Isabel Robey

Foreword This booklet is not about witchcraft per se, nor is it an attempt to retread old ground concerning the trials of August 1612. It more of an attempt to place one woman's story into the puzzle that was the Lancaster Trials. In 2001 I paid a visit to Lancaster Castle in an attempt to make some sort of sense of how those lodged there in 1612 must have felt. Whilst there I took the opportunity to peruse the subject matter on offer concerning the Lancashire Witches, and also to satisfy my own curiosity on what the literature had to say about the subject of my booklet, Isabel Robey. I was not at all surprised to find that there was very little information concerning Isabel, however, I did detect some information that was slightly inaccurate. Isabel Robey was not from Yorkshire; she came from the small township of Windle, which is part of the Metropolitan Borough of St.Helens. So much has been written about the trials, and all my research has offered the same conclusion regarding Isabel Robey, she was just an unfortunate woman from another town who got caught up in accusations and allegations, but what brought her to Lancaster? I make no apologies for keeping the trials of the Pendle witches to a minimum, after all they have their place in history. I will apologise for any historical inaccuracies that may be found! What I have tried to present here is Isabels story, which was no easy task given the lack of information on offer. With that said, I hope you enjoy what is written. Mark Marsh. June 2002. Historical Background It was on the 18th of March, 1612 that Alizon Device of Newchurch-in-Pendle met the pedlar John Law near Colne, Lancashire. Alizon begged pins from the pedlar, but he refused to give any, she cursed him and he fell down lame shortly afterwards. What was to follow on from these events became the most infamous witchcraft trial in English history. Amongst the nineteen people tried for witchcraft in August 1612 was one Isabel Robey of Windle, St.Helens. How could a woman not connected with the Pendle brood come to be tried with them? The tenuous link lay with Alizon Device, for one of the landed gentlemen who gave sympathy to John Law and his son Abraham was Sir Thomas Gerrard, Lord of the Manor of Windle and Justice of the Peace for that area of Lancashire, and this link would eventually bring Isabel Robey to the Lancaster Assizes, for on July 12th 1612 she would be brought before Sir Thomas Gerrard accused by her neighbours, and in particular her God Daughters own husband, of witchcraft. Little is known about Isabel Robey, she was not afforded the same attention that would later become centred upon the Pendle witches, and yet she stood accused with them, and was condemned to hang with them. The only evidence that we have of her is that of her trial, which was the last to be recorded by Thomas Potts and which would surface in his transcript of the trials “The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster” (1613). Whilst the evidence concerning Isabel is scant, what we do know is that England in the early 17th Century was in Political and Religious turmoil. James I had ascended the throne in 1603 after the death of Elizabeth I, and within the first two years of his reign, attempts would be made on his life, the most notable being the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. James had ordered a repeal of the Elizabethan Witchcraft Act, and replaced it in 1604 with a new act. This act was harsher in its treatment of those accused of witchcraft, and the act stated that all those who “Practice or exercise any witchcrafte, sorcerie, charme, or inchantment....shalle suffer paines of death as a felon or felons”. Catholicism had been outlawed, and this view is strongly highlighted in the opening sentences of Isabels trial, as Thomas Potts wrote: “Thus at one time may you behold witches of all sorts from many places in this Countie of Lancaster which now may be lawfully said to abound asmuch in witches of Divers kinds as Seminaries, Jesuits, and Papists” It is interesting to note that Potts draws comparison of witchcraft and the outlawed Catholic Faith, such was the hatred directed towards Catholics at this time. The Protestant Religion had become the favoured practice in England, especially in the Southern parts of the Country, and even though James’ own mother, the famed Queen of Scots had been a staunch Catholic, James distanced himself from the Catholics, preferring to fully embrace the religion of which he, through the Tudor Dynasty, was now Supreme Head. In the North of England, Catholicism remained strong and this was evident in the Catholic sympathies of the established Lancashire families, which included the Gerrards of Bryn and Windle. Indeed, the County of Lancashire had been deemed by the Puritans to be a “dark corner of the land”, still steeped in the despised Papist tradition. This division in religious ruling would eventually contribute to the events of 1642 when England would erupt into Civil War. It is safe to assume that events in England would have affected what was to become the town of St.Helens, which in the early 17th Century consisted of the small villages of Windle, Sutton, Eccleston and Parr. The towns Jesuit past can be seen today in the form of St.Marys Lowe House Church on North Road. The Gerrard families association with St.Helens was established in the early 15th Century when Sir Thomas Gerrard ordered the building of Windle Chantry in memory of his ancestors soon after returning from Agincourt in 1415. Eventually his descendant, another Sir Thomas, would be one of the first in line to pay £1000 pounds to obtain a Baronetcie. The title was given, and the money returned to Sir Thomas in recognition of his families support and services to the Kings mother, Mary, Queen of Scots. This relationship with the King would not be without its difficulties; Gerrards brother, John Gerrard was one of the men who would become implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, but the Jesuit priest would escape arrest and eventually found a Jesuit college at Liege. Evidence of the influence of the ruling families of the area can be seen in place names around the town, especially in the names of the public houses. The Gerard Arms can be found on the juncture of Dentons Green Lane and Kiln Lane, and not far away, in the village of Crank, can be found the Stanley Arms. The Stanleys were the most important family in the area, having had the Earldom of Derby bestowed upon them in reward for support given to Henry Tudor, later King Henry VII, at the battle of Bosworth in 1485 where Tudor was crowned King. This elevation in status was further strengthened by the marriage of Henrys mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort to Lord Thomas Stanley. By 1587 the Stanleys had settled at Lathom near Ormskirk, and also had another family seat at Knowsley. Lathom House remained the families main seat up until the sieges of 1644 and 1645 when Lathom House was destroyed by Parliamentary forces during the Civil War. By contrast, the Gerrards could claim descent from Lord Otho, a Baron of England during the reign of Alfred the Great. The family strengthened its ties with a series of fortunate marriages which would give them estates throughout England. The Gerrards were mainly a military family with descendants fighting in the Crusades. In 1385, Peter Gerard de Bryn of Kingsley, Bryn and Windle was knighted by Richard II for his bravery and valiance during the Scottish Wars. It was from Sir Peter that the Lords of the Manor of Windle would descend. The Gerrards were also a profoundly religious family and supporters of the Catholic faith, and because of this they would lose estates and wealth, but such was the extent of the faith, some members of the family became nuns and priests. The third Sir Thomas (c 1525-1601) was a staunch Catholic who refused to obey the religious laws of Elizabeth I, and was sent to the Tower of London in 1571 for openly sympathising with the plight of the Queen of Scots. In 1586 he became implicated in the Babington Plot in which it was hoped that the conspirators would deliver the Scottish Queen from her confinement, assassinate the Protestant Elizabeth, and place Mary upon the throne of England. Sir Thomas saved his own neck by giving evidence against the Earl of Arundel, and to raise money for his fines he was forced to sell his estates at Bromley, and half of his land at Rainhill. Another condition of his freedom was to embrace the Conformity laws, but Catholicism would remain at the heart of the family throughout its history. It was this view of religion that would separate these two ruling Lancashire families. The Stanleys had allied themselves with the Reformation of Henry VIII and Lord Stanley would go so far to have Puritan Ministers preaching at his dual family Seats of Lathom and Knowsley. By 1603, with the accession to the throne of James I, the religious divide would begin to affect the rural population of England. The Puritans frowned upon the “pagan” practices of such things as the May-Day celebrations where Robin, Lord of the May would be attended by his consort the May Queen, and what shocked the Puritans even more was the singing and merriment accompanying this event, especially dancing around the Maypole.

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