Elizabeth Dobson was presented in 1600 as "a slaunderer who saide to Thomas Gibson that he was a Mainesworne ladd /"
To call anyone "mansworn" was evidently a very serious offence, for in 1527 the Newcastle-on-Tyne corporation of weavers decreed that any member of the corporation who should call his brother "mansworn" should incur a forfeit of 6s. 8d. "without forgiveness." To manswear comes from the Anglo-Saxon mánswerian meaning to swear falsely or to perjure oneself. Among the men of note of this period mention must be made of Ralph Dodmer son of Henry Dodmer of Pickering who was a mercer and Lord Mayor of London in 1521.[1]
[1] Thomas Fuller's "Worthies."
The visitation book shows that it was no uncommon thing to accuse a woman of being a scold in these times and the following written in 1602[1] throws a lurid light on the methods for removing the effects of a witch's malice.
[1] The original is stuck in Calvert's MS. Book of Folklore.
"To cure an ill caste by any Witch putt upon any childe be yt ye evil eye, an overglent, spreeking, an ill birth touche or of a spittle boult but do as here given & alle shalle be overcome letting no evil rest upon ym Take a childe so ill held & strike yt seven times on ye face & like upon ye navel with ye heart of a blacke cat then roast ye heart & give of yt to eat seven nights at bed meale & yt shalle be well butt ye cat must be seven years olde & ye seventh dropped at birth otherwise yt shalle faile to overcome any Witch spell soever ill worked ye blood from such an heart laid to any witches dorepost or thrown over nighte upon her dorestep will cause a sore & great paine in her belly."
In the period which includes the momentous defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) it is fitting to describe the beacons of Pickering and the neighbourhood that must have helped to spread the news to the inhabitants of Yorkshire of the coming of that "Invincible" fleet. A contemporary manuscript book dated 1580 to 1590, and discovered by Mr J.G. Constable, tells us how Pickering beacon, which was presumably situated on Beacon Hill opposite the castle, gave light to the neighbouring heights.
[Sidenote: "Pickering Lythe 7 Beacons]
Pickering beacon giveth light to Setrington beacon, in the East Riding, and to Ampleforth beacon, in Rydall. Seamer two beacons do give light to Pickering, Susfeld, in Whitby Strand, and Setterington beacon. Waipnesse beacon, within the liberties of Scarborough, do give light to Muston Beacon, in the East Riding, and to the west of the beacons before named
"Charnell, three beacons, within the town of Scarborough adjoining to the castle, do give light to Waipnesse and Muston beacon."