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Key Topic 4: Matthew Hopkins and the East Anglian witch craze, 1645-47 -…

- - - - Suffolk and other Eastern counties
        
        Dearth of men
        
        Resulted in a shift in traditional power relationships
        
        Some witches connected with radical Puritan sects that believed women and men to be equal
      - Chaos of war
        
        Provided an opportunity for long-held suspicions to be brought to the surface
      - Traditional authority of the Church of England was undermined in the context of war
        
        In areas controlled by parliament, undesirable ministers were ejected from their churches
        
        Replaced by Puritans
      - Authority of local gentry was undermined
        
        Many left their estates to fight
        
        Those with Royalist sympathies faced arrest and confiscation of their estates
    - - Assize courts
        
        Unable to function normally during the war
        
        Justice was often carried out by local magistrates or other individuals appointed with only limited legal experience
      - Local fears of witchcraft
        
        Intensified
        
        In the absence of proper judges, the witch-hunt was able to spread quickly
      - Mayors and town councilors
        
        Thankful for the opportunity to pay for the services of Hopkins and Stearne
        
        Hopkins and Stearne provided what appeared to be legitimate legal knowledge and efficiency
  - - - Wet summers and freezing winters
      - Wheat and rye
        
        Inedible
        
        Rotted with ergot
      - Price of meat and cheese rose
      - Price of wheat rose 20%
      - October 1645 and 1646
        
        Heavy rain
        
        Crops rotted
        
        Field trodden into mud
      - Sees as a sign from God
    - - Caused resentment
      - Enclosure
        
        Increased inequality
        
        Those that benefited
        
        Reluctant to give to beggars
        
        The neighborliness that had existed for centuries was no more
        
        Landlords
        
        Increasingly tempted to evict tenants
        
        Enclose the land, focus on one particular agricultural product
        
        Isle of Ely
        
        Sir Miles Sandys enclosed 4000 acres of common land at Sutton
        
        Lead to riots in the 1630s
        
        Number of suspected witches who faced trial in Ely in 1647 had connections with the earlier unrest over enclosure
        
        Donors of charity viewed the recipients with suspicion
        
        When recipients were poor, older women, the better-off continued to fear that they might use magic in revenge for not receiving enough
    - - Price of livestock increased by 12%
      - Price of grain increased by 15%
      - Huge resources required by the armies on both sides
      - Horses regularly confiscated by soldiers
      - Wages did not increase
      - 1643: The weekly assesment
        
        New tax devised by parliament
        
        To meet the increasing cost of the war
        
        In the counties of the Eastern Association, this was collected at a rate 12x higher than the loathed Ship Money of the 1630s
  - - - Hopkins and Stearne were paid much money
        
        By town and parish councils
        
        As much as £23 from one town for only a few days
        
        Claimed they only charged 20 shillings per town
    - - Exodus 22:18 quoted on the cover of Hopkins' 1537 book
      - Hopkins used biblical justification for the investigations
      - No evidence to suggest Hopkins was fanatical before the hunt began
        
        Although, his father was a Puritan minster
    - - East Anglia formed the military Eastern Association during the Civil War
        
        Provided troops for the Parliamentarian war effort
- - - - 80% women
      - 20% men, usually associated with an accused women, however
      - Hopkins was particularly keen to find evidence of sexual activity with the male Devil
    - - 700 accused
      - 300-400 ultimately killed
      - 20% of accused witches were charged with harming or killing children
    - - Essex
        
        Manningtree
        
        Elizabeth Clark
        
        Chelmsford
        
        In July, trials for the first batch of witches were held
        
        Nearly 20 were found guilty, including Elizabeth Clark
      - Suffolk
        
        120+ examined
      - Norfolk
        
        40 women were tried at the assizes of 1645
      - Cambridgeshire
      - Huntingdonshire
        
        8 women were tried in 1646
      - Northamptonshire
      - Bedfordshire
      - No particular geographical pattern to the accusations
        
        Hopkins and Stearne simply followed the money available
    - - Literacy
        
        If they left their mark, they were most certainly illiterate
        
        All but 1 of the Ely witches left their mark
        
        As 6 were male and 11 were female, this suggest the men were from lower classes
      - In Ely, accusations came about after a poor women was denied charity from a wealthier neighbour
  - - - Neither has any qualifications or experience
      - Paid
      - Both only stayed long enough in one location to set the legal proceedings in motion, leaving others to continue the cases to trial
      - Hopkins
        
