Alice Kyteler

Known as the Witch of Kilkenny, the aristocratic Alice Kyteler was one of the earliest Irish women to be accused of witchcraft. Her stepchildren, joined by the local bishop of Ossory, alleged that Dame Alice had murdered her husbands (there were four of them) and had acquired her wealth through magic. She and a band of “devil-worshipping” co-accused were persecuted, but Dame Alice had ties to influential people and she managed to escape to England in 1325; she was tried and convicted in absentia. Her less well-connected cohorts, among them Petronilla de Meath, were executed.