Jane Wenham was the subject of what is commonly but erroneously regarded as the last witch trial

Witch-hunt

A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The trial took place in 1712 (not 1716 as some modern sources say) and was reported widely in printed tracts of the period, notably F. Bragge's A full and impartial account of the discovery of sorcery and witchcraft practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkern

Walkern

Walkern is a village and civil parish in East Hertfordshire. It is located on the River Beane about two miles from Stevenage, and is noted as the home of Jane Wenham, who was in 1712 the last woman in England to be convicted of witchcraft...

e in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

(published 1712).

Trial

Wenham had brought a charge of defamation against a farmer, in response to an accusation of witch-craft, but the matter was resolved by a rector. She was awarded with a shilling, though advised to be less quarrelsome. The farmer claimed that Wenham then bewitched a servant, as she had supposedly done before, and that this was responsible for his ill luck. It was reported that she had said she would have justice "some other way", and that after she made that statement her adversary's daughter sickened and his livestock died.

A warrant for Wenham's arrest was issued by Sir Henry Chauncy

Henry Chauncy

Sir Henry Chauncy Kt. was born in Ardeley, Hertfordshire and died at Yardley Bury , Hertfordshire. He was an English lawyer, educator and antiquarian...

, who gave instructions that she be searched for "witch marks

Witches' mark

According to witch-hunters during the height of the witch trials , the witches’ mark indicated that an individual was a witch. The witches' mark and the devil's mark are all terms applied to essentially the same mark. The beliefs about the mark differ depending on the trial location and the...

". She requested that she undergo trials to avoid being detained, such as a swimming test

Cucking stool

Ducking-stools and cucking-stools are chairs formerly used for punishment of women in England and Scotland . The term cucking-stool derives from wyuen pine as referred in Langland's Piers Plowman.They were both instruments of social humiliation and censure, primarily for the offense of scolding...

, however, she was asked to repeat the Lord's Prayer

Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...

, as it was believed that no witch could do so. During the recitation, she apparently stumbled and subsequently admitted to the charge.
When her lodgings had been searched, a potion

Potion

A potion is a consumable medicine or poison.In mythology and literature, a potion is usually made by a magician, sorcerer, dragon, fairy or witch and has magical properties. It might be used to heal, bewitch or poison people...

, believed to be magical

Magic (paranormal)

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

, was discovered under her pillow.

The accused was brought before Sir John Powell (1640-1713), on March 4, 1712. When an accusation of flying was made, the judge remarked there was no law against doing so. The trial caused a sensation in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The popular press printed multiple broadsheet

Broadsheet

Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...

s proclaiming her innocence or guilt. A long pamphlet war followed the trial.

She was convicted, but the judge set aside her conviction, suspending the death penalty, and seeking a royal pardon from Queen Anne

Anne of Great Britain

Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...

.

Her cause was adopted by William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper

William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper

William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper PC KC FRS was an English politician who became the first Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. Cowper was the son of Sir William Cowper, 2nd Baronet, of Ratling Court, Kent, a Whig member of parliament of some mark in the two last Stuart reigns...

, a Whig aristocrat, and she was moved from her home town and secreted in a cottage on his lands, where she lived for the rest of her life. Later in her life, Bishop Francis Hutchinson

Francis Hutchinson

Francis Hutchinson was Bishop of Down and Connor and an opponent of witch-hunting.Hutchinson was born in Carsington, Wirksworth, Derbyshire, the second son of Mary and Edward Hutchinson or Hitchinson...

 (1660–1739), author of an Historical essay concerning witchcraft (1718), visited her and deemed her a simple, pious woman.

Others

Trials and executions for witchcraft continued in England after the Wenham case. One such case involved Mary Hickes and her nine-year-old daughter Elizabeth, who were condemned to death by the Assize Court

Assizes (England and Wales)

The Courts of Assize, or Assizes, were periodic criminal courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the Quarter Sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court...

 and were hanged in Huntingdon

Huntingdon

Huntingdon is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It is the traditional county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council. It is known as the birthplace in 1599 of Oliver Cromwell.-History:Huntingdon...

 on Saturday 28 July 1716. They were believed to have taken off their stockings in order to raise

Conjuration

Conjuration is used in many video games, mainly RPGs, where it is usually referred to as summoning.* A notable example is the Final Fantasy franchise which incorporates summoning of monsters to fight alongside the characters....

a rainstorm.