the discovery of witches by matthew hopkins

Hopkins believed that there were several witches regularly practicing their dark arts close to his home and apparently began his career as a witch-finder after he overheard various women discussing their meetings with the Devil in March 1644. An impoverished lawyer with a strong puritanical background, Hopkins appears to have seen it as his mission to destroy anything to do with the “works of the devil”. Records of Hopkins’ early career in the art of witch hunting are a tad vague, however it appears to stem from when he moved to Manningtree, Essex in 1644.

Within the political and religious chaos that reigned throughout the period of the English Civil Wars, one previously unheard of Matthew Hopkins emerged. Such a background led to a heightened public anxiety about witches that would slowly fester in the decades that followed, inspired in no small part by similar concerns across The Channel in mainland Europe. He was so obsessed with the ‘black arts’ that he even convinced Parliament to pass the Witchcraft Statute of 1604, which ruled witchcraft as a crime punishable by death. James certainly had a strange fascination with all things associated with the occult: shortly after assuming the throne, he released his best-selling book, ‘Daemonologie’ which explored the areas of witchcraft and demonic magic. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were united in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland also became James I of England.

The discovery of witches by matthew hopkins