William Sommers, son-in-law of Robert Cowper, bought a hat with a copper band with an old lady who demanded to have it and threatened him, when he returned home he fell sick and went into fits, which his master suspected as being faked and whipped him, which he didn’t not feel, he was made an apprentice of another master, he was sometimes cast into the fire and covered in flames but did not burn, evil spirits talked through him, he was eventually dispossessed
Tag: WilliamSommers
longer, a response to the publication of John Deacon and John Walker, included along with other supplementary documents concerning Sommers/Darrell
too long to summarize, but a response to the publications of John Dorrell, included here because of number of pamphlets concerning him and William Sommers
over 60 pages, included here b/c importance of the trial
60+, included here because trial seems to be of interest, over 150 pages, a discourse attempting to prove that Minister Dorrell taught Sommers to counterfeit his possession, too long to summarize but an outline of the arguments is broken down by book at the end of the document
written by the minister himself but apparently published without his knowledge, descriptions of his fits and a black dog that appeared, argues that the swellings seen across his body could not be counterfeited, criticizes Sommers for being a liar, claims that the confession of Alice Goodridge also confirms that the Thomas Darling was not lying either, contains a list of evidence supporting his case
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The triall of Maist. Dorrell
seemingly a defense of Master Dorrell, who was accused of teaching multiple people to counterfeit possession, inquiries were made into the possessions of several young girls, one of which gained supernatural strength and knowledge, contains multiple allegations and then reasons why they aren’t true, discusses the possession of William Sommers, discusses Katherine Wright and Martha Brossier, also contains a report of Oliffe Barthram of Stradbrook in the County of Suffolke bewitching Ioane Iorden, for which she was arraigned and executed in 1599
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A breife narration of the possession
William Sommers was apparently possessed by a witch of Worcestershire, Minister Iohn Dorrell was called to assist with William Sommers, as he was possessed and the minister was known to be responsible for several dispossessions, after being disposed Sommers accused a witch, but was himself accused and committed to prison, in which the devil appeared to him, saying that if he didn’t let him reenter and didn’t say that his possession was counterfeit that he would be hanged, when confessing to counterfeiting he broke out into fits, they all believed that he was possessed, then they believed he was counterfeiting and arrested Dorrell, goes on to discuss dispossession/possession theoretically and to provide arguments for his supposed possession