Witches, Abraham Fleming and Macbeth

Witches, Abraham Fleming and Macbeth in Bottesford. Bob Sparham brings a topical subject to the library on Halloween, with a spotlight on Abraham Fleming who is commemorated in St Mary's Bottesford with a simple brass plaque.

Fleming was a clergyman who has been identified as the author of The Discoverie of Witchcraft, the first English book about witchcraft, and cited as one of the sources for Shakespeare's Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Abraham Fleming was also the editor of Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, that provided the historical framework and narrative inspiration for Macbeth.

The remarkable and imposing 'Witchcraft Tomb' found in the chancel of St Mary's Bottesford will also be discussed in his talk, and the major witchcraft cases that took place in Bottesford and the Vale of Belvoir in 1618.

Featuring - Bob Sparham