Trial of a Pendle Witch
(York Assizes, 20th August 1612)
Judge Sir James Altham, Speyks,
Tha wi power t’ eeal
wi power t’ cumfort
logic an’ knowledge
ney i’ t’ nivver t’ be,
nobbut God grants ‘is
holy wesdom t’ select few.
T’ thee wi nooa gumption
livin’ i’ t’ rural backwatter
I’ t’ meant t’ be,
larned yan mun nivver
tarnish t’ simple i’ t’ mind.
Yit t’day ton tha ‘eead
afoora cursin’ starts
een t’ een mun nivver unite.
Lanky Geeate wi
dawters of Pendle,
Demdike,Chattox,Alice Nutter,
condeem’d as durst ‘ere at Yoork.
wun Jennet Preston guilty
t’ b’ ung afoora sowl
t’ burn i’ t’ell,
tha wi oout regal Status
a threeat t’ man’s rule ‘ere on t’earth
God i’ t’ ‘is heaven.
© Harry J Horsman 2010
“One here in this trial, at York sees one of the first ever
recorded aspects of man’s sheer fear of woman power,
not too much is made of witchcraft here,
only the street-wise education these women professed,
with the power to heal, also the enterprise and commerce
they created, their earnings in far excess of the average
man in the district, their fame soon to spread far and wide.
A total of twelve woman were tried, one here in York, eleven
at Lancaster Gate, where ten were found guilty and hung.”
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