Giles Corey
Giles Corey (also spelled Cory or Coree ; * approx. 1612 ; † September 19, 1692 , Salem , Massachusetts ) was a farmer who fell victim to the Salem witch trials .
Life
The Puritan lived on his farm with his wife Martha. At the age of 80 he was accused of witchcraft . He had previously defended his wife, who had been accused of being a witch by several young women. On April 18, 1692, Corey was questioned by the coroner and then jailed for five months. In the main trial, nearly a dozen witnesses supported the prosecutors' statements.
Realizing that he would be sentenced to death , he decided not to go to trial. He supposedly wanted to prevent his land from falling to the state. Under the English common law ( customary law ), which was also in the early colonial North America, there was only a ruling if the defendant pleaded ( "guilty" or "not guilty"). If the accused pleaded guilty or was found guilty, convicted and executed by jury after taking evidence, his land fell to the state. Corey had recently bequeathed his farm to his sons-in-law. Historians question this version, however. Some suspect Corey didn't testify because he was stubborn and argumentative. In order to force him to make a plea, there was a permissible torture method of pressing under increasing weight (possibly until death). This torture method was never used before or after in the Massachusetts Colony . Corey suffered for days without giving in and died on the third day.
On the orders of Judge Jonathan Corwin, Corey was buried on Gallows Hill. At the Salem witch trials between June 2 and September 22, 1692, a total of 19 people were hanged in four groups , including Corey's wife Martha.
Legend
Legend has it that a ghost appeared in Salem the night before a disaster. It was claimed that an old man was seen in the cemetery before the great Salem fire broke out in 1914. That man should have been Corey.
Figure at Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller included the character of Corey in his play Witch Hunt ( The Crucible , 1953). Here he is portrayed as a quick-tempered but honorable man who was critical of the witch craze. In Miller's drama, Corey feels guilty for telling a pastor that his wife Martha read strange books (meaning, not the Bible and other edifying books), which the colonial, puritanical society of the 17th century hated to see. In the original performance of 1953, he was played by Joseph Sweeney . In the film adaptation The Witches of Salem (1957) Corey was played by Aribert Grimmer and in the film adaptation Witch Hunt (1996) by Peter Vaughan .
Trivia
The metalcore band Unearth celebrates Corey's fate in their song Giles .
See also
literature
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: The New-England tragedies: John Endicott, Giles Corey of the Salem farms . Ticknor and Fields, Boston 1868 ( full text in google book search)
Web links
- Chris Buhr, Katherine Sutcliffe: Giles Corey. In: Salem Witchcraft Trials 1692. Retrieved October 26, 2015 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Corey, Giles |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Coree, Giles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American farmer who fell victim to the Salem witch trials |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1612 |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 19, 1692 |
| Place of death | Salem |