Dr Mary Wellesley will present work in progress from her latest project, a book examining five stories of women burnt at the stake in Britain between the 15th and 18th centuries. These five were executed for witchcraft, heresy and treason. Long after execution by fire had been outlawed for witchcraft and heresy, women continued to be burnt for treason, while men convicted of treason were hanged. The last person burnt at the stake in Britain was a woman – Christian Murphy – executed in 1789, for producing counterfeit coins. Beginning with a famous witchcraft case in the 15th century and moving through the period in which the foundations of the modern state were laid, it seeks to uncover the stories of women the state tried to erase and explore how and why gendered violence was integral to medieval and early modern justice.