HistoryTube
  • Blog
  • YouTube
    • Ancient America
    • Ancient China
    • Ancient Egypt
    • Ancient Rome
    • Holocaust
    • Tudors
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • History Meets English
    • History Meets Geography
    • History Meets Reality TV
    • History Meets Science
    • Royals
    • Time Team
    • YouTube Channels
    • Bettany Hughes
    • Tony Robinson
    • Lucy Worsley
  • About Me
    • Portfolio
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me

History Docs

Need a Documentary for a Class?  Check out my reviews!

Witch Hunt: A Century of Murder - Episode 1

10/4/2021

0 Comments

 
To continue with the Halloween/Witches theme for October, I will be sharing Witch Hunt: A Century of Murder.  This program is presented by Suzannah Lipscomb narrates program.  There are scenes of violence and torture in this documentary.  This documentary should be shown to older students.

Scotland is where the witch-hunting began.  Queen Anne was coming to Scotland.  She had just married King James and was sailing from Denmark to make her home in Scotland.  However, the journey proved treacherous.  One ship sunk and the ship Queen Anne was sailing on nearly capsized.  She returned to Denmark.  King James decided to go to Denmark to bring her back.  Not only did he bring a bride back but he brought back something else.

At the time the Danes were influenced to hunt out witches.  The church seemed to back this hunting wish idea.  Witches were the devil’s handmaidens and bent on doing destruction.  While in Denmark, King James came face to face with that reality.  While he was in the Danish Court, two witches were arrested and put on trial.  They confessed to causing the sea storm to kill the Scottish King and the new Scottish Queen.  This shocked him however he carried on, bringing his new wife back to Scotland.  He would have continued to carry on if it was not for David Seaton.

David Seaton was the deputy bailiff in a Scottish town.  He caught his servant girl slipping out of his house late at night.  Gilles Duncan was the young servant girl.  She had suddenly acquired healing powers and had been sneaking out at night.  He thought she had made a pact with the devil and was determined to prove it.  She promised she was not a witch.  However, Seaton tormented her into confessing.  Her fingers were crushed.  She refused to confess to being a witch even as her fingers were crushed.  Seaton pressed further, tying ropes around her head to wrench it.  She still did not confess to something she did not do.

She was not broken and Seaton hardened his torture.  It was only when he discovered a mark on her neck did Gilles confessed.  What about this mark that made her finally confess to witchcraft?  Was it shame?  No matter what, her confession was the first in Scottish history.  She was brought to prison and kept there.  She gave up eight names of wishes.  One hundred supposed witches were arrested and tortured.  Additionally, she confessed that her coven was in league with the Danish witches who wanted to kill King James.  This was the case that made King James realize that there were witches in his kingdom and thus kicking off witch-hunting in Scotland.  He became involved in the case.

Agnes Sampson was one of the “witches” arrested.  She was a midwife.  She was tortured.  She confessed to witchcraft.  She was brought to King James to be interrogated.  She repeated the confession to King James.  King James seemed skeptical at first.  King James was a widely read king and was inspired by rationality and rational examination.  He denounced her as a liar.  However, she whispered something to King James that made him change his mind.  It was enough to convince him to believe that she was a witch.  Why did Agnes say this statement to the king?  Did she want to scare him?  Or was did she want to end her suffering?

King James ordered that her torture be ended as a result of this confession.  Agnes Sampson was executed as a witch.  Several other witches were executed as well.  These were people scared out of their wits, who wanted to end their torture.  They were garroted and burned to death.  These executions were only the beginning…

Continue to watch Witch Hunt: A Century of Murder to learn more about witch-hunting.  Learn how witch-hunting had the King’s stamp of approval.  Learn how witch-hunting ended up in England as well.

