Joan Flowers (C1570 – 1619)

Joan Flowers, together with her  daughters Margaret and Philippa were ‘known to be herbal healers’ and came from a local family which ‘had fallen on hard times’.

They were employed as servants by the 6th Earl and Countess of Rutland, at Belvoir Castle when additional staff was needed for the visit of King James I.

But Joan and her daughters were unpopular with the other staff, and there were suggestions of theft, and misdemeanors.

All three were dismissed and only Joan was given a payment of severance amounting to ’40 shillings, a bolster (pillow), and a mattress of wool’.

After the sisters were dismissed, the Earl and Countess fell ill, suffering from ‘vomiting and convulsions’.

Their son and heir, Henry, Baron de Ros. died on 26 September 1613. Their younger children, Francis, and daughter Katherine, suffered similarly and Francis, also, later died.

Following the death of their second son, Francis, the Rutlands had Joan and her daughters arrested, before Christmas of 1618.

After initial examinations, in February 1619 by the Earl of Rutland, Francis Lord Willoughby de Eresby, Sir George Manners, Sir William Pelham, Sir Henry Hastings, clergyman Samuel Fleming and others, the women were to be taken to Lincoln jail.

When arrested Joan Flowers professed her innocence. She was not known to be a Church-goer, but at Ancaster, en route to the prison at Lincoln, she asked for bread as a substitute for the Eucharist.

She claimed that something so blessed could not be consumed by a witch but she choked and died after the first bite.

At Lincoln, Margaret accused her mother of witchcraft, while Phillipa admitted to witchcraft on behalf of herself, Margret and Joan.

The sisters said they had entered into communion with familiar spirits that had assisted them with their schemes.

Joan’s familiar had been a cat named Rutterkin.

The women admitted that they stole the glove of Lord Ross and gave it to their mother, who had dipped it in boiling water, stroked it along Rutterkin’s back, and pricked it.

Combined with some incantations this supposedly caused Lord Ross to become ill and die.

An attempt to harm Lady Katherine, the Earl’s daughter, had failed when it was found that Rutterkin had no power over her. The women had also taken some feathers from the quilt of Rutland’s bed and a pair of gloves. By boiling these in water mixed with blood they cast spells to prevent the Earl and Countess from having any more children.

Both sisters admitted to experiencing visions of devils and that their familiar spirits visited them and sucked at their bodies.

During the examination, they revealed the names of other women who had aided them, Anne Baker of Bottesford; Joan Willimot of Goadby; and Ellen Greene of Stathern.

Margaret and Philippa Flowers were tried and found guilty. They were hanged in Lincoln castle on 11 March 1619.