View Hiring Process Guide (Pdf) - St. Mary'S College Of Maryland: Fill & Download for Free

Hopkins – The Real Witch-Hunter - HeritageDaily - Archaeology NewsOn August 27, 1645, the small town of Bury St Edmunds, England set a grisly record.[1] That day, 18men and women were hanged together as witches. It was the single biggest mass-execution for witchcraft in English history, and it was all the work of one man. Matthew Hopkins was many things: a tavern owner, a former lawyer, a dedicated Puritan. But, to the people of Bury St Edmunds, he had only title worth knowing: Witchfinder General.[2]From the 16th century, England was in the grips of hysteria over witchcraft, caused in part by King James VI, who was obsessed with the dark arts and wrote a dissertation entitled “Daemonologie” in 1599. [3] James had been influenced by his personal involvement in the North Berwick witch trials from 1590[4] , and amassed various texts on magical studies that he published into three books to describe the topics of magic, sorcery, and witchcraft, and tried to justify the persecution and punishment of a person accused of being a witch under the rule of canonical law.James VI and I - WikipediaFrom 1604, the law concerning witchcraft intensified. To hang you no longer had to be guilty of murder by way of sorcery, merely attempting to conjure spirits was a capital offense.[5]To bring a witch to trial there had to be witnesses, the more the merrier. And there was nothing like a confession to secure a conviction, though how some confessions were obtained was a concern, even back then. It was useful to be able to show that a witch had been marked by the devil as belonging to him, with places on the body where the witch could not feel pain. 'Prickers' were employed, who used a variety of knives and probes to test their victims for 'devil's marks'.[6] There were the 'tests'. One involved weighing the so-called witch against the big Bible in the parish church.[7] If the Bible was heavier, it proved guilt. But the most famous test was to 'swim' your suspected witch. Trussed crossways, the right thumb tied to the left big toe, and the left thumb to the right big toe, the suspect was ducked in water, as prayers were spoken.[8] If she sank she was innocent, if she floated she was guilty, a sign that the water of her baptism was rejecting her.As more and more witches were brought to trial, the public looked for protection against such evil, turning to the church, or to people offering protective remedies. It was said 'cunning men' could sell you a witch-bottle to protect your home and family[9] , and Bellarmine bottles, with their distinctive bearded faces, seemed designed for the purpose.[10] Recent scientific examination of several found buried under floors of old houses has shown the typical contents to have been iron nails, pins, pointed sticks, human hair, nail-clippings and phosphates, denoting the presence of urine.[11]Mudlarking: Bellarmine Jugs and Witch BottlesThe published works assisted in the creation of witchcraft reform, that led to the English Puritan and writer – Richard Bernard to write a manual on witch-hunting in 1629 called “A Guide to Grand-Jury Men”.[12] Historians suggest that both the “Daemonologie” and “A Guide to Grand-Jury Men” would influence what Matthew Hopkins would draw inspiration from and have a significant impact in the direction his life would take many years later.Matthew Hopkins early life is one steeped in obscurity and myth. Whilst there are no surviving documents concerning the man directly, there are enough periphery records to divide the facts from the fiction. Hopkins was born in Great Wenham, the county of Suffolk, England. He was the 4th of six children. His parents, James Hopkins and Marie Hopkins were both devoutly religious Puritans and his father worked as the minister for St. Johns church of great Wenham.[13] In the will of one Daniel Wyles, dated 1619 is the following entry:“James hopkins, preacher of the word of God at Great Wenham and to his wife, leaving 6s 8d each to their children, James, Thomas and John when able to read a chapter in the new testament, to buy a bible.”[14]Matthew was not born by 1619, suggesting he would have been born in the following several years with most sources attributing his birth no later than 1620. His father’s will was also signed by the executor, a man by the name of Nathaniel Bacon.[15] Bacon was a hardline puritan, Anti-Catholic and held considerable power in the region, where he served in several political positions. His mother, Marie Hopkins was born to a Huguenot family who had left france in 1572, when 40 thousand Huguenots left france following the St. Bartholomew’s day Massacre and settled in East Anglia, the region of England encompassing Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.