• Home
• Membership
• Women killers of the early modern era

Women killers of the early modern era

Blessin Adams explores how female murderers were portrayed in early modern Britain – and what their stories reveal about attitudes to gender and crime

• Lauren Good

Published: March 19, 2025 at 9:00 AM

Save

• Share on facebook
• Share on twitter
• Share on whatsapp
• Email to a friend

From true crime pamphlets to reports from the scaffold, early modern Britain was gripped by tales of women who killed. But were these cases as common as they seemed, or was something else at play? Speaking to Lauren Good, historian Blessin Adams explores the obsession with female murderers in this period, and what this tells us about historical attitudes to gender, justice and power.

Ad

Blessin Adams is the author of Thou Savage Woman: Female Killers in Early Modern Britain (Harper Collins, 2025).

Ad

• Buy it now from Waterstones

Authors

Lauren GoodSenior content producer

Lauren Good is a senior content producer at HistoryExtra

• Visit us on Twitter

Ad

Ad

Loading...

Ad

Loading...