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In England, only a few witches were burnt, the majority were hanged, possibly as a cost saving exercise and possibly because of the risk that the general public would not tolerate frequent use of such a barbaric punishment. Alice Molland is thought to have been the last person hanged for witchcraft, at Exeter in 1686. However, Scotland continued to burn witches and there are at least 38 recorded instances of both sexes, the last in Sutherland in 1722. Witchcraft Acts were repealed there in 1736. Go to http://www.witchesway.net/links/burningtimes/e xecuted.html for a listing of witch executions. It is claimed that some 200,000 people were burned for witchcraft in Europe in 16th and 17th centuries.
Three slightly different methods of burning were used. The first, consisted of using a heap of faggots piled around a wooden stake above which the prisoner was attached with chains or iron hoops. The British and Spanish Inquisition preferred this method as it had the greatest visual impact.
The second method, mostly used on witches, was to tie the condemned to the stake and heap faggots all round them, effectively hiding their sufferings from sight so that they died inside a wall of flames . It is said that Joan of Arc died by this method. The third method, used in Germany and the Nordic countries, involved tying the prisoner to a near vertical ladder, the top of which was tied to a frame, and then swinging them down onto the fire.
A good use for Faggots !!!!
Three slightly different methods of burning were used. The first, consisted of using a heap of faggots piled around a wooden stake above which the prisoner was attached with chains or iron hoops. The British and Spanish Inquisition preferred this method as it had the greatest visual impact.
The second method, mostly used on witches, was to tie the condemned to the stake and heap faggots all round them, effectively hiding their sufferings from sight so that they died inside a wall of flames . It is said that Joan of Arc died by this method. The third method, used in Germany and the Nordic countries, involved tying the prisoner to a near vertical ladder, the top of which was tied to a frame, and then swinging them down onto the fire.
A good use for Faggots !!!!
BURNING witches - a difficult one.
The last witch trial in England - different to Scots law - was 1709 and almost certainly foundered on causation Sort of the Crown could not show that the crop failure had been caused by the accused
This is the trial where the Crown tells the judge that evidence will be adduced to show that the accused was flying and the judge replies memorably
There is no law against flying
There an Irish legend about the last witch-burning (1895) in Western Europe (in Clonmel, Tipperary) also believed to be the last in Western Europe. The last recorded witch burning in Britain had occurred in Scotland in 1722 as already said above; in England the last witch burning was believed to have taken place in 1630.
The last execution for witchcraft in England took place in 1716, when Mary Hicks and her daughter Elizabeth were hanged. Jane Wenham was among the last subjects of a witch trial in England in 1712, but was pardoned after her conviction and set free. Helena Curtens and Agnes Olmanns were the last women to be executed as witches in Germany, in 1738. The last execution in Switzerland was that of Anna G�ldi in 1782, at the time it was widely denounced as state-sponsored murder throughout Switzerland and Germany, and not technically a witch trial since explicit allegations of witchcraft were avoided in the official trial.
The most common death sentence was to be burnt at the stake while still alive. In England it was common to hang the person first and then burn the corpse. Execution by burning was abolished in 1790.
Contrary to popular belief, people are still accused of witchcraft and burnt today (most notably in Africa). Executions by burning (from modern witchhunts) have occurred as recently as 2000 in India and Kenya.
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