Matthew Hopkins: The Witch-finder General

At the height of the Civil War, a man was to emerge who would be one of the most sinister characters in all English history. Little is known about him. He simply appeared from the ether and then disappeared again; but for 18 months he was to initiate a reign of terror across much of south-east England. He was Matthew Hopkins, the self-appointed Witch-finder General.

Matthew Hopkins was born around 1620, in the town of Grantham, Lincolnshire. Though there can be found reference to him there is no actual record of his birth. His father, John Hopkins was a preacher and successful merchant who had connections with the Puritan settlers who had settled in Salem, Massachusetts. Matthew was one of six children, and though we are aware of the others, so little is heard of him it is believed that he spent his formative years and much of his early life in Salem. We do know that by 1644, he had returned to England and was resident at the Thorn Inn, in the village of Mistley in Suffolk. Soon after his reappearance he embarked on his mission to rid England of the evil of Witchcraft.

His campaign, which began in March, 1645, was to last barely 18 months but in that time he was to be responsible for the execution of 300 suspected witches, mostly women. More than had been executed for the same offence in the previous 150 years. He was to operate mostly in the Counties of Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. During the Civil War this was an area that was firmly under the control of Parliament and the Puritan remit ran unchallenged. The uncertainty, nervousness and anxiety that comes with war and the Puritan paranoia regarding Godlessness and Witchcraft, provided fertile hunting ground for the newly self-appointed Witch-finder General.

Though he later claimed that he began his campaign after over-hearing a group of witches discussing an orgy, and it is possible that he did indeed believe in witchcraft, he certainly carried a book of demonology with him at all times, his motivation appears to have been money. He was paid according to how many witches he successfully prosecuted and at 20 shillings a witch, when the average daily pay was only tuppence a day, it was a lucrative business. He claimed to have a special commission from Parliament (which was a lie) and with his two assistants, the thuggish John Stearne and Mary Phillips, he travelled from town to town announcing himself as the official Witch-finder General of England, commissioned to root out evil. At a time, and in a place, where it was common to put down every misfortune to witchcraft, he was easily believed and no one questioned him.