two-year-old son and daughter with an axe . Due to her mental instability , she was pardoned for her crimes and sent into the care of twelve of her kinsmen . 14 According to the Bedfordshire Coroner ’ s Rolls , on 15 th June 1316 , Emma le Bere was suffering from a frenzy , she rose from her sick bed , took an axe and she cut the throats of her four children , named in the record as John , Helen , Felise and Maud . Emma did not appear in court as she hanged herself following the attack , though it is specified that at the time she was suffering from insanity . 15 In the first decade of the 14 th century , Margery , wife of William Calbot , appeared before jurors accused of fatally stabbing her two-year-old daughter ( no name specified ). Further to this , she forced her four-year-old child ( sex not given ) to sit on the hearth fire flames . Despite the barbarity of these acts , Margery was declared insane and was pardoned . 16 In 1327 , Juliana Matte of Killingbry was driven out of her mind . In this period of madness , she was caught drowning her one-year-old son in a well . Once more , Juliana was found to be insane and acquitted as well as pardoned for the crime . 17
For further examples of the relationship between insanity and infanticide , the indictment against Matilda , the widow of Mark le Waleys de Buchamwell , in 1329 is valuable . Matilda was indicted before Peter Bozum , coroner in the county of Norfolk . She was accused of killing her children Thomas , Robert and Anastasia [ felonice interfecit Thomam et Robertum filios suos et Anastasiam filam suam ]. The record states that at the time of the killing Matilda was in a state of fury and had been for a month prior to the event . When she recovered her sense , Matilda was said to be so distraught at her actions that she sought to drown herself in a ditch of water and would have succeeded in doing so had neighbours not intervened [ volebat in stagne fossatis aquasis nisi ipsa per vicionos suos fuisset impedita ]. The jury declared that at the time of the killings , Matilda had been out of her mind , they returned her to prison to await pardon from the King [ quod tempore quo ipsa predictos pueros suos interfeceratur extitit furiosa ideo ispa remitatur prisone ad voluntatem domini Regis expectans ]. 18
In a similar fashion , Goda , the wife of John Attebek , was indicted in the same county and by the same coronor as Matilda , just one year later in 1330 . Goda was accused of killing her two children John and Beatrice in the village of Horsham Saint Faith . Goda defended herself against all charges and maintained that she was not capable of this in any way [ predicta Goda venit et quesivit qualiter se velit inde acquietare defendit omnem feloniam etc et dicit quod in nullo est inde culpabilis ]. The jury of the hundred of Taverham said upon their oath that Goda did kill her two children but insisted that at the time , Goda was out of her mind and insane . The jury asked if Goda had experienced any other periods of madness . It was said
14
Naomi . D . Hurnard , The King ’ s Pardon for Homicide before 1307 A . D , ( Oxford , 1969 ), 162
15
R . F . Hunissett ( ed .), Bedforshire Coroner ’ s Rolls , ( Bedfordshire , 1961 ), 277
16
The National Archives ( Hereafter TNA ): Justice Itinerant ( Hereafter JUST ) 3 / 48 , m . 6 , 1400-1410 .
17
TNA : JUST 3 / 119 , m . 13 , 1327 .
18
TNA : JUST 3 / 119 , m . 14d , 1329 .
10