There is reason to believe that this was the noted Matthew Hopkins, Witch Finder General to the associated counties, who had frequently been mentioned by various writers. 5) Hopkins use to cut women accused of being witches to see if they bled why did he do this? In September of 1645, the Witchfinder General committed his most notorious act. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Montague Summers, English author and Clergyman held no punches when he wrote of Hopkins: “He was an Orthodox Puritan of narrowest views, enough so far as his own pockets were concerned and his crusade up and down the Eastern counties, which created something like a reign of terror at the time, has caused his name to stink in the nostrils of all decent persons ever since.”, Matthew Hopkins – On the Discovery of Witches. Potts's Discovery of Witches: In the County of Lancaster, Brand New, Free shi... $23.89 . Bestowing upon himself the job title of “Witchfinder General”, his was a short career spanning just two years, however what it lacked in longevity, it made up for in results. a) He kept them awake for days. He found that rather than saviour of the people, he was now being viewed as suspicious in his own right and condemned by the men of power throughout the region. Enquiry:Why was Matthew Hopkins able to become so successful? In reality this had the knock on effect of working as a macabre form of promotion and these small towns queued up to pay him vast sums of money to clear out their witches. – 1647) It was once suggested that Matthew Hopkins, the witch-finder general, had become infallible in his ability to track down witches because he himself had employed a bit of sorcery and managed to steal one of Satan's address books so that he might copy down the names of the devil's disciples. Around 120 more were jailed in a pair of barns requisitioned as a jail and there is evidence that many more died in these two barns whilst they awaited trial. Home » History » The Witchfinder – Matthew Hopkins. Select a purchase Agricultural professions thrived in the rural areas, skilled craftsman were plenty with every town and hamlet boasting blacksmiths, gunsmiths, tailors and weavers. For … XLVII. They were married when he was twenty five and she was nineteen. Hopkins and Stearne prosecuted in the cpurt session in 1647, thus, they retired. Suffolk and Essex was the seventeenth Century version of a British Bible Belt, the same Puritan population had been the home of the pilgrims who set out for Massachusetts in 1620. It has been estimated that tens of thousands of people were executed for witchcraft in Europe and the American colonies over several hundred years. The scene was set for him to embark on his most famous and peculiar of careers. This article will also explore Hopkins's demonology and methods through a critical reading of his pamphlet The discovery of witches. The Discovery of Witches: A Study of Master Matthew Hopkins Commonly Called Witc. He received a letter from a man named Mr A. T. Percival, who claimed that: “As a youth he worked as a clerk for a ship owner at Mistley and it was through this experience that he gained the chance later to buy some property in Mistley, which included an interest in the old Thorn Inn. I'm not sure where the number originated, but I assume it counts every tangential death, and many that couldn't be counted as witches by any standard. 20 shillings are 1 pound. James VI of Scotland would become James I of England with his coronation on 25th July 1603 and in doing so he would unite the kingdoms of Scotland and England. These were all contributing factors that would open the door for fear to stretch its fingers out to every corner of the country. The Discovery of Witches: A Study of Master Matthew Hopkins Commonly Called Witc. It was rumoured that Matthew Hopkins had ‘The Devils Book’, a directory of all the witches in England. Stearne was equally as puritanical as Hopkins, though as his elder, better read and more learned in the local folklore of witches and demonic influence. Basically this is a Matthew Hopkins … After Chelmsford he set off for Norfolk and Suffolk. This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. Recall the key points of the Malleus Maleficarum. Hopkins existed in a time when there was a considerable vacuum in law enforcement. Matthew Hopkins took a leading role in finding and prosecuting witches during the East Anglia trials of the 1640s. The devastating, drawn out and complicated years of turmoil created a vacuum at the heart of society as traditional hierarchies, cornerstones across communities and most importantly for today’s tale, legal systems crumbled. One of the most remarkable episodes to come out of the European witch craze was the panic that gripped East Anglia, England from 1645-1647. These names were, according to the seemingly unimaginative Hopkins: “Names no mortal man could invent.” And with the admittance of guilt, Elizabeth Clarke was condemned to trial. It is not certain how Hopkins became involved with hunting witches, but records show that he was working on destroying anything that could be related to the “works of the devil”. He later wrote an account of the discovery in his published pamphlet titled “Of the Discovery of Witches”. Matthew Hopkins told an account of Rebecca claiming the devil would marry her, but then he killed her, but he was still her “loving husband” who would avenge her of her enemies. All Rights Reserved. Matthew Hopkins was many things: a tavern owner, a former lawyer, a dedicated Puritan. Hopkins and Stearne did not need to catch the accused in the act of any demonic activity, they simply needed a confession that they had, somehow or another communed with a demonic force, including an animal familiar. To us nowadays in the 21st Century this may seem all a bit silly, but let us not forget, people still do believe in witches and witchcraft, and in Africa people are still killed for such beliefs. Matthew Hopkins chose a slightly different path. His parents, James Hopkins and Marie Hopkins were both devoutly religious Puritans and his father worked as the minister for St. Johns church of great Wenham. Matthew Hopkins claimed to have witnessed a witch call all of her familiars into the room. In Sudbury 117 people were tried and examined, and in … Many people blamed any misfortune on witches. In the handful of cases when the accused passed Hopkins tests, all accusations were dropped immediately and simple death was not a driving force, for if a victim died during the tests and interrogations, hopkins risked the law turning upon himself and would equally lose money he otherwise would have gained from a successful guilty sentence. Naturally, they were in most cases simple blemishes of the skin, scars, liver spots, warts or any number of skin ailments, however as long as they were out of place, they would be deemed as evidence enough. He became known as the ‘Witchfinder General’ . up to 20 shillings for each. It was, in fact, less so in Britain than in mainland Europe, though the lore was still strong and seeded the mind with enough common belief that in 1590, even the King himself fell foul to what he labelled as witchcraft in a tale that was never questioned as a fiction. Public opinion at this point disintegrated for Hopkins at a rapid rate. 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