Alice Kyteler

Dame Alice Kyteler (1263 – later than 1325) was the first recorded person condemned for witchcraft in Ireland. She fled the country, but her servant Petronilla de Meath was flogged and burned to death at the stake on 3 November 1324.

Kyteler was born in Kyteler's House, County Kilkenny, Ireland, the only child of a Flemish family of merchants settled in Ireland since the mid-late thirteenth century.

She was married four times, to William Outlaw, Adam le Blund, Richard de Valle and Sir John le Poer.

First husband c.1280–85 - William Outlaw, merchant and moneylender of Kilkenny
Son: William Outlaw, was mayor of Kilkenny in 1305. Daughter: Rose?
Second husband (by 1302) Adam Blund of Callan, moneylender
Third husband (by 1309): Richard Valle, a landholder of County Tipperary. After Valle's death c.1316 Alice took proceedings against her stepson, Richard, for the recovery of her widow's dower.
Fourth husband (c.1316-24) John Poer.

In 1302, Kyteler and her second husband were briefly accused of killing her first husband. She incurred local resentment because of her vast wealth and involvement in moneylending. When her fourth husband, John le Poer, fell ill in 1324, he expressed the suspicion that he was being poisoned. After his death, the children of le Poer and of her previous three husbands accused her of using poison and sorcery (maleficarum) against their fathers and of favouring her first-born son, William Outlaw.

In addition, she and her followers were accused of:

Richard de Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory, was obsessed with the laws of the church and morality. When the case was presented before him in 1324, he seized the opportunity to tackle what he considered the important issue of witchcraft.

Ledrede made initial attempts to have Kyteler arrested, and Kyteler called on the assistance of powerful friends. The bishop was jailed and questioned by Sir Arnold le Poer, Seneschal of Kilkenny. On Ledrede's release he renewed his efforts to have Kyteler imprisoned.

The bishop wrote to the Chancellor of Ireland, Roger Utlagh (Outlaw), demanding that she should be arrested. Ledrede's use of the decretal, designed to protect the faith Ut inquisitions (1298), demanded that secular powers should concede to church wishes, and this point of law became a thorny issue throughout the trial. Kyteler was related to the Chancellor (he was probably her first husband's brother) and he asked the bishop to drop the case. A delay in proceedings (the Chancellor insisted the accused be excommunicated 40 days before arrest) allowed Alice to flee to Roger Utlagh; Ledrede accused him of harboring heretics.

...
Wikipedia