THE SORCERER’S TALE

This is the riveting story of Gregory Wisdom, an extraordinary conman who lived in the 16th century, and his chief victim, Henry, Lord Neville, the eldest son and heir of the earl of Westmorland. On the surface, Wisdom was a respectable physician, but he was also a secret practitioner of forbidden magical arts and a member of London’s criminal fraternity.

Henry was initially drawn into Wisdom’s hustle because of his gambling debts, when Wisdom sold him a magic ring to ensure he won at cards. After other dubious scams, including one about a stolen coat embroidered with pure silver, Wisdom eventually promised to magically murder Henry’s father and wife, thus resolving the debt problem. Henry fell for that one, too, and ended up in prison.

Ryrie tells in the foreword of his fascination with this true story and how over several of years he pieced together what he could from fragments of historical evidence.

He sets the tale in the context of Tudor society, painting vivid pictures of the worlds to which Wisdom belonged, touching on medicine and the treatment of syphilis, organised crime and prostitution, and magical fraud, convincingly connecting the respectable public face of Tudor England with its seedy underworld.

The book gives a good account of the religious upheavals of the time, and the political consequences of having specific beliefs at particular times.

Sadly, the record is incomplete and although Ryrie has woven a plausible story from the fragments within the many references, it is tantalising and frustrating not to know exactly what happened.

Wisdom was secretive and obviously covered his tracks, leaving few clues.

A copy of Wisdom’s will is included in the book. He died a respectable old man, a member of the Royal College of Physicians, leaving his scandals buried in the archives, where Ryrie discovered them.

I am glad that he did, for I thoroughly enjoyed reading this reconstruction. He says he had fun writing it, and I believe him.