Witchfinders
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
'The most chilling witch-hunt in English history . . . fascinating' Independent on Sunday
'A terrible tale marvellously told . . . This is how history should be shown' Ronald Blythe
By the spring of 1645, civil war had exacted a terrible toll upon England. Disease was rife, apocalyptic omens appeared in the skies, and idolators detected in every shire. In a remote corner of Essex, two obscure gentlemen began interrogating women suspected of witchcraft, triggering the most brutal witch-hunt in English history.
Witchfinders is a spellbinding study of how Matthew Hopkins, 'the Witchfinder General', and John Stearne extended their campaign across East Anglia, driven by godly zeal. Exploiting the anxiety and lawlessness of the times, and cheered on by ordinary folk, they extracted confessions of satanic pacts resulting in scores of executions.
'Lucid and humane' Hilary Mantel
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Salem, Massachusetts, 1692: discussions of witch hunts generally begin and end then and there. However, as Gaskill, Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, reveals, witch hunts are not unique to this side of the Atlantic, and spectacular witch hunts unfolded in the English counties of East Anglia from 1645 to 1647, in which two rather "minor gentlemen," Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne, each seeing a "future in collaboration with the other," sparked a frightening and unparalleled witchfinding campaign that preyed on the fears and anxieties of "unremarkable people, who, through their eager cooperation with Hopkins and Stearne, themselves became witchfinders." These witch hunts enjoyed widespread support in fervent puritan circles, and by coaxing fanciful confessions out of frightened suspects, Hopkins's and Stearne's "investigations" led to over 100 executions. Skillfully set against the backdrop of the English Civil War of the mid-17th century-pitting puritans against Catholics, Parliament against king-Gaskill explains the enthusiasm for capturing and punishing witches "was therefore partly a reaction against the decline of prosecutions under Charles I, and partly a sign that witchfinding and the persecution of Catholics were linked in people's minds." Many would come to view witchfinding as part and parcel of puritan reform, with Hopkins in the vanguard, fancying himself a "warrior of reformation." This is a fine, convincing narrative; readers of English history will appreciate the fruits of Gaskill's labor, particularly his adroit sourcing of this fascinating story. 2 halftones; 35 line illustrations; 2 maps.
