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Murder Pamphlets Told Dark True Crime Stories of the Elizabethan Era
True crime is anything but a new interest. For hundreds of years, people have sought information about the darkest parts of our reality. In the 1500s and 1600s, stories of crime were told through broadside ballads, murder pamphlets, and other forms of street literature.
Growing literacy and increased access to print were catalysts for murder pamphlets. These pamphlets were very short booklets that detailed true murders in England. Murder pamphlets written throughout the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras were occasionally straightforward and journalistic while others were sensational.
Most of the crimes depicted in these pamphlets related to domestic homicides, and many were linked to adultery, sex, and witchcraft to underline the salacious nature of the stories.They were even complete with woodcut illustrations that would portray the crimes, torture, and witchcraft.
Generally, the pamphlets were also religious in nature. The writer, typically anonymous, would gloss over the details of the trial and discuss the confidence he had in the judicial system. The person on trial was surely guilty of heinous crimes in reality and in court. The criminal would undergo a religious conversion and then confess, often publicly, before execution. Men were often hanged, but a woman who committed…
