theblications Ameten Gew CONTEMPORARY NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER, PROSECUTED FOR SORCERY IN 1324, BY RICHARD DE LEDREDE, BISHOP OF OSSORY. నిర్మాణ EDITED BY THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq. M.A., F.S.A., &c. BY JOHN BOWYER NICHOLS AND SON, PARLIAMENT STREET. M.DCCC.XLIII. OF THE CAMDEN SOCIETY, FOR THE YEAR 1842-3. President, THE RIGHT HON. LORD FRANCIS EGERTON, M.P. THOMAS AMYOT, ESQ. F.R.S. Treas. S.A. Director. JOHN PAYNE COLLIER, ESQ. F.S.A. C. PURTON COOPER, ESQ. Q.C., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A. T. CROFTON CROKER, ESQ. F.S.A., M.R.I.A. SIR HENRY ELLIS, K.H., F.R.S., Sec. S.A. JAMES ORCHARD HALLIWELL, ESQ. F.R.S., F.S.A. THE REV. JOSEPH HUNTER, F.S.A. SIR FREDERICK MADDEN, K.H., F.R.S., F.S.A. JOHN HERMAN MERIVALE, ESQ. F.S.A. THE REV. LANCELOT SHARPE, M.A., F.S.A. THOMAS STAPLETON, ESQ. F.S.A. WILLIAM J. THOMS, ESQ. F.S.A., Secretary. THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ. M.A., F.S.A. UNIVERSITY CALIFORNIA INTRODUCTION. THE narrative published in the present volume not only affords a curious picture of the state of Ireland in the reign of Edward II., but it forms an interesting chapter in the history of English superstition. Witchcraft was one of the oldest and most deeply-rooted articles of the superstitious belief of the people, and seems to have existed among all nations. Among the Anglo-Saxons it was made a punishable offence both by the secular laws and by the ecclesiastical constitutions. In the Pœnitential of Theodore, composed in the seventh century, various degrees of penitence are enjoined to magicians and enchanters, and those who deal in charms; to those who work people's destruction or endeavour to gain their love by witchcraft; to those who consult diviners; to those who cause tempests; to and to several other similar offences.* Early in the century following, * Theodori Arch. Cant. Liber Pœnitentialis, xxvij. § 8—22. Thorpe's edit. of the Saxon Laws, p. 292. Non licet clericos vel laicos, magos aut incantatores existere aut facere philacteria, quæ animarum suarum vincula comprobentur ; eos autem qui his utuntur, ab æcclesia pelli præcipimus. Si quis maleficio suo aliquem perdiderit Si quis pro amore veneficus sit, et neminem perdiderit.. ..... ..... ... Si autem per hoc mulieris partum quis deceperit. . . . . Si quis ariolos quærit, quos divinos vocant, vel aliquas divinationes fecerit, quia et hoc dæmoniacum est. . . . Si quis sortes habuerit, quas sanctorum contra rationem vocant, vel aliquas sortes habuerit, vel qualicunque malo ingenio sortitus fuerit, vel divinaverit. . . . . Si qua mulier divinationes vel incantationes diabolicas fecerit. . . . . Si qua mulier filium suum vel filiam super tectum pro sanitate posuerit, vel in fornace . . . . . .. Qui grana arserit ubi mortuus est homo, pro sanitate viventium et domus . . . . . Si quis, pro sanitate filioli, per foramen terræ exierit, illudque spinis post se concludit . . . . . Qui divinationes expetunt, et more gentilium subsequuntur; aut in domos suas hujusmodi homines introducunt, exquirendi aliquid arte malefica, aut expiandi causa . . . . . Si quis ad arbores, vel ad fontes, vel ad lapides, sive ad cancellos, vel ubicunque, excepto in ecclesia Dei, votum voverit, aut exsolverit, III. annos cum pane et aqua pœniteat; et hoc sacrilegium est, vel dæmoniacum. Qui vero ibidem ederit, aut biberet, 1. annum pœniteat in pane et aqua. Si quis in kalendas Januarii in cervulo aut vetula vadit, id est, in ferarum habitus se commutant, et vestiuntur pellibus pecudum, et as b |