[16] Suffolk itself was a Puritan stronghold and heavily backed the parliamentarians during the civil war. The family at one point held title "to lands and tenements in Framlingham 'at the castle'".[17]Fralington Castle (Matthew Hopkins: English witch hunter (1620 - 1647) | Biography, Facts, Career, Wiki, Life)Hopkins educational records are equally sparse, though from his later writings, it is known that he could both speak and write English and Latin with a degree of competency. Given that at the time, it was not at all unusual for local ministers to be appointed as Primary teachers as the role of education was annexed out to the churches, it would not be a stretch to assume he was home schooled, which would certainly account for the lack of records.[18]Equally, as he grew older, it would not be untoward to assume he may have schooled for further education abroad somewhere on the European continent. Given his family’s ties with shipping interests in the area, as evidenced in his father’s will dated 1634, having some French or Flemish ties it would not have been unusual to seek higher education on the continent and would once again explain the lack of any formal educational records for Hopkins.[19] This is further backed by his first known job as a Clerk for a shipping company, where the language and knowledge gained from Europe would certainly have helped greatly. After his father’s death, Hopkins moved to Manningtree in Essex and used his inheritance of a hundred marks to present himself as a gentleman to the local aristocracy and purchase the Thorn Inn in Mistley.[20]Who was Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General?There are many legends that state Hopkins worked as a lawyer, mostly due to the manner in which he would later work as prosecutor during the witch trials he became so famous for, however, there is little hard evidence that he ever worked higher in the legal profession than that of Clerk.[21] In fact, in a document titled “Notes and queries of 16th November, 1850”, a manuscript belonging to one W.S. Fitch of Ipswich refers to Matthew Hopkins as:“A lawyer of but little note”.[22]Hopkins’ rise to fame came at a time when England was going through one of its darkest periods to date. Economic depression, religious rivalries, and the ever-present threat of civil war left the population wary and uncertain.[23] These factors combined to form a new climate where superstition and paranoia were slowly gripping the citizens in the countryside, making Hopkins’ arrival all the more fortuitous.Though Hopkins has often been blamed with instigating the panic, he did not do it alone. A combination of factors was responsible for this needless suffering and death, and Hopkins simply acted in accordance with public demand.[24] Hopkins’ efforts were the culmination of many decades of increasing fears of witchcraft in England.Hopkins’ witch-finding career and discovery of witches began in March 1644, when an associate, John Sterne alleged that six women in Manningtree were conducting acts of sorcery and were trying to kill him with witchcraft.[25]He transformed himself into a “Witch Finder Generall,” going about Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Huntingdon getting villagers and townspeople to hire him and his two assistants (for a fee) to search out witches, force their confessions, and have them hanged by the authorities.[26]Hopkins conducted a physical investigation of the women, looking for deformities and a blemish called the “Devil’s Mark” which would lead to 23 women (sources differ in the number) being accused of witchcraft and were tried in 1645.[27] The trial was presided over by the justices of the peace (a judicial officer of a lower or puisne court), resulting in nineteen women being convicted and hanged, and four women dying in prison.COMMENT: The Last Witch Hunter: why modern visions of witches don’t conjure up realityJohn Stearne (c. 1610–1670) was Matthew Hopkins’ associate but is often overlooked in favour of the dark foreboding figure of the ‘Witchfinder General’ – yet it was he who helped, more than any other, to put and sustain Hopkins onto his malign path.[28] A member of the gentry from Lawshall near Bury St Edmunds, his accusations helped bring about the execution of 15 ‘witches’ at Chelmsford in July 1645 and he then travelled and worked with Hopkins as they made their way through East Anglia, exploiting existing animosities in communities that were economically strained and emotionally overwrought.[29]How much Stearne believed in what he was doing is open to interpretation, but both he and Hopkins were not cheap – the town of Ipswich had a levy a special tax to pay for their services.[30] While Hopkins was an opportunist who saw a chance for self-advancement, as a member of the gentry Stearne should probably not have had the same motivation, though he undoubtedly sought the same elevation as Hopkins and it’s worth noting that his later years were packed with acrimonious money troubles.