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| | Encyclopedia: Witchcraft Act 1563 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) |
 | | The first act of Parliament directed specifically against witchcraft was the act De hæretico comburendo, passed at the instigation of Archbishop Thomas Arundel in 1401. |
 | | This act of 1563 provided that anyone who should "use, practice, or exercise any Witchcraft, Enchantment, Charm, or Sorcery, whereby any person shall happen to be killed or destroyed," was guilty of felony without benefit of clergy, and was to be put to death. |
 | | In 1604, the first year of James's reign, the Elizabethan act was broadened to bring the penalty of death without benefit of clergy to any one who invoked evil spirits or communed with familiar spirits. |
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