Elizabeth Lowys

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Elizabeth Lowys (died 30 March 1565), was an English woman executed for witchcraft. She is known as the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in England after the passing of the Witchcraft Act 1563. [1]

She came from Great Waltham in Essex [1] and she was married to the farmer John Lowys of Chelmsford, and was active as a cunning woman. She was initially accused of making people ill by Phillipa Deale, Agnes Devonshe and her own husband. She was brought before the archdeacon's court on evidence collated by the local vicar Brian Neadham in June 1564 but she was not convicted. [2]

However during the trial, she was accused of having caused the death of the baby John and his father Robert Wodley of Chelmsford and the child John Canall of Colchester by use of witchcraft. She was retried. She was sentenced to death for "murder by magic" in June 1564. Her execution was postponed because she falsely claimed to be pregnant. [3] [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Elizabeth Lowys: Witch and Social Victim, 1564 | History Today". www.historytoday.com. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  2. ↑ Levin, Carole; Bertolet, Anna Riehl; Carney, Jo Eldridge (2016-11-03). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen: Exemplary Lives and Memorable Acts, 1500-1650. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-1-315-44071-2.
  3. ↑ Levin, Carole; Bertolet, Anna Riehl; Carney, Jo Eldridge (2016-11-03). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen: Exemplary Lives and Memorable Acts, 1500-1650. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-1-315-44071-2.
  4. ↑ Diane Purkiss, The Witch in History: Early Modern and Twentieth-Century Representations
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