In this episode, we break down the origins of the deadliest witch hunt in English history, and how one man became responsible for the arrest and execution of hundreds. Set in the midst of the English Civil War, which threw the country into a state of violent turmoil, we look at the story of Matthew Hopkins, and how this self-styled Witchfinder General came to create this new occupation for himself as fears around witchcraft were once again on the rise. This is a story of an opportunistic man who left a deadly legacy in his wake. How exactly does one become a witchfinder? Tune in to find out...
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Sources:
Matthew Hopkins, The Discovery of Witches: In Answer to Severall Queries Lately… (1647). Made available through Project Gutenberg.
Ellen Castelow, “Matthew Hopkins, Witch-Finder General,” Historic UK (April 4, 2017).
Malcolm Gaskill, Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy (Harvard University Press, 2005).
Diane Purkiss, “Matthew Hopkins and the Panic about Witches,” in Literature, Gender, and Politics During the English Civil War, edited by Diane Purkiss (Cambridge University Press, 2005).
James A. Sharpe, Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in England, 1550-1750 (Penguin, 1996).
Jim Sharpe, “The Devil in East Anglia: the Matthew Hopkins Trials Reconsidered” in New Perspectives on Witchcraft, Magic and Demonology, Volume 3: Witchcraft in the British Isles and New England, edited by Brian P. Levack (Routledge, 2001).
Written and recorded by: Kenyon Payne
Theme music: \"Southern Gothic\" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Outro music: “D´vil,” anrocomposer
Additional featured music
By Kevin MacLeod(incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/:
“Leaving Home”
“Mourning Song”
“String Impromptu Number 1”
“Blue Feather”
“Double Drift”
“Constance”