Dame Alice Kyteler: The Events of the Kilkenny Witch Trial

Dame Alice Kyteler: The Events of the Kilkenny Witch Trial

Alyssa Waddell

Dr.  Wessell Lightfoot

June 14, 2022

History 312

There were a number of religious traditions in medieval Ireland, many of which were pagan and co-habited with the Orthodox Christian beliefs. The Kilkenny Witch Trial influenced how other Irish witch trials were approached. The writings of Richard De Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory highlight “Witches appear not to have been rigorously persecuted until after witchcraft was placed by the Church under the head of heresies, and the most revolting articles of popular belief laid to the charge of the different sects who sought reform or separate themselves from, the Romish church”.[1]  During this period there was a movement to spread the reach and control of the Roman Orthodox Church. It was people such as Bishop Ledrede that took the opportunity to ostracize those who were not willing to convert to Christianity. This was especially true for those who do not fit into society’s norms. Throughout the Kilkenny Witch Trials there were a number of different people who played significant roles in the events of the trials; moreover the events of the Kilkenny Witch Trials influenced subsequent witch trials in Ireland.

Knowing the people involved in the trial and events before it took place is crucial to understanding the Kilkenny Witch trials. Within the introduction of the document Anne Nearly explains; “Richard De Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory, held an inquisition in his diocese as a result of which he claimed to have uncovered a ‘diabolical nest’ of’”[2] Bishop Ledrede had become obsessed with the idea that the members of Kilkenny were participating in events that were considered to be partaking in devil worship and harming members of the community. This was the being of Bishop Ledrede sparking a movement of witch hunts and the first person in Ireland to be charged with witchcraft and convicted. Through this event Bishop Ledrede had sparked a number of different catalase that led to him being removed from his duties for a period of time. There were ten women that made up the nest of heretics two of which were charged with witchcraft and heresy. Those women are Petronella de Midia and Alice Kyteler. In the introduction to the document for the court proceedings of Alice Kyteler witchcraft charge it is noted that; “Alice Kyteler, whom the bishop associated to purge herself of the fame of enchantment and witchcraft imposed unto her and one to Petronilll and Basill her complies”.[3] The document highlights the writings of Bishop Ledrede and his accounts of the trial. He noted that she was the head of the coven and was preforming rituals and communicating and having sexual relations with the demons that they were summoning in order to harm people within the community. Dame Alice Kyteler was accused of killing her previous husbands that had died under mysterious circumstances. Due to the deaths and attention that surrounded Dame Alice Kyteler it drew the attention of members of the community and more specifically the Bishop of Ossory. Bishop Ledrede believed that Alice Kyteler and the other women were included within the coven. Alice Kyteler was able to escape her charges and from Ireland whereas her co-conspirator was not as lucky. “[O]n 3 November 1324, one of Dame Alice’s co-accused, Petronella de Midia, confessed to the charges and was burned at the stake in Kilkenny”.[4] Petronella de Midia was Dame Alice’s maid and associate; it was presumed that she was a member of the witch’s coven. When Dame Alice had escaped her conviction and sentence she had left Petronella to go through the trial and the conviction and how the Bishop was able to draw the confession from Petronella was through intense integration along forms of tortured to gain the knowledge about the so called coven and the hexes that are used to kill and harm members of the community.[5]By knowing some of the information about the trail and those within it one can move on and examine the events of the trail.

