1612 Lancaster Assizes and explain their roles in conducting the trial.
- Describe the conduct of the trial, including the nature of evidence used (e.g., child testimony from Jennet Device, confessions, witch marks) and the lack of defence counsel.
- Outline the outcomes: convictions and executions (e.g., the Device family) and acquittals, and the social impact on the local community.
- Explain the impact of Thomas Potts's account: how 'The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches' was commissioned, its purpose, and its role in shaping later interpretations of the trial.
- Analyse how Potts's account may have influenced subsequent witch trials and the broader historiography of the Lancashire witches.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Anchor each contextual point to a named person or episode, such as Alizon Device cursing John Law, so context explains evidence rather than floating free.
- 💡When discussing the 1604 statute, state precisely what it changed and then test its impact against the timing and conduct of the 1612 assizes.
- 💡Plan an argument about relative significance: decide whether local context or the new law was the stronger driver, and sustain that judgement throughout.
- 💡Build a clear chronology from the John Law encounter through Nowell's examinations to Malkin Tower, since sequence is itself an analytical point about escalation.
- 💡Use the Malkin Tower meeting to discuss how evidence was constructed, contrasting what may have happened with how it was used at trial.
- 💡Link each origin event to the wider question of why Lancashire produced a major prosecution in 1612 rather than an isolated accusation.
- 💡When discussing the trial, refer to specific evidence and the roles of Bromley and Altham to show depth.
- 💡Use Potts's account as a source but evaluate its reliability and purpose, linking to the impact on historical memory.
- 💡Compare the conduct of the 1612 trial with other witch trials to highlight continuities and changes.
Common Mistakes
- Treating Pendle as uniformly Catholic or uniformly Protestant; correction: describe a mixed, contested religious landscape in which both recusancy and conformity existed.
- Assuming the 1604 statute simply repeated earlier laws; correction: explain that it specifically criminalised pacts with evil spirits and removed benefit of clergy for that offence.
- Reducing the case to poverty alone; correction: combine social reputation, economic pressure and religious tension, and show how the statute converted suspicion into a capital charge.
- Confusing Alizon Device with her mother Elizabeth Device; correction: keep the family relationships distinct and attribute actions to the correct person.
- Presenting the Malkin Tower meeting as certainly a witches' sabbath; correction: describe it as a gathering whose purpose is disputed and explain how Nowell interpreted it.
- Treating John Law's illness as proven witchcraft; correction: present it as an illness that contemporaries interpreted through the lens of maleficium after Alizon's confession.
- Assuming all accused were executed; correction: some were acquitted or reprieved, showing outcomes varied.
- Treating Potts's account as a neutral record; correction: it was commissioned by Judge Bromley and presented a prosecution perspective, so it must be used critically.
- Confusing the 1612 trial with the 1634 trial involving Edmund Robinson; correction: the 1612 trial is distinct and involved different judges and accused.