The Pendle witch trials

It is valuable to look at the background to the trials, since today we find belief in witchcraft unfathomable and find it hard to imagine it having any place in a court of law. The contributors take us briefly through the religious reformation of England to the unification of Great Britain by James I. We see how the king’s ideas shaped the popular perception of witches, introduced the idea of covens and linked witches to conspiracy and treason.

The documentary examines the way in which these ideas were spread to the population through Shakespeare’s recently-published Macbeth. It explains how Shakespeare’s writings were influenced by the king’s own ideas and ultimately helped determine the outcome of the 1612 trials. The recent Gunpowder Plot (1605), explicitly linked to Lancashire, is also discussed as a catalyst.