Witchfinders

Front Cover
John Murray Press, Apr 24, 2006 - History - 384 pages

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.

 

Contents

Illustrations
Prologue
Strange Effects
The Initiation
Dark Horizons
First Blood
Malignants
Hellish Invention
Contagion
Sticklers
The Biter
Epilogue
Notes
Select Bibliography
Picture Acknowledgements
Copyright

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About the author (2006)

Malcolm Gaskill was born in Suffolk but grew up in Kent. He attended Cambridge University where he read History. He completed a PhD on early modern England, then taught at Keele, Belfast and APU, before becoming Director of Studies in History at Churchill College, Cambridge, in 1999.

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