Abbot Sadyngton
On December 3, 1440, William Alnwick, Bishop of Lincoln arrived at Leicester’s Augustine Abbey of St Mary de Pratis, England to investigate charges of witchcraft laid against its Abbot, William Sadyngton by one of the abbey’s Canons. The indictment against the abbot read as follows:
“whether as one wavering in faith or straying from the faith…..did practice in his own person, contrary to such faith and fixed judgment, divinations or incantations after this manner.”
Apparently, Abbot Sadyngton had discovered a sum of money missing from the Abbey. He had called upon the culprit to confess, but when no one did, he turned to sorcery to supply the answer. His accuser, Thomas Ashby, said on September 21, 1440, the Abbot took a young boy called Maurice to one of the abbey’s properties, Ingarsby Grange. There, he had anointed his thumbnail with oil, uttered strange evocations and made Maurice scry his nail for the culprit.
The culprit, according to Maurice just happened to be Thomas Ashby-, which probably explains why he issued his own, more severe counter-accusation. The Bishop’s investigations revealed that Sadyngton’s brethren did not love him much. The Abbot, who had been in post since 1420 was said to have ‘secular’ rather than spiritual tastes. He had already been tried for “incontinence” with a local lady called Euphemia Bor and also dealt in horses and wool as he wanted to ‘get rich quick.’ Worse still, Sadyngton was said to be a devotee of the magic arts, receiving instruction from an alchemist called Robert who lived nearby.
Fortunately for Sadyngton, pre-reformation England held a more relaxed view towards magic. Sadyngton was also able to counter the charge by claiming that his motives justified his actions. The Augustine order allowed that ” divination is not anything to do with evil, but a human concern with the doubtful and a means of indicating divine will. ” (De Divinationibus est Incantationibus, c.1100 AD), which meant Sadyngton had done nothing unlawful.
So, with so many extenuating and mitigating circumstances, Bishop Alnwick did not pursue the matter, merely ordering Abbot Sadyngton to ‘purge’ himself. Whether the abbot mended his ways is another matter. But he did not live long enough to cause any further trouble for his self or the Abbey as he died just two years later.