The Strange-But-True Story Of Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General
English history is littered with fascinating figures, but few of them are more intriguing than Matthew Hopkins. Struggling to place the name? Well, you might know him better as the Witchfinder General. This guy was a real-life bogeyman in the mid-17th century, terrorizing parts of the country in his search to convict alleged practitioners of witchcraft. While Hopkins’ exploits only spanned a couple of years, the grisly results have earned him a place in the darkest corners of England’s history books.
An unshakeable fear of witchcraft
During the mid-17th century, there was an undeniable fear running through England that witches and dark magic actually existed. It was everywhere. But why were people so afraid? What stoked the fires of national uneasiness? Or rather, who?
It’s long been suspected that King James I was responsible for lighting the first match. When he was alive, the monarch couldn’t shake the feeling that witchcraft plagued his lands. So, in an attempt to highlight the issue, he decided to write a book about it.
Demonologie
The 1597 text was titled Daemonologie, and it detailed why James was so sure that witches were running amok around the country. In addition to that, he motivated folks to weed them out, as well as offering an outline of how “witch trials” should be performed.
Given the King’s lofty position, the people of England took his words to heart, kickstarting a relentless wave of suspicion and distrust. How could you live in peace with that kind of fear hanging over your head?
The Witchcraft Act
But while James’ book might’ve been the catalyst for the widespread public fear, it wasn’t the first time that witches had come under the spotlight in England. Some 55 years before then, the Witchcraft Act had been passed.
Quite simply, it meant that you’d be breaking the law by engaging in any kind of magic. All in all, it was a crazy period in the country’s history. And unfortunately, it opened the door to something far more horrific in the 1640s.
The impact of the civil war
At that stage, England was entering one of its most tumultuous spells. Yep, the nation was plunged into a civil war in 1642 as Parliament and loyal followers of the monarchy battled for control. The struggle led to the execution of King Charles I, which subsequently threw public life into disarray.
People were understandably fearful of what the future might’ve held for them. And the continued paranoia over witches didn’t help. Keeping all that in mind, let’s jump ahead to 1644.
Meeting Hopkins
That year marked Hopkins’ first appearance in the history books, when he traveled to Essex, England. A lawyer by trade, he rocked up in Manningtree, one of the area’s local communities, hoping to do business with a nearby innkeeper.
Hopkins had his eye on a particular lodging that he aimed to purchase outright with the inheritance money that came following his dad’s death. But during his time there, he was fatefully introduced to a man named John Stearne.
A fateful partnership
As they got talking, Hopkins soon discovered that Stearne was a “witchfinder.” The title says it all! And the guy had been extremely busy in Manningtree, pointing an accusatory finger at a number of local women.
Given the feelings about witchcraft at the time, which members of the community were going to argue with him? Hopkins certainly didn’t; in fact, he found Stearne’s “job” to be very enticing. One thing led to another, and the pair decided to form a partnership.
The search for evidence
For those who knew Hopkins, this move may not have come as a surprise. After all, he came from a religious family: his late dad was a puritanical preacher. Following the accusations leveled against the local women, he put himself forward to uncover evidence that would strengthen Stearne’s case.
Mind you, Hopkins was not intent on taking on the role of a traditional detective as we’d understand the role today. Rather, to prove that the accused really were witches, he had a nasty set of investigative methods up his sleeve.
Recruiting “seekers”
Yep, Hopkins forced the women to stay awake for days at a time, hoping they’d make admissions of guilt as a result. On top of that, he also recruited another group of women to the cause known as “seekers.”
Their job? To examine each of the captives’ bodies in an effort to uncover the “Devil’s Mark.” This was supposedly a sign indicating that supernatural creatures had been feeding off their blood. Yet identifying these alleged marks was a sketchy business, to say the least.
Getting “results”
According to Hopkins, the “Devil’s Mark” could’ve been anything from a scar to a birthmark. So unless the women had perfect and unblemished skin, they would’ve been in major trouble with the seekers.
Despite the cruel and unfair treatment, though, no one seemingly stood in Stearne and Hopkins’ way as the pair got the results they craved. Of the 36 individuals who received witchcraft charges, 19 of them were deemed to be guilty. The women were subsequently executed via the hangman’s knot.
