[Northkeep] Talana's vacation

[Jennifer Carlson]

Since someone asked for it:
 
About every other year Diarmaid and I make a trip to Williamburg, Virginia, to visit friends, putter around historical sites, attend Jamestowne’s “Military Through the Ages” event, and go antiquing.  Many of you have heard me rhapsodize about Colonial Williamsburg, so I will skip telling again how wonderful it is and why you should visit (but really, you should visit sometime).  
 
Anyway, this time, in addition to visiting the shops and craftsmen and touring the colonial governor’s palace (where I had a very nice talk with the cook in the 18th century kitchen), we took in a special program to sit in on a witchcraft trial.  It took place at night in the colonial capitol building, by candlelight, with costumed actors, and members of the audience sitting as magistrates assisting the Royal Governor in trying the case.  It was based on an actual trial in 1706, in which a Grace Sherwood was accused of bewitching a neighbor’s crops and livestock, and of causing another neighbor to miscarry a pregnancy.  The laws she was accused under were written by James I of England, who was convinced of the reality and efficacy of witchcraft, and had also written a text on how to identify witches.  Nonsense, of course, but what can you expect of a paranoid Scot?  
 
The governor, a learned and logical man and a product of the early Enlightenment, was obviously pained to have to enforce superstitious laws and methods of inquiry that the world in general now saw as out of date.  The accused had been questioned, examined, and tossed in a pond to see if she would float, and had not only done so, but witness had claimed she had skimmed across the surface "like a bubble."  She had refused to hire legal representation, and insisted on representing herself; but as the accused she was restricted in defending herself.  She picked fights with all of the witnesses – her accusers, and could give no evidence of innocence.  The governor had to accept the testimony of a midwife who had been one of a jury of twelve respectable women who examined Grace Sherwood and swore in writing that they had found a mark of the devil on her, but then she went into hysterics and accused Grace of diabolically assaulting her by riding her around the countryside one night, and the Governor refused to accept this “spectral evidence”, which was acceptable in ecclesiastical courts and Massachusetts, but would not be tolerated in this court. 
 
She was unable to call any witnesses to defend her.  As the accused, Grace was not allowed to give testimony in her own defense, but the Governor got around that by asking her to engage him in a conversation and they discussed back and forth the events.  It was a dodge to let everyone hear her side, but it was not, legally, testimony.  Unfortunately, as the laws of  England set things out, the prosecution had sufficiently satisfied that witchcraft had been committed.  The Governor noted that, according to the law, witches were not supposed to be able to speak the Lord’s Prayer without stammering or swooning, and asked Grace to indulge him.  The woman, completely stressed out by the proceedings, made it halfway through, and passed out cold on “give us this day...”
 
I thought "Well, crap!"
.
The vote for conviction was nearly unanimous.
 
 
As for the feudal manor, on the trip home we stopped to visit Monticello, another place you need to see before you die.  I won’t try to describe it because it's so beautiful that, not being a bard, I’ll just sound saccharine.  You’ll have to experience it for yourself.  
 
Some historians say that the age of feudalism ended at Appomattox, and when you see how Monticello is laid out, you get an understanding of that assertion.  The plantation is essentially a manor and village, and in its heyday was occupied by a lord, his lady and children, and household retainers (overseerers, tutors, etc).  There were serfs who were tied to the estate and could not leave it (slaves), and villeins (whites and freed blacks) who were craftsmen and laborers.  The buildings were designed and laid out in such a way as to emphasize the position of those who inhabited or labored in them.  The plantation was self-sustaining, raising both crops and livestock, for use by the plantation as well as for sale.
 
 
 
Since himself says I need to get my own flickr account, I guess I’ll have to, and when it’s up I’ll post my pictures.  In the meantime, you can see a picture of our plunder at:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/imarcc/5563013164/   We bought books, jewelry, foodstuffs, t-shirts from Colonial Williamsbug, and a batch of hand-blown glassware from the glassblowers at Jamestowne.  I purchased several yards of black linen, silk threads, a sewing bird, pewter buttons, and bunches of other stuff at the MTA event, and a packet of long pepper(!!!) from a tea shop in Fredericksburg.  Diarmaid scored a mass of amberotypes, tintypes, daugerrotypes, brothel tokens, and slave tags.  Oh, and a Norman helmet – but that was a gift.
 
So, I ask again – what all happened to everyone at Gulf Wars?
 
 
Talana