Witch-hunts in East Anglia

During the Middle Ages it was common to hunt and execute women accused of carrying out witchcraft. The persecution of "witches" intensifed during the Renaissance and only declined at the start of the Eighteenth Century. One man in particular caused widespread panic throughout East Anglia. His name was Matthew Hopkins.

The son of a Suffolk clergyman, Hopkins reigned terror during the English Civil War with his notorious witch-hunts. The self-appointed “Witch-Finder General” was thought to be responsible for the arrest, conviction and execution of up to 200 alleged witches in East Anglia, earning himself a reputation as the country's most prolific witch-hunter. Other estimates claim he was behind the killing of at least 230 people in East Anglia and Southeast England.


Matthew Hopkins, self-appointed Witch-Finder General
Source: George Knowles, www.hulford.co.uk/matthew.html

His first case, in March 1644, involved an elderly, one-legged widow, Elizabeth Clarke, of Manningtree, Essex, whose mother had previously been hanged as a witch. She was illegally tortured in prison until she confessed to the crime and gave the name of five further “witches”. When it emerged that Clarke kept a handful of domesticated pets, this was seen as further evidence of devil worship. [Knowles]

Hopkins instigated a campaign of terror throughout Manningtree, urging residents to denounce other “witches”. He had to take on four assistants to cope with a growing demand for his services. Together they interrogated over 100 people. This resulted in the trial of 36 alleged witches at Chelmsford in 1645. Nineteen of them were later hanged. [Encarta]

Hopkins continued to travel throughout the East of England with his colleague, John Stearne, receiving large payments for their work.

Obtaining confessions

The "witch" hunters devised a series of tests to obtain confessions from suspects.

These included sleep deprivation, submerging suspects in water to see if they drowned (if they floated they were deemed to be guilty) and pricking them with pins and bodkins to see if they developed the “mark of the devil”. [Knowles]

The East Anglian witch-hunts proved to be very lucrative for Hopkins and his accomplices.

They charged each town they visted up to £23 to “cleanse” it of witches at a time when the daily wage was as little as 2.5 pence. [Manganiello]


Some of the intruments used to torture suspects.
© George Knowles , www.hulford.co.uk/matthew.html

Huntingdonshire vicar ends reign of terror

It took a Huntingdonshire clergyman to turn public opinion against Hopkins. In 1946 John Gaule, the vicar of Great Staughton, wrote a pamphlet exposing Hopkins as a fraud. The Puritan minister also preached against him in his sermons, apparently concerned that the self-appointed witch-finder was planning to visit his parish.

In his pamphlet, Gaule wrote: “Every old woman with a wrinkled face, a furrowed brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a squeaking voice or scolding tongue, having a rugged coat on her back, a skull-cap on her head, a spindle in her hand and a dog or cat by her side, is not only suspect but pronounced for a witch.” [Knowles]

Hopkins ditched plans to visit Great Staughton, instead returning home to the village of Mistley, near Manningtree. He died shortly after, possibly of tuberculosis. Parish records show that he was buried in Mistley on August 12, 1647. [Encarta]

Hopkins' legacy lives on

The legend of East Anglia’s most famous witch-hunter has long survived his death. His ghost is rumoured to haunt Mistley Pond, especially around full moon.

Hopkins has been immortalised in popular culture. A British horror film, Witchfinder General (1968), starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy and Hilary Dwyer, featured a fictionalised account of Hopkins' crusade to exterminate witches. It was based on a novel by the same name, written by Ronald Bassett.

There are also references to Hopkins in pop music.

The Warboys "witches"

A series of  "witchcraft" executions took place in the Cambridgeshire village of Warboys on April 5, 1593.

Alice and John Samuels and their daughter Agnes were hanged after being found guilty of sourcery, enchantment and murder. 

The charges related to a mysterious sickness plaguing a neighbour's daughter in November 1589. Jane Throckmorton, the youngest of five girls, was about 10-years-old when she developed bouts of chronic sneezing and twitches.

The Samuels were hanged for allegedly bewitching the girl. [Almond]

Sources

  • Stephen C. Manganiello, The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639-1660, Scarecrow Press, 2004
  • Craig Cabell, Witchfinder General: The Biography of Matthew Hopkins, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2006
  • Philip C. Almond, The Witches of Warboys: An Extraordinary Story of Sorcery, Sadism and Satanic Possession in Elizabethan England, I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2007

 

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