Margaret Inequane
Manx woman who was executed for witchcraft
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Margaret Inequane (also recorded as Ine Quane, Ine Quayne, or Ine Quain;[1][2] d. 1617) was a Manx woman who was executed for witchcraft, alongside her son.[3][4] They are the only two people confirmed to have been executed as witches on the Isle of Man.[3]
Biography
Inequane lived in Castletown, Isle of Man with her son, John Cubon.[2] Their ages and further biographical details are missing from the historical record.[5]
At the time of Inequane's trial, suspected witches in the Isle of Man were referred to a lay jury convened by a local parish.[6] Known as a chapter quest, these juries were empowered to investigate "all offences committed against... spiritual laws."[6] If a chapter quest believed an allegation had merit, the Anglican Bishop of Sodor and Man could send the case to the secular courts, which had the power to pass death sentences.[7]
Both Inequane and Cubon were tried for witchcraft, though no extant records survive that explain why the pair were accused to begin with.[7][8][5] Local lore provides that Inequane was discovered in the act of conducting a ritual to improve the fertility of her crops.[9] It is likely that Cubon was executed solely for being Inequane's child, as children were sometimes killed alongside their parents for possessing "witch blood".[10] The secular court sentenced Inequane to be "brought by the Coroner of Glenfaba to the place of execution, there to be burned till life depart from her body."[5] Her son was sentenced to the same fate.[5]
Inequane and Cubon were burnt at the stake by a market cross, the site of which today hosts the Smelt Monument.[4][8] Their deaths unsettled the island's public, as well as its secular and spiritual authorities.[7][11] Nearly all subsequent Manx witchcraft cases were handled by the ecclesiastical courts, which could only enforce a term of imprisonment as a maximum sentence.[2][7][11]
Legacy
The Smelt Monument bears a memorial plaque for Inequane and her son.[1]
Their case was portrayed in the 2013 film Solace in Wicca, which also bears the distinction of being the first short film ever produced in Manx Gaelic.[12][13]