Elizabeth Clarke

Background

Elizabeth Clarke was born in 1606 in Bradfield, Essex to Bartholomew and an unnamed mother. She had one younger sister, Jane Clarke, born in 1609. As a child, Clarke witnessed her mother being accused of being a witch; her mother was subsequently jailed, tried, and executed. The records of that trial and her mother's name have been lost.

Later in life, Clarke moved to the neighbouring parish of Manningtree with her father, Bartholomew, who died in 1614. In 1621, Clarke moved in with her sister, who had recently married Richard Benifield, and Clarke also became known by the name Elizabeth Bedinfield, adopting her sister's new last name. Jane died in 1630. When Clarke gave birth to a baby girl on 12 February 1643, she named the child Jane in memory of her sister.

Clarke named the baby's father as Joseph Applegate, but the couple was unwed; Clarke later explained that she named him so he could be forced to pay child support. The baby was baptised at Thomas Witham's chapel. Clarke was disabled, having only one leg, and used the aid of a crutch. She struggled with poverty throughout her life and following the death of her sister had no form of familiar support.

Witchcraft trial

In the winter of 1645, Clarke was accused of cursing the wife of a local tailor, John Rivet. A lynch mob brought her to Sir Harbottle Grimston, her landowner, who decided that she should be tried. Matthew Hopkins, assisted by John Stearne and Mary Phillipps, took up the role of investigator and prosecutor, known as 'Watcher'. Although torture was illegal in England, suspected witches were subject to scrutiny by their Watchers.

In Clarke's case, Hopkins and colleagues including John Stearne watched her for three days and nights without allowing her to sleep. During this process, Clarke was forced to continually walk around her room, a process known as 'watching and walking'. Clarke's body was also inspected by four women, who claimed they found witch's marks. On the third night, Hopkins claimed to have witnessed Clarke summoning familiars, imps in animal form.

During this ordeal, Clarke implicated other women from Manningtree: Anne West and her daughter Rebecca, Anne Leech, Helen Leech, and Elizabeth Gooding, as well as women from other villages. Clarke stated that she had been brought into witchcraft by Anne West, who took pity on her due to her poverty and only having one leg. Hopkins also claimed that Clarke had admitted to having 'carnal copulation with the devil' four to three times a week, over the span of seven years.

The women discovered by Hopkins were tried at Chelmsford assizes on 17 July 1645. During the trial, the watchers gave different accounts of the appearances of Clarke's familiars, but Clarke was found guilty of feeding familiar spirits, and with killing John Edwards, a local child who died in the summer of 1644.

In total, 36 women were imprisoned and the majority of them were sentenced to death. During the testimonies, the watchers described many imps, including: Jarmana - a white dog with sandy spots, fat with short legs; Vinegar Tom - a greyhound with long legs, who turned into a 4-year-old boy with no head; a black imp; Newes - a pole cat with a large head; Hoult - a white imp, smaller than a cat; white imps that went to bed with Clarke in the shape of a 'proper gentleman' with a laced band; three brown imps from her mother; Sacke and Sugar - a demonic black rabbit. Other familiars referred to by name but not description: Elemauzer, Pyewacket, Peck-in-the-crown & Grizel Greedigut.