eCanadaNow » 17th Century Journal Reveals Details Of England’s Witch Chronicles
A first-hand account of England’s witchcraft trials in the 17th century has now been made available online for free.
The details are part of a handwritten notebook that has been digitized by The University of Manchester’s John Rylands Center for Heritage Imaging and Collection Care and published at http://chiccmanchester.wordpress.com/.
The account is part of the English Civil War diary kept by Nehemiah Wallington, which covers the period from December 1644 to June 1658, and includes details of a trial that was held in Chelmsford in July 1645. During the witchcraft trials of Chelmsford 14 of the 30 women tried were hanged.
The diary is one of the fifty diaries that Wallington kept over the course of his life. Of the fifty, the seven remaining journals are housed at Tatton Hall in Chesire.
The two-week process of photographing each page from the original document took place in October 2010 and was supervised by Carol Burrows.
