Agnes Waterhouse

Agnes Waterhouse was born sometime around 1503. Also known as Mother Waterhouse, she was one of the first women executed for witchcraft in England.

Agnes and two other women from the same village, Hatfield Peverel, Elizabeth Francis (possibly Agnes’ sister), and Agnes’ daughter eighteen year old daughter Joan, were accused of witchcraft in 1566.

Elizabeth Francis supposedly sold Agnes her familiar, a cat named Sathan (Satan), and it was then that she started to practise witchcraft. She was accused of feeding her familiar drops of her blood in return for using sorcery to harm others. The charges brought against her were: causing illness to William Fynne, who died on November 1, 1565; using sorcery to kill livestock and cause illness; as well as bringing about the death of her own husband. Her eighteen-year-old daughter was also charged with the same crimes.

Charged with practising witchcraft, Agnes was put on trial in Chelmsford in 1566. The court proceedings were recorded in a pamphlet titled, "The examination and confession of certaine Wytches at Chensforde in the Countie of Essex before the Quenes Maiesties Judges the XXVI daye of July, 1566."

Elizabeth Francis was examined first. She confessed to possessing the familiar, a white-spotted cat she had received from her grandmother, Mother Eve of Hatfield Peverell, who taught her witchcraft when she was twelve years old. Elizabeth kept the cat for fifteen or sixteen years before eventually giving it to Agnes. Elizabeth admitted that she spoke to the cat, who would reply and would do anything for her in exchange for a drop of blood. She confessed to stealing sheep and killing several people, including a wealthy man who would not marry her after she became pregnant with his child. She also said the cat instructed her on herbs to mix to end a pregnancy. Strangely enough, Elizabeth also confessed to asking the cat’s help to kill her six-month-old daughter and make her husband lame.

Elizabeth was the first to be accused, and she in turn accused Agnes Waterhouse. Elizabeth said she gave the cat to Agnes in exchange for a cake and instructed her on how to use the cat to do her bidding. Elizabeth was given a lighter sentence at the time due to her cooperation, but she was ultimately hanged for witchcraft years later.

When it was Agnes’ turn, she confessed to first having the cat kill one of her own pigs in order to "see what he could do". Later, after arguments with her neighbours, she had their cows and geese killed. Agnes denied that she had ever succeeded in killing anyone by witchcraft but was nevertheless found guilty.

Finally, Joan testified that she once tried to use the cat while her mother was away. Angry at the child of one of her neighbours, Agnes Brown, Joan asked the cat for help. She said the cat promised to help her if she surrendered her soul to it, which she did. The cat then began to torment Agnes Brown in the form of a dog with horns. By admitting to using the cat and testifying to its ‘powers," Joan’s account helped convict the other two women.

In her testimony, twelve-year-old Agnes Brown described the demon as a black dog with a face like an ape, a short tail, a chain and a silver whistle around his neck, and a pair of horns on his head. She said that the dog asked her for some butter, and when she refused, it took out a key, let itself in, and helped itself to the butter. Later, she said, the dog returned with a knife, threatening to kill her. But the most damning piece of evidence was Agnes Brown's account of asking the dog who his "dame" was, to which he wagged his head towards Agnes Waterhouse's home.

Agnes Waterhouse was executed just two days after the trial. It is said she repented and asked for forgiveness from God. When questioned about her church habits, Agnes Waterhouse said that she prayed often but always in Latin because the cat forbade her from praying in English.

The Chelmsford trial was typical of English witchcraft in the absurdity of the charges and the emphasis on the familiar. The trial resulted in the first punishments and executions for witchcraft in England and also inspired the first of many pamphlets on trials for witchcraft.

Engraving of Mother Waterhouse (c. 1566)

Sources:

A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718, Wallace Notestein

Lewd women and wicked witches : a study of the dynamics of male domination, Marianne Hester

Wives and daughters : the women of sixteenth century England, Kathy Lynn Emerson

Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700: a documentary history, eds. Alan Charles Kors and Edward Peters