Moving on to Suffolk
For their part in sealing the convictions, Hopkins and Stearne were both handed a tidy sum of money before leaving the area. And just weeks on from their unsettling exploits in Essex, the duo then arrived in the neighboring county of Suffolk to continue their witchfinding work.
Along with their seekers, they ran the rule over more than 100 local residents who were alleged to be witches in Bury St. Edmunds. Talk about a crazy figure! And what came next was truly shocking.
Staggering numbers
Over the course of just 24 hours, Hopkins and his partner executed no fewer than 18 of the accused after gaining confessions. Only two of them were men. Then, the duo bagged up to 70 more convictions following an additional witch trial.
The figures were absolutely staggering, even accounting for the paranoia was engulfing England at the time. Surely there had to be a limit? Well, Hopkins’ work in Suffolk did make the news a short time later, and the response wasn’t exactly positive.
Pushback?
Yes, the editor of The Moderate Intelligencer news-sheet raised some important questions about what had been going on in Bury St. Edmunds. Its author wondered why women from impoverished backgrounds were seemingly targeted at will by Hopkins and company.
Was Satan really talking to the same group of people on the social ladder? Why not aim for those a little higher up? And if that weren’t enough, the writer also cast a rather disparaging eye on the witchfinders’ overall motives.
“Life is precious”
As we noted a little earlier, the job of a witchfinder was proving to be pretty well-paid. So, the writer wondered whether Hopkins and his partner were doing it for the right reasons. Were the pair just nonchalantly executing folks to bag a big payday?
It’s a disturbing thought and then some. As the news-sheet’s author wrote in their publication, “Life is precious and there is need of great inquisition before it is taken away.” Did those concerns lead to anything, though?
Updated methods
The answer is, not really: Hopkins and Stearne continued to travel around the East Anglian region looking for the next community in need of witchfinders. They reached out to various townships in places such as Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Norfolk, and Northamptonshire.
The duo weren’t lacking options. Plus, following the events in Essex and Suffolk, their methods received a bit of grisly update as well. Let’s focus on the seekers first. Off the back of their work, they were handed a new title: “prickers.”
"Do you bleed?"
Now, the nature of the role itself remained largely the same: the group were still looking for the “Devil’s Mark” on the bodies of the accused. But they had an added responsibility on top of that.
Utilizing knives and needles, the prickers were tasked to prod at the skin of their unfortunate subjects. Should the person have started to bleed or flinch in pain, they were in the clear. If none of that happened, though, Hopkins’ followers suspected that they’d found their witch.
A sinister trick
Sounds pretty horrible, wouldn’t you agree? Yet somehow it gets worse. Given the instruments involved, you’d think most folks would “pass” the prickers’ painful test. That wasn’t the case, though. How?
Well, rumors suggested that Hopkins and company might’ve called upon retractable tools for the job, meaning the blades never actually touched the accused’s skin. Talk about a sinister trick! Speaking of which, the witchfinders’ approach to gaining confessions became even more disturbing than before, thanks to some truly nasty practices.
Pushed to the limit
If you thought sleep deprivation was bad enough, this could leave your jaws on the floor. Yep, Hopkins and Stearne also forced their prisoners to either squat or stand in place for several hours on empty stomachs. They were barred from drinking, too.
The witchfinders keenly observed each excruciating moment to see if their questionable methods bore results. And the duo mixed it up with alternative approaches, such as pushing people to walk until they could barely move their legs anymore.
No-win scenario
As brutal as that was, though, there was only one way to stop it. Hopkins and Stearne would dangle the carrot of respite if a person was willing to admit they were in fact a witch. It was very much an unwinnable scenario.
But it could be argued that none of those methods were a patch on the sheer nightmare that was “ducking.” That the notorious practice is nowadays seen as the most infamous weapon in Hopkins’ dreaded arsenal tells you all you need to know!
“Ducking”
Here’s how it worked: the individual under suspicion was tied up on a chair, before being dropped into a body of water. We’re talking ponds, rivers, that sort of thing. Now, if the chair stayed afloat and the person didn’t sink beneath the surface, that was deemed as surefire proof of witchcraft.
If the poor accused person was submerged prior to getting pulled back up, then they were in the clear. Mind you, there were times when that led to the accused dying anyway, as a result of them drowning.
