Alice Kyteler

Dame Alice Kyteler (; – after 1324) was the first recorded person condemned for witchcraft in Ireland. She is believed to have fled the country to either England or Flanders, but there is no record of her after her escape from persecution. First husband c. 1280–1285: William Outlaw, wealthy merchant and moneylender from Kilkenny. Son: William Outlaw, was mayor of Kilkenny in 1305. Daughter: Rose? Second husband (by 1302): Adam le Blund of Callan, moneylender. Had children from a previous marriage Third husband (by 1309): Richard de Valle, a wealthy landholder of County Tipperary. After de Valle's death c. 1316, Kyteler took proceedings against one of her stepsons, Richard, for the recovery of her widow's dower. This act incited the suspicion and anger of her stepchildren, as they would have received the money had she not intervened. Fourth husband (c. 1316–1324): John le Poer.

In 1302, Kyteler and her second husband were accused of homicide, by her kinsman William le Kiteler (also William de Ketiller ) and his accomplice after they stole £3,000 from Alice and Adam, but Edward I himself helped ensure that matter was resolved in Alice and Adam's favour. She incurred local resentment because of her vast wealth and involvement in moneylending, as well as her stepson Richard de Valle's resentment about her receiving her widow's dower. In 1324, this stepson brought his complaint to Richard de Ledrede, the Bishop of Ossory, who twisted it into an elaborate Satanic conspiracy, due to his training under Pope John XXII in Avignon, thereby creating a remarkable precursor to much later European witch trials.

Seven formal charges were brought against Kyteler. She was accused of: Denying the power of Christ and of the Church. During this period, renunciation of faith was interpreted as a shift in worship to the devil. Sacrificing animals to her supposed demon-lover, Robert or Robin son of Art. Asking demons for advice on witchcraft. Having a sexual relationship with the incubus Robin Artisson. It was alleged that Robin Artisson often took the form of animals or an Ethiopian when engaging with Kyteler. Holding coven meetings and burning candles in the church at night without permission. This group included: Robert of Bristol, Petronilla de Midia, Petronilla's daughter Sarah, John/Ellen'Syssok Galrussyn, Annota Lange, Eva de Brownstown, William Payn de Boly, and Alice Fabri. Making dark magic-based powders and ointments or potions, from multiple alarming ingredients, including but not limited to body parts of unbaptized children, worms, a skull, and chicken innards. It was alleged that said potions were used to corrupt her husbands. Bewitching and killing her husbands to take their money for herself and her son, William Outlaw.

Before sentencing, Kyteler along with Petronilla de Midia's daughter Sarah escaped. There are no records of her life after her escape. Her date of death is unknown, along with the location of a burial site.

Accusers and their motives

The Husbands Kyteler's first three husbands did not raise accusations against her regarding witchcraft or her responsibility for the deaths of her other husbands. Ledrede alleged that her last husband, John le Poer, raised suspicions toward her once he became ill from her poisons, but le Poer may have lived for decades after 1324 and his kinsman Arnold le Poer was one of Alice's primary defenders, opposing Ledrede at every turn.

The phrase 'poisoner' was tied to being a witch because of the connection of herbalism and witchcraft. However, the option for reform was not offered to Kyteler or Petronilla after she confessed, which was highly unusual for the time. Additionally, William Outlaw failed to produce a confession for the heretical crimes but did apologize for his attacks against Ledrede before the trial. Outlaw received leniency in his sentence due to his apology to Ledrede, which suggests a degree of personal pride of the bishop likely was present during the sentencing of the other heretics in this case, as they did not make specific apologies to him. It is possible that Kyteler wanted to leave her husbands but did not meet any of the annulment-worthy complaints, and so resorted to murder instead.

Open displays of sexuality were highly scorned in medieval Ireland. It was considered sinful to take part in or even think of committing such acts, including masturbation. During the investigation of Kyteler's room, a pipe with ointment was found in her nightstand. It has been argued that this item was a dildo. and seek out heretics as soon as he arrived in Kilkenny. When the case of Alice Kyteler was presented before him in 1324, he began his larger project of addressing witchcraft.

