The Cultural Construction of Monstrous Children. Группа авторов

The Cultural Construction of Monstrous Children

The Cultural Construction of Monstrous Children - Группа авторов

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to his son – of what John was becoming. Nicholas was forced to watch his relationship with John being steadily undermined by John’s relationship with Edmund. And John seized on those aspects of magical belief that he could use to challenge his father and command Edmund’s attention. And so, for Nicholas, John’s natural rebelliousness evolved into something devilish. Nicholas had been betrayed not only by Edmund but also by John. John had been contaminated by Edmund’s evil. This demonization of John’s experience of magic was effective enough to convince John as well, not only at the time but for the rest of his life. Thirty-seven years later, in 1634, John Starkie had succeeded his great-uncle Roger Nowell as justice of the peace for the Pendle area. Rumours reached him that a young boy called Edmund Robinson was claiming that he had witnessed a gathering of witches – among them Alizon Device’s younger sister and half-brother, Jennet and William. John and his colleague Richard Shuttleworth had Edmund brought in for questioning and eventually sent 17 people to Lancaster to be tried for witchcraft. All were found guilty but were reprieved by the judge; but by the time an outside investigator had arrived, 4 had already died in the appalling conditions in Lancaster Gaol – Jennet Loynd, Alice Higgin and John Spencer and his wife.52 Gaol records show that two years later Jennet Device was still in prison – her fate, and that of the other suspects, is unknown.53

      

       Figure 1.5A belief in contact with spirits was an essential part of magic – even pragmatic folk magic. © 2015 Joyce Froome. Used with permission.

      That is surely the worst horror of all – that Nicholas had turned John into someone who would eventually be responsible for the deaths of at least four people.

      Notes