Īfter the Flowers were dismissed, the Earl and Countess fell ill, suffering from "vomiting and convulsions". All three were dismissed and only Joan was given a payment of severance amounting to "40 shillings, a bolster (pillow), and a mattress of wool". They accepted employment as servants with the 6th Earl and Countess of Rutland, at Belvoir Castle near Grantham, Lincolnshire, when additional staff were needed for an upcoming visit by King James I but the sisters, and their mother, were unpopular with the other staff, and there were suggestions of theft, and misdemeanors. Joan, Margaret and Philippa Flower were "known to be herbal healers" and came from a local family that "had fallen on hard times". It is said that Phillipa drugged the guards and managed to escape and make her way to Kent where she died after having three children. The mother, Joan Flower, died on the way to her trial, and the two daughters, Margaret and Philippa, were supposed to be hanged in Lincoln. The Witches of Belvoir were a mother and her two daughters accused of witchcraft in England and the deaths of two young brothers, Henry (died 1613) and Francis Manners (died 1620), the heirs to Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland, whose seat was at Belvoir Castle. Memorial to Henry and Francis Manners, the heirs to the 6th Earl and Countess of Rutland, whom the Witches of Belvoir were accused of killing
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