Supernatural plot against the King causes scandal in 14th century middle England.
By Richard Holland
One of the most common and sinister forms of magic involved the creation of an image to represent the living target of the spell. This is called ‘sympathetic magic’. The use of the ‘voodoo doll’ is probably the most familiar example of this technique today but similar images were used by witches and magicians for centuries.
A good example of such sympathetic magic being used to inflict a curse is the case of two Coventry conjurors who practised the dark art way back in the 14th century. On November 30, 1323, John de Notingham, a notorious magician in the town, was approached by no less than 27 town dignitaries who were angry at the way were they were being treated by the Prior of Coventry. They wanted him dead, and they wanted John de Notingham to use his magic to accomplish this. Not content with destroying the Prior, they also wanted John’s witchcraft to kill two of his servants whom he employed to extort money from them. Most startling of all, they also wanted revenge on an even higher authority – the King, and his two Dispensers, who supported the Prior in his tyranny.
For such an important commission John roped in his lodger Robert le Mareschal, of Leicester, who also had some skill in the magical arts. For their murderous service John was to receive £20 and his maintenance in any religious house of his choosing, and Robert was to be paid £15. The bargain being struck, the dignitaries paid over some of the money and provided the conjurors with some canvas and seven pounds of pure wax to make their images. They then made a discreet withdrawal and the magicians retired to an isolated house outside the town to start their evil.
The magicians gave at least a good impression of taking their work seriously. By April of the following year the images of the six proposed victims were nearly ready for use. The story takes an even more sinister turn at this point. John and Robert made a seventh figure. They decided that before they carried out their commission it would be wise to test their work. Perhaps they were intimidated by the fact that two of their victims were the King (then believed to be divinely appointed) and a senior member of the clergy. Or perhaps, as Christina Hole puts it in her ‘Witchcraft in England’, ‘they had the honest workman’s desire to earn his money well’.
Whatever their reason, they decided to test out their skill on a seventh victim. They settled on a Coventry man named Richard de Sowe, although for what reason, if any, there is no record.
Christina Hole takes up the story: ‘At midnight on April 27th a sharp piece of lead was driven into the forehead of the image. On the following day Robert went round to de Sowe’s house to se what had happened. He found the wretched man quite mad, raving and continually shrieking out ‘Harrow’, and unable to recognise anyone. In this state he remained until May 20th, when the second part of the experiment took place. The lead was drawn out of the image’s forehead and driven into its heart. Within a few days de Sowe was dead.’
Another unexpected twist then occurred. Robert le Mareschal abandoned the evil scheme and denounced his partner and the men who had commissioned them to the Coroner. Possibly, he was so appalled at what they’d done to de Sowe that he couldn’t go on with it. Maybe he never believed it would work anyway, and when he realised that the next stage was to murder six men, including a King and a Prior, he simply couldn’t go through with it. Perhaps I’m giving him too much credit. It’s just as likely he had a row with John de Notingham about the split in their fee or he simply lost his nerve because suspicion had already fallen onto their activities.
He accused John de Notingham and the dignitaries of the crimes in which he had shared – murder, attempted and actual, witchcraft and treason. By becoming the accuser of the others he evaded prosecution himself. So, for some unknown reason, did all the dignitaries. Is it possible that the magistrates considered the whole thing nonsense? Belief in witchcraft was strong but the idea that 27 of the most senior members of the town were involved in it may have been too much to swallow. John was the only one to suffer: he died in prison before the trial began. We know Robert was also held in prison when the trial ended, but what became of him afterwards is not recorded.
[Source: 'Witchcraft in England' by Christina Hole (1945) pp35-36.]
© Richard Holland
