The Fewston Witches 1621-1623: A Yorkshire Coven
Edward Fairfax, The Fewston Witches 1621-1623: A Yorkshire Coven (Pwca Books and Pamphlets 2022) (UK, US)
In 1621 a coven of six witches in Fewston (Yorkshire) decided to persecute a local family, the Fairfaxes. In very early October 1621 they managed to kill Ann, the baby of the family, ‘by pricking her with a great pin’. After this success they, then, turned their attention to two of the surviving Fairfax daughters, Hellen (21) and Elizabeth (7). From October 1621 to early 1623 they continuously assaulted the Fairfax girls sending the two into trances and fits. We know all this because the father of Ann, Elizabeth and Hellen was Edward Fairfax one of the most famous Elizabethan poets. Edward dealt with the trauma in his home by writing compulsively about it. To our great good fortune, Edward kept, from October 1621 to the spring of 1623 detailed notes on the rumours, manoeuvres and supernatural experiences in his family and in the wider community. Run together Fairfax’s writings provide us with the most detailed early modern European account of a witch attack from within a suffering family. As his daughters spoke to spectral witches, invisible familiars and demons Edward was there with his quill. Here a Victorian edition of Edward’s witchcraft diary, Daemonologia: A Discourse on Witchcraft, is reproduced with additional commentary. The Fewston Witches ties in with episode 13 of the Boggart and Banshee podcast on folklore and the supernatural.
For other Pwca books
