THE HUSBANDS AND HOW THEY DIED
I was frustrated by these responses. It felt like I was being stonewalled. In retrospect, if there was a blunt-force instrument used here, it was my assumptions behind the first questions I asked. Many questions I asked used the word, them. As if she’d murdered every husband she had. After a few months had passed, I returned to ask more tailored questions concerning the role she may have played in any of her husbands’ deaths. This time, I went through the husbands one by one:
Did Alice Kyteler murder her first husband, William Outlawe Sr.?
YES
Did Alice Kyteler murder her first husband by poisoning him?
WRONG QUESTION
Did she misdiagnose his condition and administer the wrong remedy?
NO
Did she smother him to death with a pillow?
WRONG QUESTION
Did she feed him a meal containing a food she knew would kill him?
NO
Did she pray for him to be removed from her life?
YES
So is it accurate to say Alice Kyteler murdered her first husband, William Outlawe Sr., by employing prayer-magic against him?
NO
Were her prayers that he be removed from her life a factor in his death?
NO
Was Petronella present at any time when her mistress, Dame Alice, prayed for her first husband’s death?
WRONG QUESTION
Was Petronella even awarethat Alice Kyteler was praying for her husband’s death?
NO
Okay, so Alice Kyteler did murder her first husband, but the stones balked at confirming exactly how she killed him. I started inquiring about possible motives for the murder:
I want to explore Dame Alice Kyteler’s motives for murdering her first husband, William Outlawe Sr. Was it because he:
-was physically or emotionally-abusive toward her, and she wanted to end the abuse?
YES
-was he contemplating taking a course of action with which she strongly disagreed?
YES
-was she unhappy in the marriage and wished to be free to marry again?
NO
-was he going to divorce her and replace her with another woman?
NO
-was his abuse of her solely restricted to physical abuse?
YES
-was there anything in William Outlawe Sr.’s treatment of Alice Kyteler which could be considered emotional abuse?
YES
So the issue wasn’t marital unhappiness per se, or her wanting to bail on the marriage, or him wanting to bail on the marriage, which led to her murdering him. She went from a domestic environment of two probably-loving parents who likely didn’t treat her abusively (hey, she was their only child), into the home of a man who did, and who was about to make what Alice saw as a big mistake, a mistake which might’ve had negative repercussions for her and their son. This sounds like a culture-shocked young woman who was desperate to get out of a bad situation–and murder may have looked like the only way out.