Ledrede made initial attempts to have Kyteler arrested, and Kyteler called on the assistance of powerful friends. The bishop wrote to the Chancellor of Ireland, Roger Utlagh (Outlaw), demanding that she be arrested. Using the decretal Ut Inquisitiones (1298), designed to protect the faith, Ledrede demanded that secular powers concede to church wishes, and this point of law became a thorny issue throughout the trial. Kyteler was related by marriage to the Chancellor (he was probably her first husband's brother) and he asked the bishop to drop the case. The chancellor demanded that Kyteler be excommunicated for at least 40 days before the trial, which caused a delay in the proceedings. This allowed Kyteler to flee to Roger Utlagh. Ledrede accused Utlagh of harbouring heretics, but a commission cleared him of any wrongdoing. The bishop then charged Kyteler and her son, William Outlaw, with the crime of heresy. William was a powerful man and was related to many in the ruling classes. He called upon his friend, Sir Arnold le Poer, a Senior Official in Dublin and seneschal of Kilkenny, who had de Ledrede thrown in prison in Kilkenny Castle.

Ledrede, despite his limited political connections compared to his captors, was released from prison after he ordered the diocese be placed on an interdict. He would not allow any religious ceremonies to occur until he was released. It would seem, although her testimony was likely forced and unreliable, that the accusers gained most of their information from this confession. Although the testimony did implicate Kyteler in performing heresy, questions concerning Petronella's credibility came to light, especially when examining the contents of her confession. In Ledrede's retelling of Petronilla's confession, he writes: 'On one of these occasions, by the crossroads outside the city, she had made an offering of three cocks to a certain demon whom she called Robert, son of Art (Robertum filium Artis), from the depths of the underworld. She had poured out the cocks' blood, cut the animals into pieces and mixed the intestines with spiders and other black worms like scorpions, with a herb called milfoil as well as with other herbs and horrible worms. She had boiled this mixture in a pot with the brains and clothes of a boy who had died without baptism and with the head of a robber who had been decapitated ... Petronilla said she had several times at Alice's instigation and once in her presence, consulted demons and received answers. She had consented to a pact whereby she would be the medium between Alice and the said Robert, her friend. In public, she said that with her own eyes, she had seen the aforesaid demon as three shapes (praedictus daemon tertius), in the form of three black men (aethiopum) each carrying an iron rod in the hand. This apparition happened by daylight (de die) before the said Dame Alice, and, while Petronilla herself was watching, the apparition had intercourse with Alice. After this disgraceful act, with her own hand, she [Alice?] wiped clean the disgusting place with sheets (kanevacio) from her own bed.' Despite the clear usage of torture, Ledrede referred to the acts committed against Petronilla as floggings. His assertion that flogging occurred suggests that what she went through was an act of punishment rather than an attempt to gain a confession was potentially an attempt to give credibility to her statements.

