Matthew Hopkins & the Witch-Hunts of 1645–47: Case Study (Edexcel GCSE History)

Matthew Hopkins & the Witch-Hunts of 1645-47: Case Study – Timeline & Summary

What were the Witch-Hunts?

• The ‘witch-hunts’ were the active attempts of people to discover witches in society

• People believed that witches practised harmful magic against their neighbours or livestock

• Hundreds were investigated:

  • Mostly women

    • Especially the elderly, poor and disabled

  • A few men

    • Mostly clergy

• They were concentrated in particular areas, especially East Anglia

Where did witch-hunts take place?

Reasons for 1645-47 Witch-Hunts

• Witchcraft was a serious crime throughout the early modern era

• It became even more serious in the 1640s

Civil War

• The impact of the Civil War contributed to the 1645-47 witch-hunts:

  • Political

    • The control of local authorities was significantly weakened

    • For instance, the fighting stopped royal judges from being able to travel as easily to judge cases

    • In some areas, law and order completely collapsed

    • Many locals took cases into their own hands

    • Witchcraft accusations allowed authorities to reassert some control

  • Social

    • Husbands went away to fight

    • This left many women alone or widowed

    • These women were more vulnerable to witchcraft accusations

    • People also travelled more with armies or to look for work

    • Towns and villages therefore had more strangers in them

    • This increased feelings of suspicion

  • Religious

    • The divide between Catholics and Protestants became stronger

    • Puritan Parliamentarians accused Royalists of witchcraft

    • This is because some Royalists were Catholics

Individuals

• The influence of specific individuals contributed to the 1645-47 witch-hunts:

• James I

  • King of England, Scotland and Ireland

  • Encouraged witch-hunting throughout his reign

  • Argued that witchcraft was a crime against both the monarch and God

  • His fear of witchcraft created panic throughout England

What was Daemonologie?

• Matthew Hopkins

  • A lawyer and self-proclaimed ‘Witchfinder General’

  • Stirred up mass panic and fear of witches through

    • His writings

    • His prosecutions

  • Without Hopkins, witchcraft accusations may not have increased

Law Enforcement: Matthew Hopkins

Hopkins’s ‘work’

• A Justice of the Peace (JP) employed Hopkins to find witches in East Anglia

• He worked with his assistant, John Stearne

• Towns and villages also called on him to rid their communities of witches

• He got paid for each prosecution and he also charged expenses for his time

• Historians estimate that 300 people were investigated for witchcraft because of him

Hopkins’s ‘evidence’

• Hopkins needed evidence to convict people of witchcraft

• He presented the following as sufficient ‘proof’ that people were witches:

  • Confessions

    • Hopkins used torture to extract confessions

    • He would deprive the accused of food and sleep for several days

  • Others’ accounts

    • Children believed to be ‘possessed’ would sometimes make witchcraft accusations

    • Supposed witnesses sometimes came forward and gave accounts of the accused’s witchcraft

    • Other ‘proven’ witches sometimes swore that the accused was a witch

  • ‘Familiars’

    • If a certain creature entered the interrogation room, Hopkins would say that it was a witch’s familiar

    • Typical ‘familiars’ included mice, flies, spiders and cats

  • Physical signs

    • The accused did not bleed after being pricked with a needle

    • Unusual marks on the body, like scars, boils or spots

    • These were considered the ‘Devil’s mark’ from which familiars sucked witches’ blood

    • In reality, these marks were usually from manual labour

  • The ‘swim test’

    • Similar to the medieval trial by cold water

    • The accused was lowered into water with their hands bound and a rope tied around their waist

    • If they floated, they would then be examined for the ‘Devil’s mark’ as conclusive ‘proof’ of their witchcraft

    • This test meant that some of the accused died by drowning

• The image below is of the frontispiece of Hopkins’s 1647 pamphlet, The Discovery of Witches.

Punishment for Witchcraft

• In the early modern era, witchcraft was a capital offence

  • Hanging was the most common method of execution for those convicted

• Overall, around 1,000 people were executed for witchcraft between 1542 and 1736