John Lambe
Encyclopedia
John Lambe (c. 1545–June 13, 1628) was an English
astrologer
who served George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
, during the early 17th century. Accused of black magic
and rape
, he was stoned
to death by an unruly mob in London
.
for children in Worcestershire
. By the early 17th century, however, Lambe had established a reputation as a “cunning man
” – that is, someone well-versed in astrology and magic. Calling himself “Doctor Lambe” (though he was not a licensed physician
), he claimed that he could read fortunes, identify diseases, repel witchcraft, and locate missing or stolen items with his crystal ball
. Rumors also emerged that he was skilled in the dark art of conjuration
. Records indicate that he charged approximately 40 to 50 pound
s for his services, and he was active in the London-area from approximately 1608 to 1628 .
Sometime before 1625, Lambe attracted the attention of George Villiers
, a favorite of King Charles I
, and he eventually became the Duke’s personal adviser. Public opinion of Lambe was roughly split into two camps: those who thought the “doctor” was a nothing more than a quack
, and those who believed he actually had magical abilities. The latter referred to Lambe as “the Duke’s Devil
,” and they suspected he was exerting a supernatural influence over Villiers, who in turn influenced King Charles. At the time, Charles was particularly unpopular for his questionable military campaigns and absolutist policies, and a popular chant went as follows:
along the Thames which allegedly unearthed corpses in a churchyard. One of the strangest accounts is recorded in Richard Baxter
’s 1691 Certainty of the World of Spirits. According to this story, Lambe once invited an audience into an inner room of his house, where he demonstrated his powers by conjuring a miniature tree
and three miniature woodsmen, who chopped it down. One man allegedly gathered woodchips from the tree as evidence, but the pieces attracted violent storms to his house, and he soon disposed of them . Skeptics continued to scoff at such accounts, dismissing Lambe as “a notable mountebank
and impostor” , but many others were firmly convinced that Lambe was a dangerous magician.
Frightened Londoners made several attempts to punish Lambe for black magic, but due to the influence of Charles and Villiers, their campaigns were mostly ineffective . In 1627, however, Lambe was accused of raping an eleven-year old girl named Joan Seager, and he promptly received the death penalty. With the help of his political connections, he was able to postone the execution for several months. Eventually, though, angry and fearful Londoners became tired of Lambe’s special treatment, and on June 13, 1628, an unruly mob stoned him to death as he exited a theater. No one was punished for the murder, and less than two months later, Villiers was killed, as well.
In 1653, four years after Charles I died, Lambe’s ex-servant Anne Bodenham was also hanged for witchcraft. According to rumors at the time, she could summon demons and transform herself into a dog
, lion
, bear
, wolf, or monkey
.
of the astrologer, A Brief Description of the Notorious Life of John Lambe, was published in 1628, and a play
, Dr. Lamb and the Witches. was released in 1634.. In addition, multiple song
s and poems were produced about the astrologer, such as “An Epitaph on Dr. Lambe”:
Accounts of Lambe’s life would also appear in later writings, such as Isaac D'Israeli
’s Curiosities of Literature and Sir Walter Scott’s Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft.
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...
astrologer
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
who served George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
, during the early 17th century. Accused of black magic
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...
and rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, he was stoned
Stoning
Stoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the...
to death by an unruly mob 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...
.
Background
Little is known abut Lambe’s early life, aside from the fact he was a writing tutorTutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
for children in Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
. By the early 17th century, however, Lambe had established a reputation as a “cunning man
Cunning folk
The cunning folk in Britain were professional or semi-professional practitioners of magic active from the Medieval period through to the early twentieth century. As cunning folk, they practised folk magic – also known as "low magic" – although often combined with elements of "high" or ceremonial...
” – that is, someone well-versed in astrology and magic. Calling himself “Doctor Lambe” (though he was not a licensed physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
), he claimed that he could read fortunes, identify diseases, repel witchcraft, and locate missing or stolen items with his crystal ball
Crystal ball
A crystal ball is a crystal or glass ball believed by some people to aid in the performance of clairvoyance. It is sometimes known as a shew stone...
. Rumors also emerged that he was skilled in the dark art of conjuration
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....