As the narrative is put together it is crucial to know what happened in the weeks leading up to the trial and through it. Anne Neary highlight how large and public that the events of the trial writing; “[h]owever, the affair was more than a good headline story; it was unique. In Irish context it had wide social and political implications, involving leading members of the lordship”.[6]  The Kilkenny Witch Trail had become one of the largest public events to happen in Ireland during the 14^th century. The witch trial had followed the events of a famine in Ireland due to the effects of Little Ice Age which happened between 1303- 1860 and the Kilkenny Witch Trial fell in 1324. The famine along with other factors led to Irish communities to being on edge and look for a supernatural cause for their suffering.  The growth of Christianity within Ireland influenced those who practiced a pagan religion would be societies outcasts. There was a growing interest in the events of the trial; up until this point Ireland had not had any witch trails and or witch hunts. One of the bigger factors that drew people’s attention was that Bishop Ledrede had accused a Dame whose brother-in-law was also the Chancellor of Ireland causing this trial not only having social ramifications that effected both the upper and lower classes showing that no one was safe from being  accused. This event also created political tensions due to both Dame Alice’s brother-in-law was Chancellor and was defending Alice agents the charges against her. But Bishop Ledrede was also under scrutiny not only for the witch trial but also for the choices and reputation that he made for himself. The charges made by Bishop where noted in Witchcraft Sourcebook written by Brian Levack and it reads as follows; “Kyteler and her associates where accused not only of having committed multiple murders by magical means and summoning up demons but also of having sexual intercourse with those demon and of rejecting their Christian faith”.[7]  The murder accusations came from people finding a pattern that Dame Alice husbands have died mysteriously and there was reasonable doubt in believing that she had reasons for killing her previous husbands.  It was believed that Dame Alice along with Petronella de Midia and other women where not only using these demons to kill and harm members of the community but they were also having sexual relations with the demons that they were summing. Throughout the process of the trail Dame Alice denied the charges that where being brought upon her along with rejecting the Christian faith.  Richard Beleiler notes that; “Dame Alice Kyteler, ‘the Sorceress of Kilkenny’, the first recorded Irish women condemned for witchcraft. It is surprising to learn that, for all she repeatedly accused of terrible things, Kyteler escaped Dublin and apparently [lived out her] days in England”.[8]  Dame Alice was able to preserver through the accusations of murder, witchcraft and heresy. She was able to escape Dublin and her conviction with the aid of her brother-in-law he was able to get Dame Alice out of Ireland and bring her to England after that the whereabouts and how she lived out the rest of her life where unknown.

Dame Alice Kyteler was lucky in comparison to her servant as seen in the in this quote by Richard Beleiler, “[l]ess fortunate was her servant Petronilla of Meath, who “was made the scapegoat for her mistress. The Bishop had her flogged six times and under the repeated application of this torture she made the required confession of magical practices. Poor Petronilla Perished on the stake on 3 November 1324.[9] For Petronella de Midia she had experienced a significantly different outcome to her trial and conviction. She was used as a pawn for the escape of Dame Alice she had been put through multiple forms of torture issued by the Bishop. Through the process of being tortured Bishop Ledrede was able to draw a confession form Petronella about her contributions to the murder and the witchcraft that she had participated in, she also confirmed that all of the charges against Dame Alice where true and that the proceedings against them where justified. On November 3^rd 1324 Petronella de Midia was burnt at the stake for the charges against her. The way in which the Kilkenny trial was approached shaped and reflected other ways in which other witch trails in the period are approached.

As a result of the Kilkenny Witch Trial, the approach taken to the following trials was changed. Brian Levack does an analysis of other witchcraft trials that happened in the years after the Kilkenny Witch Trail; “[t]he account of Kyteler’s prosecution does not, however, depict the witches’ Sabbath in its full horror; that came only in the early fifteenth century writing of Johannes Nider’s Formicarius, which drew upon the trial of lower-class heretical magians during the early 1400s”.[10] In the year that followed the Kilkenny Witch Trials there was an uptake in witch hunts along with witch trails across Europe. A writer in the early fifteenth century by the name of Johannes Niders was writing about the witch hunts and trails of the early 1400. There were a number of witch trials from that period that were not filled with upper class people but shared the same level of brutality. Although most of the witch trials that followed the Kilkenny Trial reflect the brutality and war the church has waged against witchcraft. Brian Levack, also noted that “[s]omewhere publicly burned, some publicly revealed their crimes in front of the whole people and behind with a cross, as is the custom. Others were solemnly whipped in town and in the market place; others escaping the church’s jurisdiction, were so terrified that they took to flight, hid’ and have not yet been found”. [11]The approach taken to decide which cases of witchcraft would be handled in private rather than in the public eye. Those who were burned at the stake in public were meant to warn others against participating in witchcraft and other activities that would be seen as heresy. For those who were considered higher risk or better known in the community, they would be burned in private. For those who had committed the lesser crimes they would be whipped or flogged in the center of town for people to see. In a few cases, those who were charged with crimes of witchcraft would try to escape and end up never being found.

