h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General, East Anglia, UK - A6031784
Author: Mina [63/100] - U290

I've wanted to write this one for ages, hopefully I've done well writing about who doesn't seem to have ever officially existed - no birth or death certificate apparently.

Hi Mina

I've just printed this out and will read it over my lunchtime sandwich and get back to you

Hello again Mina

Interesting and well-written entry

Links to h2g2 Guide Entries: A4708 and A531794

It is a huge subject and as a result, I wonder whether it's a bit light on detail? In addition to that, given the paucity of other entries about witchcraft in England in the 17th Century, I reckon that this one could be fleshed out a lot with information about the whys, whats and hows of the persecution of women who were believed to be witches. It would be worth mentioning familiars too.

You've probably seen these sites, but just in case you haven't, they have heaps of really useful information on them:

http://www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/Renaissance/Castles/Witches2.html

http://www.controverscial.com/Matthew%20Hopkins.htm

http://www.shanmonster.com/witch/hunters/hopkins.html

http://www.sawneybean.com/horrors/matthew.htm

http://www.sealedknot.org/knowbase/docs/0027_WitchGen.htm




Fb

Damn you! I wanted to do this one!

Just a few bits you seem to have missed:
Matthew Hopkins was self-employed and only chose the title Witchfinder General because it sounded grand.
Parliament never paid Hopkins a penny (at least not directly), all his revenue came from local magistrates and terrified citizens.
One of the lesser known theories about the witches marks is that they were actually tumours.
Prisoners would often be sat on an uncomfortable stool and if they were seen to doze ofF would be Walked (forcibly marched around the cell)
Although never confirmed one of the rumoured methods used to cause confusion was greeting prisoners with a 'good morning' or 'good afternoon' at random times of day, especially if the prisoner had just awoken.
In order to aid buoyancy prisoners who were to be ducked were dressed in loose-fitting shifts.
Matthew Hopkins was accused of being in league with the Devil which was why he was able to spot witches, his pamphlet "The Discovorie of Wytches" was written as a reaction to this.
Although popular myth says that Hopkins was eventually put to his own methods by an angry mob, most historians think he retired with his ill gotten gains and eventually died of "consumption"

A couple more wee comments

I'm not sure about the use of the word "murder", because the killings of witches was sanctioned by government and church in the 17th Century. Perhaps use "killing" instead, with a footnote to the effect that it would probably be considered murder today (although not if you live in some cultures even now).

Third nipples could link to Jodan's entry once it makes the EG

What's the source/s of the two quotes in the intro?


Fb

Hi, Mina!

This is fascinating stuff!

I'll give this a more detailed read later, but here are a few things that caught my eye straightaway:

The title: adding "East Anglia, UK" makes it sound like a geographical entry rather than a historical one--it certainly struck me as odd. (Made me think of Isaac Newton, Physicist, Cambridge, UK )

Wasn't 1644-1646 just at the end of the English Civil War? Was the witch-hunting partly the Roundheads rubbing in their victory? I don't know what the death toll was in the Civil War, but I think it might have made a few hundred witches seem trivial. Anyway, giving a little background in mainstream history would be no harm.

I agree with Frenchbean's point about murder--from what you say, at the time it was lawful.

About the concluding poem, I don't believe for a minute that it's actually 16th century (or 17th century, if that's what you intended). It sounds like it was written by a modern Wiccan:
--I would expect metre and rhyme in a 16th/17th century poem, not to mention language a bit more like that in your prose extracts.
--More importantly, the reference to the "green goddess" is a bit of a giveaway. The occurence of this in a 16th/17th century poem seems extremely unlikely.


Azara

It may also be worth noting, for background purposes, that witchcraft wasn't really taken seriously as a crime in England until the reign of James I (1603-1625).

Perhaps worth bunging in the Pendle Witch trials - probably the best known in this country.

I agree that placing him into his historical context would assist with this entry.

Wow, there's lots of stuff there that I need to look at! Thanks everyone. I'll hopefully have time to deal with any issues this weekend.

Mr. Dreadful - sorry to have pipped you to the post. Those suggestions look as if they should all go in. Do you want to write them and become a co-author?

Sounds good to me, I'll work on them at the weekend.

Excellent! I might have rushed this a bit, as I mentioned Matthew in another thread and then worried I'd give the idea to someone else who'd get here first!

http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/witchtrial/eis.html
looks like a very good source for English witch trials.
I found it while I was looking for information on witch trials in Ireland--it's interesting that the corresponding page
http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/witchtrial/ireland.html
has very few cases. It certainly looks as if trials for witchcraft (as opposed to heresy ) were a more Protestant than Catholic thing in Northern Europe in those days.

Azara

"East Anglia was known as the Witch County"
Was East Anglia a county at the time? I believe that it's been a kingdom in the distant past, as have some of the counties that comprise it, but I don't think it was a county in the 17th century.

"His methods were mainly bloodless, as torture was illegal"
That suggests to me that he didn't use torture - at least, not physical torture, but later on you say
"evidence she gave under torture"
I think some clarification is needed.

There's an old ducking pond by the village green at Havering-atte-Bower, just outside Romford. In a similar manner to the 'tieing them up and tossing them into the water' test, suspected witches were tied to a chair which was on the end of a long beam, which was itself pivoted on a pole http://www.shanmonster.com/witch/torture/duck.html although I think the ducking stool was used more as a punishment than a way of finding witches.

You're right, BH. Ducking stools were used as a general punishment for women who had transgressed in some fashion (speaking out of turn, answering her husband back, swearing, shouting, etc).

And for the brewers of bad beer http://www.getchwood.com/punishments/curious/chapter-2.html

Quite right too

>>Was East Anglia a county at the time?<< Nope, I think it was Essex in the 17th Century

East Anglia covers that whole eastern part of England - Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk. Does the entry cover all of those or just Essex?

In several of the links I posted in #3, Essex is mentioned, rather than E Anglia.

The site I linked to earlier gives locations of trials by Hopkins:

1645 Chelmsford (19 hanged)
1645 Suffolk, Bury St. Edmonds (17 hanged)
1646 Norfolk
1646 Bedford
1646 Cambridge
1646 Northampton
1646 Huntingdon
1646 Suffolk (estimated 68 hanged of 124 accused)

I'm not sure of the counties to which Huntingdon and Chelmsford belong, but it certainly looks like "East Anglia" is better than "Essex", though he seems to have ventured into the east midlands as well.

Azara