Book Review: "Something Wicked" by Carol Ann Lee

Full Title = Something Wicked: The Lives, Crimes and Deaths of the Pendle Witched by Carol Ann Lee.

A few days ago I was watching the YouTube Show "History Hit" and the episode I was watching was about the Pendle Witches. If you grew up and studied in England, there is a chance you probably studied the Pendle Witches as well - it was a tragic affair to say the least. The episode on YouTube goes into a lot of detail when it comes to the family rivalries, the crimes they were accused of and the conditions of the jails they were put into.

The Pendle Witch Trials were a classic case of religious justice in a world gone mad since the publication of the now infamous 'Hammer of the Witches' book (or: Malleus Maleficarum). Carol Ann Lee writes this book as a testament to the history of the women who were punished wrongly under the laws created by crazed religious folk - it was horrifying to say the least.

The book opens with an introduction that gives us an overview of the politics behind the Pendle Witch Trials, even the fact that in 1998 the government would not give them a pardon. But the writer assures us that as of now, a new application is being submitted to grant them one. It was said that the Pendle Witches could only have a pardon if they had categorically not committed the crimes that they had been accused of - evidence either concrete or circumstantial was required.

Now, we know how difficult that is but also, how stupid it sounds. As we get into the book, it is clear that not only were these women innocent of their crimes, but that they were systemically punished for being poor, for being women and for trying to make a way for themselves in the world.

One of the things I liked about this book is that it doesn't only deal with the Pendle Witch Trials, but also deals with how the term 'witchcraft' is defined by the law they were prosecuted under. The author demonstrates the different meanings through looking at the Vulgate Bible, the differing Latin meanings and the meanings from other languages, taking a bite out of each in order to teach us how witchcraft is defined by the law of 1612 and how prosecution worked.

For example: witchcraft is known as maleficence and that means 'wrong-doings' in English. Witches in England were punished by hanging unless they were also accused of the crime of killing their husbands or something worse. It is such an interesting chapter to read about these origins, seeing as in other places in Europe, witches were burned at the stake.

As we get underway with the women in question, we get a backstory of them in separate chapters, looking at who they were and what is known about them. The author makes a case of saying that these women need to be known though they do not have diaries or journals to tell us who they were themselves. Most of what we do know comes from what other people had to say about them and so, when we do look at their stories, we have to separate what could be true from what could be an ebellishment. Since these women were accused falsely of their crimes, there will be embellishments.

The book is written by putting these women at the centre, looking at their lives and what they were doing - helping us to remember that these were, in fact, very real people. We take a look at family rivalries and how this made the arrests more difficult and yes, we even have a look at a daughter who accuses her own mother of being a witch. From a man having a stroke and putting it down to a woman's witchcraft to a talking dog, from fights about property and the personal interests of the judges in executing certain women to get them out of the way. There is a lot here that the author investigates and puts across to the reader.

By the end of the book we really do feel as though we have learned so much about these women, even though there is not much known about them. I highly recommend this read for those of you interested in miscarriages of justice because this one is one of the biggest in all of history. It is absolutely infuriating that this was not only allowed to happen, but that these women are continuously not even treated like they are people.