[31] He was also as responsible as Hopkins for bending the truth to suit his mission – when the people of Kimbolton in Huntingdonshire explained that they had searched the body of a “detestable wretch” but found no ‘witch marks’, it was Stearne who assured them that the Devil often taught witches to conceal the marks, especially if forewarned.[32]For John Stearne, the war against witches was another way of fighting the Civil War’ and he was probably heavily influenced by William Perkins’ godly Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft, 1608, but also borrowed at length from Richard Bernard’s Guide to Grand Jurymen, 1627.[33]Delving into Suffolk’s mysterious history of witchcraftAlthough torture was considered unlawful under English law, Hopkins would also use techniques such as sleep deprivation to confuse a victim into confessing, cutting the arm of the accused with a blunt knife (if the victim didn’t bleed then they’d be declared a witch) and tying victims to a chair who would be submerged in water (if a victim floated, then they’d be considered a witch).[34] Finally, the suspect was tied to a chair and forced to sit in uncomfortable positions for several hours.[35] Again, this action was thought to encourage familiars to appear in order to aid the suspect.Unsurprisingly, another consequence of these techniques was often the confession of the accused.The confessions obtained by Hopkins and Stearne were tainted with the fear of further torture and as such are highly unreliable. Under the immense stress of such interrogative procedure, almost anybody would have been compelled to confess to almost anything.After their success in the trail, Hopkins and Stearne travelled throughout East Anglia and nearby counties with an entourage of female assistants, falsely claiming to hold the office of Witchfinder General and also claimed to be part of an official commission by Parliament to uncover witches residing in the populous by using a practice called “pricking”.[36] Pricking was the process of pricking a suspected witch with a needle, pin or bodkin. The practice derived from the belief that all witches and sorcerers bore a witch’s mark that would not feel pain or bleed when pricked.Hanging Witches - this is believed to show Matthew Hopkins being paid for a job well done (Delving into Suffolk’s mysterious history of witchcraft)This proved to be a lucrative opportunity in terms of monetary gain, as Hopkins and his company were paid for their investigations, although Hopkins states in his book “The Discovery of Witches” that “his fees were to maintain his company with three horses”, and that he took “twenty shillings a town”. Historical records from Stowmarket shows that Hopkins actually charged the town £23, taking into account inflation would be around £3800 today.[37] Between the years of 1644 and 1646, Hopkins and his company are believed to be responsible for the execution of around 300 supposed witches and sent to the gallows more accused people than all the other witch-hunters in England of the previous 160 years.Perhaps unsurprisingly given the misogyny of the time, one of the most well documented cases undertaken by Hopkins during his siege of Bury St. Edmunds and perhaps the most important in his undoing, was of a male witch, Reverend John Lowes, an 80 year old minister.[38] Whilst it is relatively unusual that it was the trial of a man and the vast majority of Hopkins witches were Female, it was not the gender of the victim that caused Hopkins reputation to suffer, but his social standing as a Reverend. Lowes was thought to have been something of a contentious character locally and many were keen to accuse him of witchcraft. He was subsequently found to have a teat on his head and two beneath his tongue and was “swam” in very public fashion in the moat of Framlingham Castle.[39] Under interrogation, he admitted to having six imp familiars which he had ordered to sink a ship, killing fourteen men and though this admission was later retracted, it was to no avail and he was hanged along with the seventeen others found guilty.[40]John Lowes was the first foray for Hopkins into what could well have been a politically motivated coupe and the public humiliation of Lowes did not go unseen. People began to express concern over the manner in which admissions were being withdrawn, along with the sheer volume of witches being rounded up and the treatment that Hopkins and Co. were dealing out towards those accused.[41] Editorials in parliamentary papers were speaking out against his torturous actions and Hopkins was ordered to cease his “swimming” activities. Whereby before, Hopkins had boasted he had access to “the devils book” which, he told, documented every witch in England, he now began to distance himself from such rumours as they threatened to turn against him.