Now! Then! Dorothy Rodes of Bowling (Bradford) blames witchcraft by Mary Sykes for the postpartum illness of her daughter

18 March 1650: Dorothy Rodes of Bowling (Bradford) blames witchcraft by Mary Sykes for the postpartum illness of her daughter

James Raine. 1861. Depositions from the Castle of York. London: Surtees Society. Get it:

Excerpt

Dorothy Rodes, of Bolling, widow, saith, that, upon Sunday night was a sennight, she and Sara Rodes, her daughter, with a little child, lay all in bed together; and, after their first sleep, she hearing the said Sara quaking and holding her hands together, she asked her what she ailed, and she answered, “Ah, mother, Sykes’s wife came in at a hole at the bed-feet, and upon the bed, and took me by the throat, and would have put her fingers in my mouth, and would needs choke me.” And, this informant asking her why she did not speak, she answered she could not speak for that the said Mary Sykes fumbled about her throat and took her left side that she could not speak. And she further saith that the said Sara hath been taken several times since the said Sunday with pains and benumbedness, by six times of a day, in great extremity, the use of her joints being taken from her, her heart leaping, the use of her tongue being taken away, and her whole body near unto death. And those fits continued half an hour, and sometimes an hour, and when she was recovered, she continually said that the said Mary Sykes came and used her in that manner. And then Susan Beamont came to her. And the likeness of one Kellett wife appeared to her. Whereupon this informant told her that Kellett’s wife died about two years since. To which the said Sara answered, “Ah, mother, but she never rests, for she appeared to me the foulest fiend that ever I saw, with a pair of eyes like saucers, and stood up betwixt them, and gave me a box of the ear in the gap-stead [opening in a wall or hedge], which made the fire to flash out of my eyes.” [Postpartum stroke/psychosis?]

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

Raine:

The poor women deny all acquaintance with the crimes imputed to them. At the assizes the bill against Susan Beaumont was ignored, and Mary Sykes was acquitted.

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Original

March 18, 1649-50. Before Henry Tempest, Esq. Dorothy Rodes, of Bolling, widow, saith, that, upon Sunday night was a sennight, she and Sara Rodes, her daughter, with a little child, lay all in bed together; and, after their first sleep, she hearing the said Sara quaking and holding her hands together, she asked her what she ailed, and she answered, “Ah, mother, Sike’s wife came in at a hole at the bed-feet, and upon the bed, and took me by the throat, and would have put her fingers in my mouth, and would needs choke me.” And, this informant asking her why she did not speak, she answered she could not speak for that the said Mary Sykes fumbled about her throat and took her left side that she could not speak. And she further saith that the said Sara hath been taken several times since the said Sunday with pains and benumbedness, by six times of a day, in great extremity, the use of her joints being taken from her, her heart leaping, the use of her tongue being taken away, and her whole body near unto death. And those fits continued half an hour, and sometimes an hour, and when she was recovered, she continually said that the said Mary Sikes came and used her in that manner. And upon the said Sunday the said Sara told this informant that the said Mary Sikes came unto her as she was coming home, and took hold of her by the apron, and gathered it by the bottom into her hands, and pulled her so hard by it that she pulled some of the gatherings out; and that she was in great fear, and winked; and opening her eyes she said, “Mary.” But the said Mary Sikes would give no answer. And then Susan Beamont came to her. And the likeness of one Kellett wife appeared to her. Whereupon this informant told her that Kellett’s wife died about two years since. To which the said Sara answered, “Ah, mother, but she never rests, for she appeared to me the foulest fiend that ever I saw, with a pair of eyes like saucers, and stood up betwixt them, and gave me a box of the ear in the gap-stead [opening in a wall or hedge], which made the fire to flash out of my eyes.”

Richard Booth, of Bolling, saith, that he saw the said Sara Rodes two several times very strangely taken, her body quaking and dithering about half a quarter of an hour, her heart rising up, and in such manner that she could not speak but now and then a word. And the said Mary Sikes hath diverse times said unto this informant, “Bless thee,” and “I’ll cross thee,” and that he hath had much loss by the death of his goods.

Henry Cordingley, of Tong, saith, that the said Mary Sikes hath said unto him diverse times, since Christmas was twelve months, that he had nine or ten beasts and horses, but she would make them fewer, and “Bless thee,” but “I’ll cross thee.” He further saith that, some three days before the said Christmas, he going to fodder horses, about 12 o’clock in the night, with a candle and lantern, his beasts standing near his horses, he saw the said Mary Sikes riding upon the back of one of his cows. And he, endeavouring to strike at her, stumbled, and so the said Mary flew out of his mistal [cattle shed] window, having three or four wooden stanchions, the said cow being then white over with an imy [?] sweat. And he likewise saith that he had one black horse, worth £4 16s., begun to be sick about Tuesday was a fortnight, and continued dithering and quaking till Sunday following, and then died. And he, opening the said horse, could not find an eggshell full of blood. And he is verily persuaded that the said horse was bewitched. And he saith, also, that a black mare of his hath been sick in like manner as the former horse was, since about Tuesday last was a fortnight, till the time that the said Mary was searched by the women; but, since that, she hath recovered and amended, and eats her meat very well.

William Rodes, of Bolling, saith, that in harvest last past this informant was in the house of William Sikes, husband to the said Mary Sikes, and that he heard the said Mary say “Henry Cordingley brags of his daughters, what gay daughters they are. His eldest daughter was of her feet at once, but, if I be own to live, she shall be taken off her feet and made a miracle.” And than went to her parlour window and said, “I’ll look if the devil be at the window.” Isabella Pollard, of Bierley, widow, and five other women, say, that by virtue of a warrant from Henry Tempest, Esq., they searched the body of the said Mary Sikes, and found upon the side of her seat a red lump about the bigness of a nut, being wet, and that, when they wrung it with their fingers, moisture came out of it like lee. And they found upon her left side near her arme a little lump like a wart, and being pulled out it stretched about half an inch. And they further say that they never saw the like upon any other women.

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