Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy

Malcolm Gaskill reconstructs the English witch-hunt of 1645–47, when civil-war upheaval, disease, poverty and religious division intensified fears of hidden evil. The book centres on Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne, two men who began investigating suspected witchcraft in Essex before extending their activities across Suffolk and East Anglia.

Their methods included interrogating prisoners and extracting confessions concerning Satan and demonic spirits, while local communities helped accusations reach the courts. By autumn 1647, at least 250 people, mostly women, had been captured, and more than 100 were hanged. Gaskill also examines how a campaign lacking legal sanction gained support from clergy, gentry and villagers, turning suspicion into one of England’s most severe witch-hunts.