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The shocking tale of the first Bedfordshire 'witches' sentenced to death
Even though the so-called "swimming a witch" test was largely banned in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, it came back with a fury during the anti-witch hysteria of the 17th and 18th centuries. The test hinged on the idea that water was a sacred element and would reject evil — so if an accused witch floated to the surface when tossed into the water, then they must be guilty of witchcraft.
In 1613, Mary Sutton and her mother of Bedfordshire, England were accused by their neighbors of 20 years of being witches. So they were bound and tossed into the mill dam, only to float to the surface. The town then re-tied them toe to thumb and dunked them again — only to watch them float back up. Both women were sentenced to death by hanging.
A mother and datighter team of witches, Mother Sutton and Mary Sutton of Milton Milles in the county of Bedford, were the subject of an anonymous witchcraft pamphlet of 1613, Witches Aplmhended, Examined and Executed, for notable Villanies by them committed by both Land and Water. The pamphlet tells of how the Suttons persecuted a local gentleman. Master Enger, causing his livestock to take sick and die, his cart to break down and his servant to sicken. Mary Sutton’s witchcraft is portrayed as linked with her sexual promiscuity. The pamphleteer inhtrms the reader that she had three illegitimate children and that the feud between Enger and the Suttons began when Sutton’s servant struck one of them, Henry, to punish him for throwing trash into the mill dam. While the servant was lying sick, Mary Sutton appeared to him to tempt him sexually, hut God gave him strength to resist. Afterward, the battle between the Suttons and Enger escalated when his seven-year-old son threw stones at Mother Sutton and called her a witch. The Suttons sent two familiar spirits, Dicke and Jude, to kill the hoy, who died in five days.
The pamphlet describes a flotation test that Enger administered to Mary Sutton on the advice ot an unknown stranger. (This is the first documented use of a flotation test in England.) Enger’s men kidnapped Sutton and, when attempting to tie her on the hack of a horse, they were all struck lame. Enger heat her until the men were able to mo'c again. They threw her into the mill dam, and when she refused to sink, an examination hy women revealed witch’s marks. After she once again failed to sink, Enger badgered her into a confession. The pamphlet cctncludes hy reporting that both Suttons had been executed at Bedford Assizes on March 31, partly on their own confessions and partly on the evidence ot Henry Sutton. Subsequent writers such as Richard Bernard would draw upon the Sutton case.
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