You can access the YouTube Video here.
0 Comments

Pendle Witch Trials

10/1/2021

0 Comments

 
It is now October and Halloween happens at the end of the month.  So why not hit up YouTube for historical documentaries for your classroom?  Since it is Halloween, witches seem to go with the holiday.  I am going to share with the learning world documentaries on the various Witch trials that happened in history.  The first trial I am going to introduce you to is the Pendle Witch Trial.  This is a trial where a child testified against her family and condemned them to death.

It is 1612 and a woman is accused of killing two men by witchcraft.  Her nine-year-old daughter is brought into the courtroom and what the child says condemns her mother to death.  Her name was Jennet Device.
The Pendle Witch Trial occurred during the reign of King James I.  He had a reputation for hunting witches.  He was king in a new country and brought with him new customs and suspensions.  He believed that witches tried to kill him.  He took part in witch trials.  He wrote a book called Demonology, one of the earliest heads of states to do it.  The Pendle area was this tucked-away place.

Jennet’s family survived by begging and doing odd jobs.  Her grandmother was known as a “cunning woman,” a woman who could heal people.  They had a great deal of power in the community.  Cunning women do good things, while witches make you sick and kill you. Cunning women had to walk a fine line in the community, because if you angered the wrong person you could be accused of being a witch.  Or a cunning woman could muscle in on your territory and could get rid of a rival.

England was now a fully Protestant nation.  They were suspicious of those who practiced the old ways.  Catholicism looked similar to witchcraft.  Tensions were high in the Royal Court and the country.  Then you have a king who wrote a book on how to hunt witches.  It was only a matter of time before the explosion went off.

Alice Device, Jennet’s sister ran into a peddler for some pins.  However, the peddler refused to give her the pins.  So, Alice cursed him.  The old man collapsed, terrifying the girl.  She immediately confessed to putting a curse on him.  It terrified her to no end and she had no doubt she killed him.  This guilt would lead her to confess and that would lead to the downfall of the family.  The peddler’s son reported what happened to the local magistrate.  Alice was brought in for questioning and she confessed.

This leads to Alice accusing her neighbor Chattox of making clay figures.  This touched off a witch hunt in the Pendle area.  Alice’s grandmother and her neighbors were arrested, accused of witchcraft.  They were put into the tower at Lancaster Castle.  The rest of the family got together, was this a meeting of witches, or was it a family meeting, or was it a party.  The local sheriff got wind of the meeting and burst into the meeting.  The Device family was arrested; however, they pointed the finger at additional people.  These additional people were arrested, some of them came from landowning, respectable families.

Jennet felt isolated from her family.  She was the youngest of the family and she was illegitimate.  Perhaps this was the reason why she wanted to testify against her family.  Perhaps she enjoyed the attention she got from being center stage.  Whatever reason, it is clear that her testimony would change legal history.
To continue to learn more about the Pendle witches watch the rest of this documentary.

The narrator of this documentary is fantastic!  He tells the story of the Pendle Witches very well.  I could listen to him read me a story at bedtime.  This would be an excellent documentary to show in class.

You can access the YouTube video here.
0 Comments
Forward>>

    Author

    I'm a librarian with an active imagination who likes to create.  Genealogist and Researcher.

    Like what you see?  Don't forget to smash the bookmark button!

    Blogs posted five days a week for the school year September-May and for summer blogs posted three days a week June-August!

    If you can, try to purchase these documentaries to support these historians!  If you can't purchase, subscribe to their channels or podcasts!

    Worksheets

    My Teachers Pay Teachers Store!  Worksheets available as a Word Document.

    Lulu Store

    I am also on Lulu!  If you're interested in genealogy I have several books available!

