Elizabeth Stile

 When Elizabeth Stile was accused of witchcraft, she was 65 years old, widowed, and living in Windsor. She and her associates were accused of murdering several people and injuring many more with the assistance of their familiars: a rat, a black cat, and a toad. All of the accused women were impoverished, and it was alleged that the victims were said to have been targeted because they refused to give out charity or were responsible for some other minor injustice against these already marginalised women.

In most cases, alleged witches were simply scapegoats, chosen because they were already vulnerable, to explain misfortunes that had no other explanation.

Surprisingly, Stile appears to have believed in her own magical abilities. While imprisoned in Reading, she confessed all of her crimes and repented of her association with the devil, incriminating the three other women with whom she was eventually hanged.

Her confession served as the basis for a 1579 pamphlet, A Rehearsal Both Strange and True, which both told her story, most likely with the intention of titillating its readers, and delivered a heavy-handed dose of pious moralising on the evils of witchcraft.

Whoever was in charge of publishing the pamphlet about her actions appeared to be angry and annoyed because they believed people were not taking the threat of witchcraft seriously enough. The author was critical of those who went to "wise women" for healing or to recover lost items, and he wanted to warn readers that such women were working for the devil, and they should avoid becoming entangled in their evil snares.

Source:
Forgotten Voices of Tudor England, Lucy Wooding, for History Extra