In understanding the Kilkenny Witch trials, it is helpful to know who was involved in the trial and what happened. It is significant to recognize the roles that they played within the events of the trial. When constructing the narrative, it is vital to know what happened in the weeks leading up to and during the trial. In the aftermath of the Kilkenny Witch Trial, the approach to subsequent trials was changed. As the Kilkenny Witch Trials progressed, a variety of different people played significant roles; in addition, the events of the trials influenced subsequent witch trials in Ireland. In order to understand the people and the events of the Kilkenny Witch Trial, it is worthwhile to remember it as one that should be referred to when exploring medieval witch trials and that witch trials have their own situations and take need to have different understanding for their circumstances.

[1] Richard, De, Ledrede. A Contemporary Narrative of the Proceedings Agents Dame Alice Kyteler, Prosecuted for Sorcery in 1324. Council of Camden Society. 1842-1843. Pg 15.

[2] Anne, Neary. The Origins and Character of the Kilkenny Witchcraft Case of 1324, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature, Vol 83, 1983, Pp 333.

[3]  Richard, De, Ledrede. A Contemporary Narrative of the Proceedings Agents Dame Alice Kyteler, Prosecuted for Sorcery in 1324. Council of Camden Society. 1842-1843. Pg 46.

[4] Anne, Neary. The Origins and Character of the Kilkenny Witchcraft Case of 1324, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature, Vol 83, 1983, Pp 334.

[5] Richard, Beleiler. St. John Drelincourt Seymour in The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature, Swan River Press, No. 16,  pp. 76.

[6] Anne, Neary. The Origins and Character of the Kilkenny Witchcraft Case of 1324, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature, Vol 83, 1983, Pp 334.

[7] Brain P. Levack. Witchcraft Sourcebook, Taylor & Francis Group, September 2 2003, pp. 32.

[8] Richard, Beleiler. St. John Drelincourt Seymour in The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature, Swan River Press, No. 16.

[9] Richard, Beleiler. St. John Drelincourt Seymour in The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature, Swan River Press, No. 16,  pp. 76

[10] Brain P. Levack. Witchcraft Sourcebook, Taylor & Francis Group, September 2 2003, pp. 42.

[11] Brain P. Levack. Witchcraft Sourcebook, Taylor & Francis Group, September 2 2003, pp. 42.

Beleiler, Richard. St. John Drelincourt Seymour in The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature. Swan River Press. No. 16. pp. 75-78. Reprinted 2020. https://www-jstor-org.prxy.lib.unbc.ca/stable/48582365?searchText=The+Green+Book+Writings+on+Irish+Gothic+Supernatural+and+Fantastic+Literature+AND+St.+John&searchUri=actiondoBasicSearchQueryTheGreenBook3AWritingsonIrishGothic2CSupernaturalandFantasticLiteratureANDSt.Johnsorel&ab_segments=0basic_search_gsv2control&refreqid=fastly-defaultfb99064916f805c98c74f123095cc79a&seq=1. Ledrede, De, Richard. A Contemporary Narrative of the Proceedings Agents Dame Alice Kyteler, Prosecuted for Sorcery in 1324. Council of Camden Society. 1842-1843. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000011022985&view=1up&seq=9&skin=2021. Levack P. Brain. Witchcraft Sourcebook. Taylor & Francis Group. September 2 2003. pp. 31-68. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/unbc-ebooks/reader.action?docID=5268415. Neary, Anne. The Origins and Character of the Kilkenny Witchcraft Case of 1324. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature. Vol 83. 1983. pp. 333-350. https://www-jstor-org.prxy.lib.unbc.ca/stable/25506106?seq=1. O’Sullivan, Aidan. Magic in Early Medieval Ireland: Some Observations from Archaeological Evidence. Ulster Archaeological Society. Vol. 74. 2017-2018. pp. 107- 117. https://www-jstor-org.prxy.lib.unbc.ca/stable/26788437?seq=1. Seale, Yvonne. Reviewed Work: The Templars, the Witch, and the Wild Irish: Vengeance and Heresy in Medieval Ireland by CallenMaeve Brigid. Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies. Vol 9. 2016. pp. 97-99. https://www-jstor-org.prxy.lib.unbc.ca/stable/26194016?seq=1.