THE WITCHES of WINDSOR

On the 26th February, 1580, four Berkshire women were tried at Abingdon for witchcraft.  The accused were Elizabeth Stile of Windsor, Mother Dutton of Clewer, Mother Devell of Windsor and mother Margaret, who lived at the Windsor Almshouse.

They were said to have had meetings at the rear of Master Dodge`s house in The Pittes.  At these meetings they were joined by two other witches - Father Rosimond, a widower from Farnham, and his daughter.  The leader of the group was supposed to be Mother Seidre, another resident at the Windsor Almshouse, but she had died some time before the trial.  There is some uncertainty as to  Father Rosimond`s connection with the group.  In Elizabeth Stile`s confession he is not only named as a witch but described as being able to change his form "sometymes in the shape of an ape, and otherwhiles like a horse".

Margaret Murray, an influential writer on witchcraft considered this shape-shifting as pointing to Rosimond being the cheif of the witches.  If this was so, it is surprising that he was not arraigned with the others.

Also at the trial an ostler gave evidence that after a disagreement with Elizabeth Stile he had suffered aches in his limbs.  He consulted a wise man who advised scratching her and drawing blood, which he did and immediately recovered.  The name of this wise man was given as Father Rosimond.

According to Elizabeth Stiles confession, the witches had been responsible for the deaths of a farmer called Lanckforde, one of his maids, a butcher called Switcher, another butcher called Masclyn, and Richard Gallis, the Mayor of Windsor.  The deaths were brought about by making images of the victims in red wax " about a span long and three or four fingers broad".

The images were then pierced with a hawthorn.  The witches were also said to have caused sickness.  Humphrey Hosie and his wife, Richard Milles and John Mathynglise were all reputed to have suffered from the witches` maleficia.

Each of the witches was accused of having an evil spirit or familiar- like a black cat or rat.  Mother Dutton`s was described as being like a toad, which she kept in a border of green herbs in her garden and fed on blood from her flank.  Mother Devell`s appeared as a black cat called Gille, which she fed with milk mixed with her own blood. Mother Margaret fed her spirit Ginnie, with crumbs of bread mixed with blood, while Elizabeth Stile kept a rat called Phillip, described as " in very deede a wicked spirite", which she fed with blood from her right wrist.  It would seem that some people were not above using the witches for their own ends.  George Whittying, a servant of Mathew Glover of Eton, was said to have asked the witches to harm a man called Foster.  This they did by making an image, and also from Mother Devell,  sending her familiar to " plague him and spare him not"  Apparently Foster sickened but when he was close to death Mother Dutton restored him but one of his cows was killed.

The accusations sound unbelievable to us today but as was usual in those times, the women were all found guilty and executed.