“Official” witchfinders? Maybe not...
It really was as awful as it sounds! You might reasonably be wondering under whose authority did Hopkins and his partner do all this? How is it that they were allowed to enact these methods in East Anglia without restriction?
Well, if folks back then had the same question, the witchfinders had a seemingly solid response. According to the pair, Parliament had granted them the power to do their work in an “official” capacity. But shockingly, that didn’t prove to be true at all.
Elaborate lies
As it turned out, the two witchfinders had concocted their job titles and qualifications on the fly, acting entirely on their own initiative. So yes, it was actually Hopkins who had come up with the terrifying Witchfinder General moniker!
How on Earth did he and Stearne get away with these blatant lies, though? Surely their word must’ve been contested at some point as they traveled the country? To get around that potential headache, the partners were said to carry some official-looking documents.
Opportunistic actions
Apparently, those documents guaranteed Hopkins and Stearne the freedom to move between communities without hindrance. Don’t forget, the civil war was still raging at that point, so that kind of paperwork was an absolute must.
Yet that’s all the rights the documents granted: there wasn’t anything written down to suggest they were witchfinding on behalf of Parliament. Wild stuff, right? All in all, the pair proved to be incredibly opportunistic, and nothing was standing in their way of keeping their deadly ruse going.
Money talks
Stories about Hopkins’ exploits reached the surrounding towns; these tales just had the effect of earning him and Stearne even more work. And boy, did they charge a premium for their services.
When he was at the peak of his “powers”, the Witchfinder General was pulling in just under $30 for each job. During that period, that was a significant sum of money. Again, it suggested that the writer of The Moderate Intelligencer might have had a point in questioning their true motives!
Raising income tax
Such was the size of Hopkins’ fee, his demands actually altered the economy of certain communities in East Anglia. Take the town of Ipswich, for example, whose decision-makers were desperate to hire the Witchfinder General.
So they bumped up the local income tax payments just to be able to afford him! And Ipswich wasn’t the only town to do so, either. Throughout history, how many people working in an unofficial capacity have ever managed such a successful scam? Not many would be our guess.
Changing tides
But eventually, Hopkins and Stearne did meet a roadblock. Their shocking actions in Bury St. Edmunds hadn’t been forgotten, with more folks growing curious about the brutal practices that had led to the convictions.
In time, the pair found themselves under the microscope of a well-known religious figure as the questions intensified. His name was John Gaule, and oddly enough he held a similar position to that of Hopkins’ late father. Yep, the guy was a Puritan preacher. And he had a lot to say.
A marked man
Gaule was dismayed by what Hopkins and his partner had been doing, prompting him to dedicate portions of his religious talks to decrying them. The Witchfinder General was a marked man in those fiery sermons! Yet his campaigning didn’t end there.
In addition to slamming the pair in front of a live audience, Gaule decided to pen a book as well: its title was Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcraft. The work read as a damning indictment of the par’s actions and methods.
Growing questions
In the book, Gaule detailed the witchfinders’ bone-chilling actions, while openly wondering just how legitimate they actually were. And make no mistake, plenty of people went on to read this text: it wasn’t just passed around in small circles.
As a result, certain individuals in power did start to question it all themselves, too. How were Hopkins and Stearne essentially given free rein to plot a course of terror across the region, while gettng paid for the privilege? The time for a reckoning was approaching.
A tetchy confrontation
So that brings us to Norfolk. Upon their arrival at a local court to submit evidence against even more “witches” in the area, Stearne and Hopkins were confronted by a group of men.
These fellows had all read Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcraft, and they were pretty unsettled by its contents. They threw some tricky queries Hopkins’ way, grilling him on his approach to getting results. And before long, these discussions became extremely heated.
“Abominable, inhumane, and unmerciful”
Yep, it’s fair to say that the group didn’t mince their words as they laid into Hopkins. The guys labeled his trials as “abominable, inhumane, and unmerciful,” while also noting they were “not allowable by law or conscience.”
As a result of the growing scrutiny, the Witchfinder General and his partner started to reassess their situation. Could the duo really continue their work now that more people knew what was going on? In the end, Hopkins and Stearne made a big decision in 1647.