        Father was a Puritan minister
        
        An enthusiastic Purtan with an enthusiasm for tackling evil
        
        Presented himself as a saviour at a time when East Anglia was riddled with economic and political crisis
      - Stearne
        
        Puritan
    - - Followed the same procedures
      - Interrogations, either alone or with a local magistrate/ official
      - Effective
      - Focused on uncovering
        
        Finding a relationship between the accused and the Devil
        
        Devil's mark
        
        Animals
        
        Any other members of a supposed coven
      - Methods
        
        Search-women
        
        Isolation
        
        'Watching'
        
        Torture
        
        Sleep deprivation
        
        Swimming test
  - - - 1645: stories of strange occurrences/ omen were reaching East Anglia
      - Sexual activity with the Devil
      - Swimming
    - - The trials were an organized, deliberate, excusive attack on women (Louise Jackson study)
      - 20% of the accused in Suffolk were men, but many of these were associated with a female accused witch
    - - Crop failure
      - Changing and use/ enclosure
      - Economic impact of the Civil War
    - - Clergy that were sympathetic to the Royalist cause were removed from their livings and replaced with Puritans
      - Connection made by Puritans between Royalist, Catholics, superstition and witchcraft meant those who had long been suspected of sorcery were now targeted
    - - Assize courts
        
        Incorruptable
        
        Staffed more experienced judges than local magistrates
        
        Interrupted and found it difficult to keep to their usual timetable
    - - Hopkins: 'The Discovery of Witches'1647
      - Gaule: 'Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcraft' 1646
      - Stearne: 'A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft' 1648
    - - Hopkins
      - Stearne
      - Gaule
    - - Lack of central and legal authority
  - - - Por weather
      - Inflation
      - Effects of Civil War
      - Seek scapegoats
      - The better-off began to resent the increased begging
    - - Clergy that were sympathetic to the Royalist cause were removed from their livings and replaced with Puritans
      - Connection made by Puritans between Royalist, Catholics, superstition and witchcraft meant those who had long been suspected of sorcery were now targeted
    - - Assize courts
        
        Incorruptable
        
        Staffed more experienced judges than local magistrates
        
        Interrupted and found it difficult to keep to their usual timetable
      - When the traditional legal system was restored at the end of the war, there was less need for men like Hopkins and Stearne
    - - Played a significant role in beginning the craze and ensuring it became so widespread
      - The end of the persecutions coincided with Hopkins' death in August 1647
      - The techniques used in interrogations were almost exclusively associated with Hopkins and Stearne
        
        The success of searching, sleep deprivation, walking, and swimming can be associated with them
- - - - East Anglia was safe enough to receive the assize judges more frequently
      - Many Royalist gentry were able to return to their estates
        
        Began to punish their tenants and servants if they had been involved in fighting for Parliament
      - The Puritan-dominated pursuit of witches was disturbed
      - End of the war meant some relief to the suffering of the population
        
        Acquittals became more likely
        
        Less need for a scapegoat
      - Traditional authority restored
        
        King's Lynn (24th November 1646)
        
        Ely (two days later- 26th November 1646)
      - Norfolk assizes of 1647
        
        Judges were given a list of questions
        
        Influenced by the scepticism presented by John Gaule
        
        Hopkins became increasingly desperate tp defend his reputation
  - - - 3p per prisoner, per day
      - Eg. the witches imprisoned at Ipswich cost up to £50 while waiting for their court date
    - - At Bury St Edmunds, an officer was appointed specifically to collect bread-money for the witches detained in the goal
      - People now had to pay to watch the Suffolk witches' executions
    - - A sheriff was required to find funds and accommodation for the judges as well as providing horses, heat, and food for the officers, administrators, and witchfinders
      - Eg. the judge at the 1645 trial at Bury St Edmund sent an invoice for £130 to cover his and his assistant's costs
    - - In Suffolk, churchwardens a overseers of the poor were instructed to collect a new levy to pay for the searching and trying of witches
      - Eg. Over £3 was spent on the execution of Mary Lakeland alone
        
        A cost x3 higher than it would be if she were hanged
        
        Burning
    - - Cost of....
        
        Inns
        
        Horses
        
        Seach-women
        
        Watchers
      - Records show his fees were higher than the 20 shillings he claimed he charged
  - - - Approval of witch-hunting
      - Pleased for common sense and restraint
        
        Cautiously praising witchfinders
      - Witchfinding was idolatrous - praising witchfinders
    - - Criticized the process of watching witches