[42]nquisition-art.netAs 1646 began to draw to a close, The reverend John Gaule, a Puritan cleric of Great Staughton preached openly about Hopkins actions and even begun to associate Hopkins himself with demonic actions.[43] He stood by Lowes as a Godly man and contested his innocence after his death. Gaule set about collecting evidence of Hopkins torture and used it as a centre point when he wrote and published a book named “Select Cases of Conscience Touching Witches and Witchcraft”.[44] In this book, he questioned the existence of Imps and animal familiars, made distinctions between the good workings of a magician and the spells of a witch and scathingly, took Hopkins treatment of those accused to task. In the book, he wrote of the accused:“Every old woman with a wrinkled face, a furrowed brow, a hairy lip, a robber 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 & a dog or cat by her side, is not only suspect but pronounced for a witch”.[45]Public opinion at this point disintegrated for Hopkins at a rapid rate. He found that rather than saviour of the people, he was now being viewed as suspicious in his own right and condemned by the men of power throughout the region.[46] Sensing a losing battle, he retired to Manningtree, cutting his losses and wrote his pamphlet, in which he attempts to justify many of his actions as “the Witchfinder general”. In his short career as witch hunter, spanning less than two years, Hopkins was responsible for between 200 and 300 women trialed as a witch, making up 60% of all witch trials between the early 15th Century and the late 18th Century.[47] In total more people were hanged by his hand than in the entire 100 years previous.Matthew Hopkins - WikipediaBy 1647, Hopkins and Stearne were questioned by justices of the assizes (the precursor to the English Crown Court) into their activities, but by the time the court resumed both Hopkins and Stearne retired from witch-hunting. That same year, Hopkins published his book, “The Discovery of Witches” which was used as a manual for the trial and conviction of Margaret Jones in the Massachusetts Bay Colony on the east coast of America. Some of Hopkins’ methods were also employed during the Salem Witch Trials, in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692–93, resulting in hundreds of inhabitants being accused and 19 people executed.It may be tempting to conclude that Matthew Hopkins was almost singularly responsible for instigating the bloodiest witch panics in English history. This however is an overly simplified view that does not allow for the undeniable participation of both the judicial community and the public at large.[48] The truth is that Hopkins could never have prospered were he not living in an environment that enabled such superstitions to spiral out of control. While he was certainly involved in the trials that resulted from the panics in East Anglia (often placing himself in a favourable position fiscally and politically), he was simply carrying on a historically condoned practice.[49] The rapid rise and fall of Hopkins’ influence and credibility shows that though they were traditionally regarded as less prone to the type of panic that swept through much of the Continent, the English were as susceptible to superstition as other regions during this period.Burial place of Matthew's Hopkins (The ghost of the Witchfinder General from Great Wenham still haunts Mistley)Matthew Hopkins died at his home in Manningtree on the 12th August 1647 of pleural tuberculosis and was buried in the graveyard of the Church of St Mary at Mistley Heath.[50] Historian James Sharpe has characterised as a "pleasing legend" grew up around the circumstances of Hopkins' death, according to which he was subjected to his own swimming test and executed as a witch, but the parish registry at Mistley confirms his burial there.[51] Hopkins "acquired an evil reputation which in later days made his name synonymous with fingerman or informer paid by authorities to commit perjury.[52]Within a year of the death of Hopkins, Stearne retired to his farm and wrote his own manual “A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft” hoping to further profit from the infamous career path both men had undertaken that caused the death of hundreds of innocent souls and in which he attempted to justify their actions.[53]Footnotes[1] Matthew Hopkins Biography – Witchfinder General - Biographies by Biographics[2] Matthew Hopkins, Witch-Finder General[3] Amazon.com: The Demonology of King James I: Includes the Original Text of Daemonologie and News from Scotland (9780738723457): Tyson, Donald: Books[4] North Berwick Witch Trials — Astonishing Legends[5] "An Acte against Conjuration Witchcrafte and dealing with evill and wicked Spirits" (1604)[6] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1296533/pdf/jrsocm..