Lancashire: a Land of Witches in Shakespeare’s Time

This article focuses on the connection between Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the famous English witch trial which took place in Lancashire in 1612. The judicial proceeding was recorded by a clerk of the court, who went by the name of Thomas Potts, whose reportage of the events was inconsistent and unstable, as I attempt to point out. In so doing, I underline the reasons – political, religious and opportunistic – that possibly motivated his behaviour, highly criticisable by modern standards.