A new festival in Kilkenny aims to mark the area’s historical connection to witchcraft and the case of Petronella de Meath, who was burned at the stake in 1324 after being accused of witchcraft.
Ms de Meath was an associate of Alice Kyteler, who was a well-connected and wealthy merchant woman in the town at the time.
After three of Ms Kyteler’s husbands died, one of her stepchildren accused her of witchcraft and having poisoned them.
Ms Kyteler and her associates became the targets of an inquisition of around a dozen people accused of witchcraft and heresy.
She managed to flee, but Ms de Meath did not and was burned to death.
More than 50,000 people were killed during witch trials across Europe during the Middle Ages, about 80% of whom were women.
Regina Fitzpatrick, Heritage Officer with Kilkenny County Council, said the aim of the new Toil and Trouble Festival is to shed light on events of the past and de-mythologise the story through facts.
“If you strip back to the primary sources and what we know of the time, we find a story of a powerful woman who was targeted by a powerful man, and what happened thereafter,” she told RTÉ’s News at One.
“How people who didn’t fit in with the values and norms of society were treated and often branded as witches.”
The festival will run until 3 November and sees a number of events taking place around Kilkenny.
There will be a service of atonement at the end of the festival acknowledging that what happened to Petronella de Meath was wrong.
The service will be held in St Canice’s Cathedral in Kilkenny on Sunday.
