A major trigger for the introduction of the 1563 Act was the Waldegrave Conspiracy two years earlier, a supposed plot to kill Queen Elizabeth I by the use of sorcery and reintroduce Catholicism to England.[5] Officially known as the Act agaynst Conjuracons Inchantments and Witchecraftes, it was passed by Queen Elizabeth I’s second Parliament.[6] It was in some respects more merciful towards those found guilty of witchcraft than its predecessor, demanding the death penalty only if harm had been caused – maleficium; lesser offences were punishable by a term of imprisonment. The Act provided that anyone who should “use, practise, or exercise any Witchcraft, Enchantment, Charm, or Sorcery, whereby any person shall happen to be killed or destroyed”, was guilty of a felony without benefit of clergy, and was to be put to death.[7]
Elizabeth Lowys was the first person to be convicted under this Act, on 21 July 1564, but there is no firm evidence that she was actually executed.[8] Agnes Waterhouse, or Mother Waterhouse, an elderly woman from Hatfield Peverel in Essex, is the first person known to have been convicted and executed under the 1563 Act, in July 1566.[9][10]
Scottish Witchcraft Act 1563