Witchcraft and Demonology in South-West England, 1640–1789

384 Pages·2012·2.573 MB·English

by  Jonathan Barry (auth.)

Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic
Series Editors: Jonathan Barry, Willem de Blécourt and Owen Davies
Series foreword
The history of European witchcraft and magic continues to fascinate and chal-
lenge students and scholars. There is certainly no shortage of books on the
subject. Several general surveys of the witch trials and numerous regional and
micro studies have been published for an English-speaking readership. While
the quality of publications on witchcraft has been high, some regions and top-
ics have received less attention over the years. The aim of this series is to help
illuminate these lesser known or little studied aspects of the history of witch-
craft and magic. It will also encourage the development of a broader corpus
of work in other related areas of magic and the supernatural, such as angels,
devils, spirits, ghosts, folk healing and divination. To help further our under-
standing and interest in this wider history of beliefs and practices, the series will
include research that looks beyond the usual focus on Western Europe and that
also explores their relevance and influence from the medieval to the modern
period.
Titles include:
Jonathan Barry
WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY IN SOUTH-WEST ENGLAND, 1640–1789
Edward Bever
THE REALITIES OF WITCHCRAFT AND POPULAR MAGIC IN EARLY
MODERN EUROPE
Culture, Cognition and Everyday Life
Alison Butler
VICTORIAN OCCULTISM AND THE MAKING OF MODERN MAGIC
Invoking Tradition
Johannes Dillinger
MAGICAL TREASURE HUNTING IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA
A History
Julian Goodare, Lauren Martin and Joyce Miller (editors)
WITCHCRAFT AND BELIEF IN EARLY MODERN SCOTLAND
Jonathan Roper (editor)
CHARMS, CHARMERS AND CHARMING
Alison Rowlands (editor)
WITCHCRAFT AND MASCULINITIES IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE
Rolf Schulte
MAN AS WITCH
Male Witches in Central Europe
Laura Patricia Stokes
DEMONS OF URBAN REFORM
Early European Witch Trials and Criminal Justice, 1430–1530
Forthcoming:
Arne Bugge Amundsen and Soili-Maria Olli
TALKING TO DEVILS AND ANGELS IN SCANDINAVIA, 1500–1800
Louise Nyholm Kallestrup
LOOKING FOR THE DEVIL
Lay and Inquisitorial Witchcraft Prosecutions in Early Modern Italy and
Denmark
Peter Kreuter
VAMBYRES
A Cultural History of the Southeast European Vampire Belief
Andrew Sneddon
WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC IN IRELAND, 1586–1949
Robert Ziegler
SUPERNATURALISM IN FIN-DE-SIÈCLE FRANCE
The Satanist, the Sage, and the Saint
Witchcraft and Demonology
in South-West England,
1640–1789
Jonathan Barry
Professor of History, University of Exeter, UK
Palgrave
macmillan
© Jonathan Barry 2012
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-29226-0
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First published 2012 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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ISBN 978-1-349-33230-4 ISBN 978-0-230-36138-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230361386
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To Nicole
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Contents
List of Abbreviations viii
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Robert Hunt and the Somerset Witches 14
3 The Trial of the Bideford Witches 58
4 The Politics of Pandaemonium 103
5 John Beaumont: Science, Spirits and the Scale of Nature 124
6 Public Infidelity and Private Belief? The Discourse
of Spirits in Enlightenment Bristol 165
7 Methodism and Mummery: The Case of George Lukins 206
8 Conclusion 256
Notes 276
Bibliography 320
Index 349
vii
Abbreviations
BCL Bristol Reference Library, Bristol Collection
BUL Bristol University Library
CSPD Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: Edward VI to Anne 1547–
1704 (1863–1950)
HMC Reports of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts
(1870–1980)
NDRO North Devon Record Office
ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004 and
revised online)
SP State Papers
SRO Somerset Record Office
TNA The National Archives
viii
Acknowledgements
Many people have helped me, both practically and intellectually, in the
writing of this book.
Outside Exeter, and in rough chronological order, they are Roy Porter,
Keith Thomas, Charles Webster, Margaret Pelling, David Harley, Michael
MacDonald, Stuart Clark, Willem de Blecourt, Peter Elmer, Robin Briggs,
James Sharpe, Lyndal Roper, Michael Hunter, Ian Bostridge, Ronald
Hutton, Owen Davies, Malcolm Gaskill, Peter Maxwell-Stuart, Peter
Marshall, John Newton, Scott Mandelbrote, Alan Roberts and Jacqueline
Wheeler (for information on the Wake family) and Mike Slater.
During my 25 years at Exeter University, I have been helped and
inspired by many staff, including Colin Jones, Marianne Hester, Gareth
Roberts, Todd Gray, Joe Melling, Marion Gibson, Jeremy Black, Alex
Walsham, Henry French, Sarah Toulalan, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke,
Catherine Rider and Chris McCullough.
I also owe a great debt to students of the MA course in the History
and Literature of Witchcraft at the University of Exeter (notably Emma
Wilby, Nancy Cooper, Jean Jenkinson, Christine Corey, Jason Semmens
and Dave Evans) and to other students of my undergraduate and post-
graduate modules on witchcraft, who have helped me to understand
what my research meant.
A number of research students I have supervised helped me with
information: Ruth Fisher, Stuart Walsh, Priscilla Flower-Smith, Matthew
McGuiness, David Reeve, Ian Mortimer, Andrea Davies and Tom Blaen.
I would like to thank the Earl of Dartmouth for permission to quote
from the Dartmouth papers in Staffordshire Record Office and the
ever-helpful staff of the Bristol Record Office; Bristol Central Library
Local History collection; West Country Studies Library, Exeter;
University of Bristol Special Collections and University of Exeter
Special Collections.
Sadly, during the writing of this book I lost several people dear to
me, including my friends Gareth Roberts and Roy Porter; my mother,
Frances; and my first wife, Harriet. Two sets of people have particularly
sustained me in the completion of this book. The first are my fellow
series editors, Willem de Blécourt and Owen Davies, whose productiv-
ity has shamed me while their personal kindness and patience have
ix