Cursing, Crisis and Customary Knowledge in Early Modern English Townships (Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic)

This book provides a historical and socio-legal investigation into the prevalence of litigation arising from cursing and interpersonal hostility in the under-explored region of Northwest England during a period of acute socio-economic crisis in the seventeenth century. Contributing to the scholarship of magic and witchcraft, it shows the complex circumstances of the world of healing and harming using customary knowledge such as magic and folk medicine as it is variously presented in the documents of the legal system. While primary sources such as pamphlets have usefully informed numerous witchcraft studies, this book establishes popular belief derived from the depositions, interrogatories and various other manuscripts of the manorial, ecclesiastical and secular courts positioned within a micro historical early modern context. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Contents 6 1 The Social Context of Cursing and the Cultural Politics of Speech 9 Charting the Growth of Interpersonal Dispute Legislation 15 Godly Discipline and Female Repression 22 Silencing Women: Censoring Female Speech and Conduct 23 Why Northwest England Matters: The Importance of Context in Understanding Female Speech Infringement Laws 28 Societal Dynamics in the Northwest: Examining Government, Politics, and Conflict 29 Government and Politics 30 The Significance of Depositions, Petitions, and Letters in Historical Research 31 The Policing of Women’s Language and Behaviour: Increased Control and Restrictions 39 Notes 44 2 Cursing in Early Modern Townships 57 Challenging Patriarchy: Women’s Verbal Transgressions and Acts of Agency 60 Cursing and Customary Knowledge in Social and Historical Context 61 The Art of Verbal Healing: Rituals and Practices 62 Traditional Wisdom and Healing Practices 66 The Use of Herbal Medicine in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 72 Macer’s Herbal 74 Healing Women’s Medical Conditions: Macer’s Popular Herbs and Plants 75 Cursing and Banning 78 Notes 81 3 Spoken Transgression and the Courts 89 Punishing Female Speech and Conduct 91 Defying the Law: Voices of Agitation in Manorial Court, Portmoot, and Liverpool Town Books 93 Casting Spells and Charms: Elizabeth Crackelow and Margaret Linke’s Cunning Craft 95 Women and Cursing: A Cultural Perspective 97 Ellen Pemberton’s Curse 98 Transgressors: ‘Knaves, Whores and Chyders’42 103 The Curse of Joane Elderson 109 Unravelling the Tangle of Curses, Grief, and Petitions from 1630 to 1640 119 Notes 133 4 The Interplay of Curses, Social Crisis, and Economic Instability 140 Mortality Crisis and Social Structure in Lancashire and Cheshire 142 Nantwich Township: Turmoil and Discord 143 ‘All These Late Warres’22 145 Widows, Orphans, ‘Maymed’ [sic] Soldiers 146 Poverty and Mortality 147 Infant Mortality 149 The Turbulent Decade of 1660–1670: A Chronicle of Loss, Hardship, and Curses 153 Female Spoken Transgressions and Sexual Activity 157 The Curse of Anne Knutsford 158 A ‘Public Bawd’ 158 ‘Husht, Negative and Averse’ 160 The Curse 168 ‘Rivealing the Sicrettes of Women’ 173 ‘Rivealing the Sicrettes’: Measures and Countermeasures 173 The ‘Sicrettes’ of the People of Nantwich: Bastards and Paramours 175 Bastardy and Richard Walthall’s Activities 180 ‘A Powiful and Ready-Handed Woman’: The Vindication of Anne Knutsford, March 1663 185 Notes 189 5 Contextualising Customary Knowledge, Mystical Healing, and Cursing 201 Beyond Medicine: Magical Healing, Love Magic, and Spells in Treating Disease 201 Cunning Women and Interpersonal Relationships 203 The Cultural Significance of Cursing: An Examination of Popular Beliefs 204 Sudden Waves of Illness: ‘Your Petitioners Humbly Prayeth’ 207 ‘Blesser’ and ‘Cunning Woman’ Mary Shaw 209 Petitions and ‘Strange and Sudden Diseases’ 211 Starving and Homeless: ‘Your Petitioner Cripell Almost Starved for Want of a Habitation’ 216 Everyday Remedies for Household Healing 222 Remedy, Ritual, and Herbal Medicine: Eliza Cholmondeley’s Insight into Traditional Healing Practices 226 Unveiling Women’s Emotional Struggles through Letters, Petitions, and Testimonies 232 ‘Throtled into Kindness’: The Dark Realities of Interpersonal and Domestic Violence in Early Modern Society 233 Conclusion 242 Notes 250 Bibliography 260 Index 275