Krista J. Kesselring, ‘Bodies of evidence: sex and murder (or gender and homicide) in early modern England, c.1500–1680’

What 1564 case involved suspicions of witchcraft following the death of a child?

Agnes and Edward Baynton lost their son and consulted Jane Marsh, who accused Dorothy Baynton and Agnes Milles of witchcraft—Milles confessed and was hanged

Who lost their son in 1564?

Agnes and Edward Baynton

Who did Jane Marsh accuse?

Dorothy Baynton and Agnes Milles

Who accused Dorothy Baynton and Agnes Milles?

Jane Marsh

Which of the accused in the Baynton case confessed and was hanged?

Agnes Milles

Why were women more often convicted of murder than manslaughter in early modern England?

Women were seen as more prone to “cold-blooded” killings, and manslaughter—“hot-blooded”—was a legal category not available to women until the 1690s

How did Sir Francis Bacon describe the legal distinction between murder and manslaughter?

As “a more subtle distinction between the will inflamed and the will advised”

Who described manslaughter as “a more subtle distinction between the will inflamed and the will advised”?

Sir Francis Bacon

What does Garthine Walker argue about the development of manslaughter?

It was a “distinctly masculine form of homicide”

How does Early Modern beliefs about heat and gender correlate with crime?

• EM beliefs presented Male and female as shaped by the ‘perfection of heat’, with men the hotter of the 2

• Thus, it seems obvious that cold-blooded females were more likely to commit cold-blooded killings

What proportion of homicide suspects between 1500–1680 were women?

825 out of 4,374, or roughly 20%—they were accused of killing 25% of all victims

How was witchcraft linked to female homicide in early modern England?

Witchcraft was blamed for 373 deaths—10% of total victims—but 38% of female-attributed killings

What legislative change contributed to the rise in female homicide accusations?

The 1563 Witchcraft Act, after which rates of female homicide spiked