Spellbound: Witchcraft in Exeter, 1558-1682

The ancient city of Exeter is the last place in England where people are known to have been hanged for the supposed crime of witchcraft. The case of the three North Devon women who were executed here in 1682 - the so-called ‘Bideford Witches’ - is now deservedly well-known. Yet the fact that Exeter had a much longer history of witch-trials - and witch-executions - is usually forgotten. This talk tells the stories of some of the unfortunate men and women who were denounced to the city magistrates as witches between 1558 and 1670: the period during which the great majority of witch-prosecutions occurred. Tracing a series of cases from accusation to trial, to sentence - and sometimes all the way up to the gallows itself - the talk sheds powerful new light on occult belief in Tudor and Stuart Exeter, and on the dark, uneasy world of the urban ‘witch’.,

Mark Stoyle is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Southampton, and his research interests include witchcraft, Tudor rebellions,, and the English Civil War. He has written many monographs and scholarly articles and his latest book - The Western Rising of 1549 - was published in paperback by Yale University Press in 2024. Mark has served on the council of the Royal Historical Society, on the advisory board of the Victoria County History, and on the editorial advisory panel of BBC History Magazine. He has also appeared on many radio and TV programmes.

If you are a member of the Exeter Local History Society, tickets are free for you - please select a £0 ticket when registering for the event. If you are not a member of the Society, there is a small (£5) entry fee. If you would like to attend as a non-member, please select a non-member ticket when registering.

More information about the Society and its events can be found on the Society's website at www.exeterlocalhistorysociety.co.uk.