The Witches of Selwood: Witchcraft Belief and Accusation in Seventeenth-Century Somerset

Andrew Pickering

The Witches of Selwood: Witchcraft Belief and Accusation in Seventeenth-Century Somerset
Format
Hardback
Publisher
Hobnob Press
Country
Published
23 April 2021
Pages
290
ISBN
9781914407055

The Witches of Selwood: Witchcraft Belief and Accusation in Seventeenth-Century Somerset

Andrew Pickering

The ancient forest of Selwood straddles the borders of Somerset and Wiltshire and terminates in the south where these counties meet Dorset. This book explores the connections between important theological texts written in the region, notably Richard Bernard’s Guide to the Grand-Jury Men (1627) and Joseph Glanvill’s Saducismus Triumphatus (1681), influential local families, and the extraordinary witchcraft accounts in the area. In particular it focuses on a little known case in the village of Beckington in 1689 and shows how this was not a late, isolated episode but an integral part of the wider Selwood Forest witchcraft story. By presenting a micro-history of a specific area, which was rife in witchcraft practices in the seventeenth century, the author makes a valuable contribution to early modern social history.

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