Where did Matthew Hopkins start witch hunting?
Records of Hopkins’ early career in the art of witch hunting are a tad vague, however it appears to stem from when he moved to Manningtree, Essex in 1644.
How many women were accused of witchcraft?
Of the twenty-three women accused of witchcraft, four were said to have died in prison with nineteen later convicted and hanged. Hopkins appears to have assumed the title of Witch-Finder General in 1645, claiming to be officially commissioned by Parliament with the brief to uncover and prosecute witches.
Who was the witchfinder who overheard women discussing their meetings with the Devil?
Hopkins believed that there were several witches regularly practicing their dark arts close to his home and apparently began his career as a witch-finder after he overheard various women discussing their meetings with the Devil in March 1644.
Who was Matthew Hopkins?
... (Show more) ... (Show more) Matthew Hopkins, (born, Wenham, Suffolk, Eng.—died Aug. 12, 1647), English witch-hunter during a witchcraft craze of the English Civil Wars. Little is known of Hopkins before 1644, but apparently he had been a lawyer, practicing in Essex. In March 1644 he alleged his first discovery ...
What is the purpose of witchcraft?
Witchcraft, traditionally, the exercise or invocation of alleged supernatural powers to control people or events, practices typically involving sorcery or magic. Although defined differently in disparate historical and cultural contexts, witchcraft has often been seen, especially in the West, as the work of crones who meet secretly at night, indulge…
Where was Matthew Hopkins born?
Matthew Hopkins was born in Great Wenham, located in Suffolk, England, and was the fourth son of James Hopkins, a Puritan vicar of St John’s of Great Wenham. After his father’s death, Hopkins moved to Manningtree in Essex and used his inheritance to present himself as a gentleman to the local aristocracy. Hopkins’ witch-finding career began in ...
When did Hopkins and Stearne retire from witch hunting?
By 1647, Hopkins and Stearne were questioned by justices of the assizes (the precursor to the English Crown Court) into their activities, but by the time the court resumed both Hopkins and Stearne retired from witch-hunting.
How many women were tried for witchcraft in 1645?
Hopkins conducted a physical investigation of the women, looking for deformities and a blemish called the “Devil’s Mark” which would lead to 23 women (sources differ in the number) being accused of witchcraft and were tried in 1645.
How many women were convicted of the murder of the women in the trial?
The trial was presided over by the justices of the peace (a judicial officer of a lower or puisne court), resulting in nineteen women being convicted and hanged, and four women dying in prison.
Who was the witch hunter?
Matthew Hopkins – The Real Witch-Hunter. Spartacus has become a legendary figure in history, who led a revolt against the Roman Republic during the Third Servile War. However, during the First Servile War of 135–132 BC, a slave revolt led by Eunus of Enna conquered large areas of Sicily, and triggered several minor revolts in Italy, ...
Who wrote the book A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft?
Within a year of the death of Hopkins, Stearne retired to his farm and wrote his own manual “A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft” hoping to further profit from the infamous career path both men had undertaken that caused the death of hundreds of innocent souls.
When did Matthew Hopkins start witch hunting?
In his 1647 book, The Discovery of Witches, Matthew Hopkins would claim his witch hunting career began in 1644. However, all evidence suggests it was here, with Elizabeth Clarke in March 1645, that he really got into witch finding.
How many women did Matthew Hopkins send to the Gallows?
In the same space of time that he killed around 20 men, Hopkins sent an estimated 200 women to the gallows. In September of 1645, the Witchfinder General committed his most notorious act.
How many witches were hanged in Bury St Edmunds?
All of which is why, on August 27, “only” 18 witches hanged at Bury St Edmunds, rather than the 100 Hopkins had hoped for. Of course, hanging 18 people for made up magic is still deranged. But here’s the thing. Parliament’s witch hunters were a model of sanity compared to Hopkins and Stearne.
How many people were hanged for witchcraft in England?
By Biographics May 30, 2019. On August 27, 1645, the small town of Bury St Edmunds, England set a grisly record. That day, 18 men and women were hanged together as witches. It was the single biggest mass-execution for witchcraft in English history, and it was all the work of one man. Matthew Hopkins was many things: a tavern owner, a former lawyer, ...
How old was John Lowes when he was hanged?
And what fates they were. In August 1645 an 80-year old minister called John Lowes was forced to run on the spot without sleep until he collapsed from exhaustion. On the 27 th of that month, 18 women and men were hanged together at Bury St Edmunds, the worst mass-execution of any English witch scare.
When did the witches get acquitted?
By the end of 1648, the vast majority of English women accused of witchcraft were being acquitted. Even when the Second and Third English Civil Wars blew up, followed by Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan dictatorship, nothing like the witch panics of 1645 took hold again.
How many women were hanged for witchcraft?
Eight years after the bill passed, ten women were hanged in Pendle for witchcraft. Four years later, another nine were sent to the gallows in Leicester. By the time you get to Elizabeth Clarke’s trial in 1645, witch trials had become a fact of life in England.
The Witchfinder General
This was the context to which Matthew Hopkins appears in the historical records. His witch-finding career began in March 1644. Not a lot is known about him before this date apart from the fact that he was born in Great Wenham, Suffolk and lived in Manningtree, Essex.
Bury St. Edmunds, 1645
The most deadly of all his hunts happened in Bury St. Edmunds in 1645. On the 27th August, no fewer than 18 people were executed in one day. 16 of them were women and 2 were men. This was the largest witch hunt in English history.
Criticism against Hopkins
Matthew Hopkins the self-proclaimed Witchfinder General. He caused the deaths of 200-300 people. (Image: Icongraphic collections)