Walking away
Following months on the road, the two infamous witchfinders walked away from the job into an early retirement that year. Stearne settled down in Bury St. Edmunds, while Hopkins went back to the place where it had all started: Manningtree.
As for the total number of deaths they had overseen, estimated figures do vary. BBC Bitesize notes that over 100 individuals were executed in East Anglia during their grisly travels. Yet according to History.co.uk, this figure might’ve been closer to 300.
A startling record
While the final numbers may be contested, though, one thing can’t be denied. Over the course of Hopkins and Stearne’s time in East Anglia, witchcraft allegations went through the roof. No other region in England came close to touching the 250 reported cases there.
But why was the number so high in that particular area? Was it really just down to the Witchfinder General’s grimly ominous presence? Well, experts on the subject believe that there were various factors at play.
What caused the increase?
Unsurprisingly, Hopkins was one of them, with BBC Bitesize arguing that the jump in allegations might not have happened if he hadn’t been around. Mind you, the role of the civil war can’t be discounted, either.
It caused a massive social divide between the wealthy and impoverished, leaving the latter in extremely vulnerable positions. Plus, there was the added paranoia of not knowing which side of the conflict people were on. And the state of religion in England may have been another factor, too.
Perfect storm
During that spell, it was thought that the Protestants were suspicious of the continued practice of Catholicism in other parts of Europe. So, in a bid to “cleanse” England’s social ladder, it’s been suggested that some people targeted certain women and claimed they were witches.
Overall, then, the situation represented something of a perfect storm with Hopkins and Stearne the beneficiaries. But how did the Witchfinder General feel about the backlash that came his way later on?
The Discovery of Witches
Simply put, it appeared to strike a nerve. Not long after he retired, Hopkins penned a book himself to battle the negative perceptions that had arisen thanks to Gaule. It was titled The Discovery of Witches. And the first page got straight to the point!
It read, “The Discovery of Witches: in answer to several queries lately delivered to the Judges of the Assize for the county of Norfolk. And now published by Matthew Hopkins Witchfinder for the benefit of the whole Kingdom.”
A major hit
Hopkins used the book to detail his actions as clearly as possible, hoping that it’d make what happened sound more legitimate. It certainly caught the public’s attention, as The Discovery of Witches went on to be a major hit.
And its success wasn’t just restricted to England, either. Hopkins’ text was welcomed in America as well, at a time when the country was dealing with its own surge of witchcraft paranoia. In fact, folks in New England really took his words to heart.
The Salem Witch Trials
Using the text as a guide, local residents replicated Hopkins’ dreaded techniques during their witchhunts in the area. They got a lot of use as the Salem Witch Trials rumbled on towards the end of the 17th century.
Whether the Witchfinder General had intended for that to happen is anyone’s guess! Back in England, though, the fear of witchcraft started to subside in the late 1600s as science cleared up a lot of the magical allegations. This era has fittingly come to be referred to as the Enlightenment.
Hopkins’ death
But Hopkins wasn’t around to see that significant societal change. He passed away in the summer of 1647: yes, the year of his retirement! It’s suspected that he succumbed to tuberculosis.
Hopkins was still a pretty young man at the time of his death; he was in the latter stages of his 20s. Surprised? We don’t blame you. The Witchfinder General’s most famous representation in pop culture suggested that he was much older at the peak of his powers.
Big-screen success
Yes, Hopkins’ grisly legacy has lived on throughout the centuries, and eventually made its way to the big screen in the late 1960s. It was a horror movie simply titled Witchfinder General, with the iconic Vincent Price taking on the lead role.
Unlike the real Hopkins, the actor was well into his 50s by then! Even so, though, it doesn’t detract from Price’s bone-chilling performance, which the actor himself considered to be his very best.
Back in the spotlight
Mind you, another actor will be getting the chance to play the role soon enough. Back in May 2019 it was confirmed that Witchfinder General would be getting a Hollywood remake titled Witchfinder. It’s still in development at the moment, with John Hillcoat taking the reins as director.
The movie’s producer Rupert Preston told Deadline, “It is set to excite and resonate with a worldwide audience.” If nothing else, it proves that Hopkins’ position as a terrifying figure in history hasn’t diminished in recent times.