BP3: The Ending of the Witch Craze

Various costs involved in hunts?

Various costs involved in hunts?

• imprisonment - around 3 pence per prisoner per day

• feeding prisoners - Bury St Edmunds had an officer just for this

• assizes - judge at BSE charged £130 for his assistants fees

• executions - costs £3

• Fees demanded by Hopkins and Stearne - 20 shillings (probs more)

Examples of expensive hunts?

Hunt at Aldeburgh cost more than £40

When did Hopkins die?

1647

What did hunting become viewed as after 1647?

An unnecessary luxury

What suggests that Stearne was aware of the futility of pursuing the hunts?

He never called in a number of debts owed to him about his works

When did the majority of fighting in the Civil war cease, and what did this mean for EA?

When Charles surrendered to the Scots at Newark in May 1646, EA was able to receive the assizes more regularly

How did the return of royalists disrupt the trials?

Royalist gentry and clergy were able to return - the Puritan dominated pursuit of witches was being disturbed by previously established authority

What did Royalists do when they returned?

Punished their tenants for fighting for parliament

Why did acquittals become more likely after the end of the war?

Parishes were not as fearful as they had been, they were less in need of scapegoats

1st case signaling end of Hopkins and Stearne’s declining authority?

King’s Lynn 24th September 1646

• had to give evidence against 9 witches

• Miles Corbett was judge - had prev. convicted witches

• all prisoners were found not guilty

• Hopkins given £2 for his testimony

2nd case signaling end of Hopkins and Stearne’s declining authority?

26th September 1646 at Ely

• 3 witches tried

• John Godbold as judge

• All 3 were acquitted - possibly at the direction of the judge

What happened at the Norfolk assizes 1647?

• leading gentry who took issues w/ the hunts compiled questions for the judges

• questions were influenced by Gaule’s book

• included stuff about witch marks, was Hopkins a witch if he knew sm about sorcery, how is the Devil on Earth having sex with witches if he is a spirit, etc?

How did the judges at the Norfolk assizes suggest that Hopkins was blasphemous?

Because God had placed limits on the Devil’s power yet Hopkins suggested he has the power to kill and maim

Who was John Gaule?

The minister of Great Staughton in mid-1646

What was Gaule’s opinion on witches?

A number of his parishioners blamed them for their misfortunes, Gaule thought it was their own sins

What made Gaule increasingly critical of Hopkins’ work?

He visited a detained witch at Huntingdon and heard what happened to her

What did Gaule publish, and what did it say?

• Select Cases of Conscience Touching Witches and Witchcraft 1646

• Witches existed and hunts were nescessary - but not with methods like Hopkins

• asked for common sense and restraint

• said it should be carried out meticulously and cautiously

• claimed that ppl praised witchfinders more than God (idolatry)

Gaule’s political views?

• conservative, adverse to change + holds traditional values

• complained about the removal of episcopacy (hierarchy of bishops in CofE)

• critical about witchfinders assuming authority where they had none

Gaule’s preaching campaign?

Asked the congregation to consider how unlikely it was that every witch found had a connection w/ the Devil, argued that a more rigorous investigation should take place - confessions not being taken at face value

Impact of Gaule’s preaching campaign?

Helped to convince the authorities that the hunt was no longer necessary as traditional authority was re-established and the costs of investigations spiralled.