&ved=2ahUKEwiSqLqJ5enqAhVJK80KHVv5BGgQFjAMegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3jW_3QwnIrajNVIW88U8uW[7] 10 Over the Top Historical Tests for "Proving" Someone Was a Witch[8] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wvde.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/How-to-Spot-a-Witch.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwibrsKg5enqAhWUAZ0JHflSBrgQFjARegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw02KPHYLVjdJDlpcdEWOzM0[9] Witch Doctors, Soothsayers and Priests. On Cunning Folk in European Historiography and Tradition[10] 14 - Witch Bottle: Bellarmine Jar - Museum of Witchcraft and Magic[11] Mudlarking: Bellarmine Jugs and Witch Bottles[12] A guide to grand-iury men diuided into two bookes: in the first, is the authors best aduice to them what to doe, before they bring in a billa vera in cases of witchcraft, with a Christian direction to such as are too much giuen vpon euery crosse to thinke themselues bewitched. In the second, is a treatise touching witches good and bad, how they may be knowne, euicted, condemned, with many particulars tending thereunto. By Rich. Bernard.[13] Mistley and the Witchfinder[14] The Dark Histories Podcast[15] Origins of Nathaniel Bacon of Middletown[16] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://practitioners.exeter.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Eastanglianwitchtrialappendix2.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwihj5C90enqAhVBVs0KHVFlDNUQFjAOegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw3II4JPQKM_1jSewhBr1uJt&cshid=1595722538663[17] Matthew Hopkins: English witch hunter (1620 - 1647) | Biography, Facts, Career, Wiki, Life[18] Matthew Hopkins Biography – Witchfinder General - Biographies by Biographics[19] Matthew Hopkins – The Real Witch-Hunter - HeritageDaily - Archaeology News[20] Manningtree, Mistley and the Ghost of the Witchfinder General[21] The Macabre Career of Witch Finder General Belonged to this Scheming Man in the 17th Century[22] Notes and Queries, Number 55, November 16, 1850[23] The Historical Significance of Matthew Hopkins: England's 'Witchfinder General'[24] The discovery of witches: Matthew Hopkins's Defense of his Witch-Hunting Methods[25] Manningtree memorial for accused witches[26] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.york.ac.uk/media/history/documents/case-studies/PrattWitchcraftDestroyed.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiBo_vb1OvqAhWIbc0KHThSCpQQFjAfegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw3NnKYvYC0GwyFK_Px_bfi8&cshid=1595792404859[27] Witchfinder General[28] The Other Side: The Witchfinder General[29] The Witchfinders General: who were the contemporaries of Matthew Hopkins?[30] The Ipswich Witch. Why Mary was burned to death on Rushmere Heath[31] The Other Side: The Witchfinder General[32] The horrors of the 17th Century witch hunts[33] Amazon.com: The English Civil War: A People’s History (Text Only): A People's History eBook: Purkiss, Diane: Kindle Store[34] Matthew Hopkins’ Advanced Interrogation Techniques[35] The Historical Significance of Matthew Hopkins: England's 'Witchfinder General'[36] Witchfinder General[37] Delving into Suffolk’s mysterious history of witchcraft[38] Tragic priest to be commemorated[39] John Lowe (martyr) - Wikipedia[40] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://archive.brandeston.net/John_Lowes-PDF.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwirsbve7unqAhXEVs0KHXbKCokQFjAEegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw1pPd7CaFt03cxGq7NuW2sR&cshid=1595730422218[41] A trial of witches : a seventeenth-century witchcraft prosecution : Geis, Gilbert : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive[42] Pip Wright , Witches in and around Suffolk[43] Alarming Witch Hunt – Another Ancestor Accused –[44] Select cases of conscience touching vvitches and vvitchcrafts. By Iohn Gaule, preacher of the Word at Great Staughton in the county of Huntington.[45] The Dark Histories Podcast[46] Religion and the Decline of Magic[47] Matthew Hopkins | English witch-hunter[48] The Historical Significance of Matthew Hopkins: England's 'Witchfinder General'[49] The Witch Hunt in East Anglia and Beyond[50] Matthew Hopkins: English witch hunter (1620 - 1647) | Biography, Facts, Career, Wiki, Life[51] James Sharpe, Witchcraft in Early Modern England[52] http://Robbins, Rossell Hope (1959), The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology,[53] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.berkano.hu/downloads/stearne.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjs-uHL2unqAhWqB50JHTpPBZcQFjAOegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw2GpTfJ_VmmJIr-wfNBZNn0&cshid=1595724941371