Chronology of events This chronology relies on Callan's 2015 book: c. 1280—Alice Kyteler marries her first husband William Outlaw. 1302—Alice and her second husband, Adam le Blund, are accused of homicide. c. 1316—Alice's third husband, Richard de Valle, dies and she successfully sues his son to ensure she receives the widow's share. 1317 April—Pope John XXII appoints Richard de Ledrede as Bishop of Ossory. October— Ledrede arrives in Ossory and holds a synod. 1320 August—John XXII sends a letter to the justiciar of Ireland regarding complaints of harassment and imprisonment made by Ledrede. 1324—Ledrede accuses Alice Kyteler and her associates of witchcraft and heresy. March/April—Arnold le Poer imprisons Ledrede for 17 days. Dublin parliament; the magnates, including Arnold le Poer and Maurice FitzThomas, swear to discipline their own people and followers (lineages). Arrest of heretics by Ledrede. November—Petronilla of Meath burnt for heresy and witchcraft. William Outlaw's penance payment is guaranteed by the magnates. 1325 January—Alexander Bicknor deserts to the queen's party while on an embassy to France. 1326—The feud between the le Poers and Maurice FitzThomas worsens. Maurice FitzThomas and John le Poer, baron of Donoil, are allowed four months to discipline their followers; Arnold le Poer goes to England. 1327 January—Deposition of Edward II by Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer. 1327/8—Ledrede appeals to Isabella and is given permission to come to court but fails to use it, later claiming that Bicknor and Outlaw had closed the ports against him. Arnold is confirmed as seneschal of Kilkenny and given custody of Kilkenny Castle. The "Munster war" breaks out between the le Poers and Maurice. A jury later claims Ledrede attended a meeting to coordinate Maurice's "rebellion". Ledrede is alleged to have instigated an attack on the le Poer castle of Moytobir. 1328—Adam Duff O'Toole burnt for heresy Justiciar orders the magnates to stop fighting Arnold returns. Ledrede charges him with heresy and has him imprisoned in Dublin Castle. Ledrede sends a petition to court complaining of his treatment by Arnold. The justiciar, Thomas FitzJohn, sends the king an indictment of Ledrede by the people of Ossory, seizes his temporalities and summons him to Dublin. 1329 January—Roger Outlaw purges himself at the Dublin parliament of Ledrede's heresy accusations. March—Arnold dies in prison. Archbishop Bicknor summons Ledrede to Dublin to answer charges of aiding and abetting heretics. June—Ledrede flees Ireland and England, ignoring a royal summons to appear before the king. Writs are issued for his arrest. Edward III warns John XXII against Ledrede. Bicknor excommunicates Ledrede. 1330 October—Edward III seizes control from his mother and Mortimer. He sends further letters warning the Pope against Ledrede. 1331 May—At the request of the papacy, Edward III restores Ledrede's temporalities. 1332—The cathedral roof paid for by William Outlaw collapses during a storm. A jury accuses Ledrede of having conspired to support Maurice in his "rebellion" of 1327. The dean and chapter claim Ledrede purged himself of rebellion at the Kilkenny parliament of 1328. 1333—Ledrede returns to England; the Pope urges Edward III to assist him and other Irish prelates against heretics. John XXII writes to the Archbishop of Cashel ordering him to promulgate in his province a processus pontificum against heretics. 1335 November—Pope Benedict XII writes to Edward III on behalf of Ledrede. 1339 June—Edward III orders the writs against Ledrede to be revoked. September—Edward III orders the escheator of Kilkenny to obey the writ issued in July restoring Ledrede's temporalities. Roger Outlaw dies while holding office as deputy judicier; Bicknor succeeds him. 1341 February—Ledrede sends a petition to the king claiming that Bicknor had planned to murder him in 1329. 1343—Bicknor is cited by the papacy for impeding Ledrede in his prosecution of heretics. Ossory is exempted from the jurisdiction of Dublin. The papacy orders an inquiry into Bicknor's protection of heretics. 1347 April—Ledrede receives a royal pardon and secures his temporalities back from the king; he returns to his diocese. 1349 July—Death of Alexander Bicknor. Restoration of Ossory to the jurisdiction of Dublin. 1351—Ledrede refuses a royal tax on the clergy, the 1347 pardon is revoked and the temporalities resumed. 1355—Ledrede is granted a royal pardon and his temporalities are restored. He is accused of instigating a violent attack on a priory. 1356/7—Edward III writes to Pope Innocent VI asking for Ledrede's removal, accusing him of senility, malice, and persecuting his parishioners. c1360—Ledrede dies.

Significance In the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, heresy was considered as evidence of the struggle with the devil, with the "dangers" of witchcraft voiced by the papacy in Avignon.

Pope John XXII listed witchcraft as heresy in his bull Super illius specula. Kyteler's was one of the first European witchcraft trials and followed closely on the election of this pope (1316–1334). This case was also the first to treat the accused parties as an organized group or coven as opposed to individuals.

Kyteler's trial is mentioned in papal chaplain Martin of Troppau's Chronicles of Popes and Emperors. The trial is also mentioned in Umberto Eco's 1980 novel The Name of the Rose in a conversation between William of Baskerville and Abo the abbot.

Novels which are primarily about Kyteler's life include The Burning Time (by Robin Morgan, Melville House, 2006), Her Kind (by Niamh Boyce, Penguin Ireland, 2023), and Bright I Burn (by Molly Aitken, Canongate Books, 2024). The Stone, published by Claire Nolan in 2008, was used as the basis for a musical of the same title that premiered in Kilkenny in 2011.

The feminist art piece by Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, features a place setting for Petronella de Meath. The plate features the image of a book, a candle, a bell, and a cauldron. All of these items are encapsulated by fire.