Ursula Kemp

Ursula Kemp or Ursley Kempe alias Grey (ca. 1525 – 1582) was an English cunning woman and midwife who in 1582 was tried for witchcraft and hanged. Kemp was accused of (and apparently confessed to) using familiars to kill and bring sickness to her neighbour.

Biography Kemp was born in St Osyth, Essex. She was a cunning woman who was frequently called upon by her neighbours to heal ailments and sicknesses. Kemp as a cunning person meant that she was trusted in her community to heal and protect by use of folk medicine. She was not seen as a threat initially. She was later blamed for intentionally causing illness and death, eventually being tried for witchcraft in Chelmsford in February 1582. Kemp is referenced in discussions about historical context of folk magic and witchcraft practices due to accusations of witchcraft being popular at the time. She was part of the lower class and made a living by midwifery, harlotry, and white witchcraft. She was tricked/ fooled into giving up names of other women who were participating in witchcraft and having familiars in St Osyth. At her trial, several of her neighbours testified against her, making statements to Justice Brian Darcy. She was one of 14 women who would have indictments set against her and one of two women who were hanged (the other being Elizabeth Bennett). Kemp's story reflects the transition from folk practices to more formal accusations of witchcraft, and is an example of what earlier accusations look like compared to the accusations during the modern period.

Neighbour and former friend Grace Thurlow testified that when her son Davy was sick, she asked for Kemp's help. Davy temporarily recovered from his illness and Thurlow believed that Kemp had cured him. When Thurlow became lame, she again asked for Kemp's help. Thurlow's lameness that she contracted was crippling arthritis. Kemp's eight-year-old son Thomas testified that his mother kept four spirits, or familiars. He described them as a grey cat called Tyffin, a white lamb called Tyttey, a black toad called Pygine and a black cat called Jacke. He said that he had seen his mother give her familiars beer and cake, and let them suck blood from her body.

Confession

Justice Brian Darcy said that Kemp made a full confession to him in private. sage and St John's wort. Many of the accused freely confessed to witchcraft despite knowing they faced death as a result.

Death Ursula Kemp was hanged alongside Elizabeth Bennett in Chelmsford in 1582. A more recent forensic study suggests that the bones are of Roman-era provenance.

Additionally, Kemp's body was noted to have been dipped in pitch and left on the gallows for four weeks. In 1921, Charles Brooker two skeletons mentioned above, one believed to be Kemp's, buried on a north–south axis with iron rivets through their joints, suggesting they were witches. The remains, purchased in 1963 by Cecil Williamson for the Museum of Witchcraft, were displayed in a purple silk-lined coffin. Later, in 1999, they were sold to Robert Lenkiewicz, who used them to enhance the atmosphere of his library. Following Lenkiewicz's death, the remains returned to the Museum of Witchcraft, though controversy persists about whether they truly belonged to Kemp or another executed woman from that era.