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020

    Categories

    All
    1065
    1066
    1900's Island
    Abandoned
    Abraham Lincoln
    Africa
    Alexandria
    Alex Langladas
    Alfred The Great
    Amazon River
    America
    Ancient Egypt
    Ancient Rome
    Ancient World
    Ancient Worlds
    Andes Mountains
    Angkor Wat
    Anne Boleyn
    Athens
    Australia
    Austria
    Bath
    Battleships
    Beatrix Potter
    Bernadette Banner
    Bettany Hughes
    Biographics
    Biographies
    Bismarck
    Britain
    Caitlin Doughty
    Caligula
    Cambodia
    Castles
    Central America
    Charlemagne
    China
    Christmas
    Cleopatra
    Cornwall
    Dam Busters
    Dame Patricia Routledge
    Dan Snow
    Denmark Strait
    Edwardian Farm
    Edwardian Home
    Edward The Confessor
    Egypt
    England
    Ethiopia
    Experimental History
    Exploration
    Farm
    Fashion History
    First Nations
    Flintstones
    France
    Franz Joseph
    French Revolution
    Full Steam Ahead
    Genealogy
    Genetics
    Geographics
    Geography
    Georgian Period
    Germans
    Germany
    Greece
    Greeks
    Gus Casely Hayford
    Gus Casely-Hayford
    Hastings
    Helen Castor
    Helen Of Troy
    Henry VIII
    Hidden Killers
    Highway
    History
    Holocaust
    Home
    Hood
    Ice Cream
    Immigration
    Irish Palace
    Jago Cooper
    Jane Austen
    Japan
    Joann Fletcher
    John Gater
    Judith Flanders
    Kathleen Martinez
    Kew Gardens
    King George III
    Knights Templars
    Korea
    Lady Jane Grey
    Leyte Gulf
    Lincoln Highway
    Lithuania
    Lost Kingdoms
    Lost Legions
    Lucy Worsley
    Lusitania
    Mammoths
    Marco Polo
    Marie Antoinette
    Mary Beard
    Mary Boleyn
    Maryland
    Medieval Period
    Meet The Romans
    Mick Aston
    Middle Ages
    Minoans
    Monarchy
    Musashi
    Napoleon
    Neil Oliver
    New Zealand
    Nicholas II
    Paul Mearns
    Pearl Harbor
    People Of The Clouds
    Peter Ginn
    Phil Harding
    Pompeii
    Portsmouth
    Prince Philip
    Prince Regent
    Prussia
    Pyramids
    Queen Elizabeth II
    Queen Luise
    Queens
    Railroads
    Reality TV
    Ronald Hutton
    Royal Fibs
    Royal Myths
    Royal Secrets
    Royalty
    Royal Women
    Russia
    Russian Revolution
    Ruth Goodman
    Salem
    Serbia
    Simon
    South America
    Spain
    Sparta
    SS Atlantic
    STEAM
    STEM
    Stewart Ainsworth
    Stonehenge
    Stuart Peachy
    Suzannah Lipscomb
    Tales From The Green Valley
    The Family
    The Vikings
    Time Team
    Time Travels
    Time Walks
    Tirpitz
    Titanic
    Tom Pinford
    Tony Robinson
    Top 10
    Tracy Borman
    Trains
    Trojan War
    Tudor
    Tudor Monastery Farm
    Tudors
    Turn Back Time
    United-states
    USS Indianapolis
    Varus
    Victorian-bakers
    Victorian-bakers
    Victorian-farm
    Victorian-farm
    Victorian-home
    Victorian-pharmacy
    Vikings
    Warsaw Ghetto
    Wartime Farm
    White Palace
    White Star Line
    Who Do You Think You Are?
    Wilhelm Gustloff
    William The Conqueror
    Winston Churchill
    Witches
    Witch Hunting
    World War I
    World War II
    YouTube

    Privacy Policy

    HistoryDocTube will not collect any personal information and will not sell any personal information to a third party.  We will not request any personal information. 

    ​The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. 

    The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such.  I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms.

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Blog
  • YouTube
    • Ancient America
    • Ancient China
    • Ancient Egypt
    • Ancient Rome
    • Holocaust
    • Tudors
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • History Meets English
    • History Meets Geography
    • History Meets Reality TV
    • History Meets Science
    • Royals
    • Time Team
    • YouTube Channels
    • Bettany Hughes
    • Tony Robinson
    • Lucy Worsley
  • About Me
    • Portfolio
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me