. Records indicate that he charged approximately 40 to 50 pound
Pound (currency)
The pound is a unit of currency in some nations. The term originated in England as the value of a pound of silver.The word pound is the English translation of the Latin word libra, which was the unit of account of the Roman Empire...
s for his services, and he was active in the London-area from approximately 1608 to 1628 .
Sometime before 1625, Lambe attracted the attention of George Villiers
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
, a favorite of King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, and he eventually became the Duke’s personal adviser. Public opinion of Lambe was roughly split into two camps: those who thought the “doctor” was a nothing more than a quack
Quackery
Quackery is a derogatory term used to describe the promotion of unproven or fraudulent medical practices. Random House Dictionary describes a "quack" as a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or...
, and those who believed he actually had magical abilities. The latter referred to Lambe as “the Duke’s Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
,” and they suspected he was exerting a supernatural influence over Villiers, who in turn influenced King Charles. At the time, Charles was particularly unpopular for his questionable military campaigns and absolutist policies, and a popular chant went as follows:
-
-
- Who rules the Kingdom? The King.
- Who rules the King? The Duke.
- Who rules the Duke? The Devil!
-
Allegations and execution
Over time, many Londoners came forward with their own unusual anecdotes attesting to Lambe’s "demonic" nature. Some claimed that he had struck political foes with impotence, and others blamed him for a 1626 whirlwindDust devil
A dust devil is a strong, well-formed, and relatively long-lived whirlwind, ranging from small to large . The primary vertical motion is upward...
along the Thames which allegedly unearthed corpses in a churchyard. One of the strangest accounts is recorded in Richard Baxter
Richard Baxter
Richard Baxter was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymn-writer, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he made his reputation by his ministry at Kidderminster, and at around the same time began a long...
’s 1691 Certainty of the World of Spirits. According to this story, Lambe once invited an audience into an inner room of his house, where he demonstrated his powers by conjuring a miniature tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
and three miniature woodsmen, who chopped it down. One man allegedly gathered woodchips from the tree as evidence, but the pieces attracted violent storms to his house, and he soon disposed of them . Skeptics continued to scoff at such accounts, dismissing Lambe as “a notable mountebank
Charlatan
A charlatan is a person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, fame or other advantages via some form of pretense or deception....
and impostor” , but many others were firmly convinced that Lambe was a dangerous magician.
Frightened Londoners made several attempts to punish Lambe for black magic, but due to the influence of Charles and Villiers, their campaigns were mostly ineffective . In 1627, however, Lambe was accused of raping an eleven-year old girl named Joan Seager, and he promptly received the death penalty. With the help of his political connections, he was able to postone the execution for several months. Eventually, though, angry and fearful Londoners became tired of Lambe’s special treatment, and on June 13, 1628, an unruly mob stoned him to death as he exited a theater. No one was punished for the murder, and less than two months later, Villiers was killed, as well.
In 1653, four years after Charles I died, Lambe’s ex-servant Anne Bodenham was also hanged for witchcraft. According to rumors at the time, she could summon demons and transform herself into a dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
, lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
, bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
, wolf, or monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
.
Lambe in literature
Lambe’s life and death inspired a fair amount of literary output. An anonymous biographyBiography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of the astrologer, A Brief Description of the Notorious Life of John Lambe, was published in 1628, and a play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
, Dr. Lamb and the Witches. was released in 1634.. In addition, multiple song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s and poems were produced about the astrologer, such as “An Epitaph on Dr. Lambe”:
-
-
- Here Dr Lambe, the conjurer lyes,
- Against his will untimely dies
- The Divell did show himselfe a Glutton
- In taking this Lambe before he was a mutton
- The Divell in Hell will rost him there
- Whom the prentises basted here.
- In Hell they wondred when he came
- To see among the Goats a Lambe .
-
Accounts of Lambe’s life would also appear in later writings, such as Isaac D'Israeli
Isaac D'Israeli
Isaac D'Israeli was a British writer, scholar and man of letters. He is best known for his essays, his associations with other men of letters, and for being the father of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli....
’s Curiosities of Literature and Sir Walter Scott’s Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft.
External links
- Cunning-Folk Gallery
- Early Stuart Libels - contains additional poems about John Lambe'
- Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, by Sir Walter Scott
- "The Minister—Duke of Buckingham" from Isaac D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature