The Lancashire Witch Craze: Jennet Preston and the Lancashire Witches, 1612

Summary

'Jennet Preston lies heavy upon me', cried Thomas Lister on his deathbed. We are told that his corpse bled when she touched it...and Jennet was convicted of witchcraft. Was there really a satanic coven on Pendle side? Or was Jennet framed by Lister's son? And were the other 'witches' actually caught up in a much broader and more disturbing pattern of religious persecution? Jonathan Lumby presents a remarkable series of new insights. By placing the events in their wider European context, he explains far more satisfactorily than ever before exactly why these disturbing events occurred.