Helen Duncan is sometimes described as Scotland’s last witch, or the last person imprisoned for witchcraft in Britain, or the last person to be tried under the UK’s 1735 Witchcraft Act. None of those are quite accurate.
Yesterday
Charles Sumner, Revisited (part 1)
<p>The first installment of the deeper examination of Charles Sumner's life begins with his early years, including his close relationships with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Samuel Gridley Howe.</p> <p><strong>Research:</strong></p> <ul> <li>"Sumner, Charles (1811-1874)." Encycl ... Show More
35m 52s
Mar 2023
Elizabethan witchcraft: a trial that divided a community
In the 1580s, the remote Essex village of St Osyth was beset by poverty and social tensions – and when a servant accused her neighbour of witchcraft, it sparked a crisis that engulfed the entire community. Speaking with Charlotte Hodgman, Marion Gibson explores what this late 16t ... Show More
29m 9s
Mar 2024
England's Worst Witch Trial: Pendle Witches
<p>Inside the heavy walls of Lancaster Castle, the darkest & deadliest of English witch trials played out in 1612 - the Pendle Witch Trials. By the end ten people would be executed and many more lives ruined. At their heart was a little girl, Jennet Device, and a book, <em>Daemon ... Show More
46m 18s
Mar 2023
Hugh & Mary Parsons & The Springfield Witch Trials
Forty years before the infamous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, Hugh Parsons stepped out of his dirty, disease ridden prison cell in Boston and was carted off towards the courthouse in order to stand trial as a witch. He’d come from a small settlement named Springfield over ... Show More
1h 8m
May 2024
Henry VIII's Sister, Margaret Queen of Scots
<p>Margaret Tudor - daughter of King Henry VII, sister to Henry VIII - was married at 13 to James IV of Scotland, learning the skills of statecraft that would enable her to survive his early death and to construct a powerful position in Scotland. </p><br><p>In this episode o ... Show More
41m 16s