9. Alice Kyteler
We are continuing our list of most famous witches in history with Dame Alice Kyteler, who was a wealthy Irish woman who is also infamously known as the Witch of Kilkenny. Up until her case in 1324, no one had yet been condemned of witchcraft in Ireland. But the townspeople grew very weary of the fact that all of the Dame Alice’s husbands had a tendency to die after becoming very ill and leaving behind a fortune for their widow. With the passing of each husband came the growth of her own wealth, but after the death of her fourth husband, Sir John de Poer, Alice began being convicted of witchcraft. Upon the realization that Sir John had changed his will and made Alice [and her son, William] his beneficiary just before his death, his remaining family members were appalled and abruptly cast the blame in Alice’s direction, claiming that she had “bewitched” de Poer into involuntarily signing his riches over to her. Rumors of Alice being the leader of a coven of witches and having sexual intercourse with demons began to spread as knights and nobleman searched for her. But she had fled to England, where she was not found until her return a year later to seek justice for her unlawful denouncement. To her surprise, the Bishop demanded that she be arrested, and she again fled to England where she disappeared from history completely. The memory of Alice Kyteler lives on in myths and legends, and her story has even made it into present times in books and movies.
