Agnes Waterhouse (c. 1503 – 29 July 1566), also known as Mother Waterhouse, was one of the first women executed for witchcraft in England.[1]
In 1566, she was accused of witchcraft along with two other women: Elizabeth Francis and Joan Waterhouse.[2] All three women were from the same village, Hatfield Peverel.[2] She confessed to having been a witch and that her familiar was a cat (later turned into a toad) by the name of Sathan (which is just an obsolete variant for satan), which originally belonged to Elizabeth Francis.[2][3] Agnes was put on trial in Chelmsford, Essex, England, in 1566 for using witchcraft to cause illness to William Fynne, who died on 1 November 1565. She was also charged with using sorcery to kill livestock, cause illness, as well as bring about the death of her husband. Her eighteen-year-old daughter Joan Waterhouse was also accused (but found not guilty) of the same crime. Joan Waterhouse's testimony ultimately helped to convict the two other women.[2] Agnes was hanged, and was one of the first women executed under the Witchcraft Act 1562 in England, the first being Elizabeth Lowys of Great Waltham, Essex.
- ^ Alan Charles Kors; Edward Peters, eds. (2001). Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700: a documentary history (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. Chapter 46. ISBN 0812217519.
- ^ a b c d Hester, Marianne (1992). Lewd women and wicked witches : a study of the dynamics of male domination (1. publ. ed.). London u.a.: Routledge. pp. 166–171. ISBN 0415070716.
- ^ Kathy Lynn Emerson, A Who's Who of Tudor Women, retrieved on 2-2-2010