Causes in east anglia

• Catalyst:

  • crop failure
  • community pressure
  • individual agency
• short term causes:

  • politics
  • war
  • disease
  • economic conditions
• long term causes:

  • demonological ideas
  • legal changes
  • reformation (links with politics and war)
  • climate change
• When did the English Civil War take place?


  1642-1649
• Matthew Hopkins:

  • English witch-hunter during a witchcraft craze of the English Civil Wars
  • March 1644 he alleged his first discovery of witches—six of them, in Manningtree, who he claimed tried to kill him
  • 1644 and 1647 the hapless victims (including a few Anglican clergymen) numbered perhaps 230 or more
  • method was to force the accused to walk about all night, for only when at rest could a witch summon his or her familiars, who would terrify the accusers away. A further test was to fling the accused bound into water, because a witch, having denied his or her baptism,
• 


  Economic crisis:

  • civil war had a negative effect on the economy
  • women and children continued to work - but there was a loss of male workers as they were fighting
  • troops would take food and supplies from neighbouring villages
  • seize grain intended as seed for the following year - threatening future production
  • civil war caused inflation - couldn't afford basic necessities
  • Puritans believed in hard work and thrift - didn't tolerate beggers or idleness
  • poor relief (Elizabethan period) -- led to resenment
• Economic crisis: pt 2

  • many accused witches in Essex came from the margins of society
  • crop failures during the 1640s
  • Puritans reinforced that this was due to God's displeasure
  • increased system of enclosure - forced more poor people out
• How much did grain prices increase by?


  12%
• In the first 3 yrs of the civil war, how much did the price of livestock increase by?

  12%
• What book did Matthew Hopkins write in 1647?


  The Discovery of Witches
• In the Discovery of Witches, how much did Matthew Hopkins charge for his services?


  20 shillings (£1)
• In February 1646, how much was he paid for 2 visits to Aldeburgh?/


  £6 - 120 shillings
• Impact of the War:

  • high taation, inflation, high morality among men
  • loss of central control over the regions
  • loss of regular circuit of law through Judges - led to the Earl of Warwick taking over without political knowledges
  • 1645 - Parlamentarians seemed far from success
  • East Anglia (parliamentarian) were fearful of a royalist invasion
  • tension would be high until the decisive Battle of Naseby in June 1645
• Greed and ambition:

  • Hopkins - originally a lawyer but was deemed unsuccessful
  • Hopkins and Stearne were paid well for investigating witchcraft
  • got paid more than they claimed
  • motivated by financial gain
• Individual Contribution

  • Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne
  • They investigated witchcraft accusations in the region of east anglia
  • From 1645 to 1646
• Religious dimensions to conflict:

  • Parliamentarian were puritans
  • They saw Charles I and Archbishop William Laud as agents of the devil and closet Catholics
  • East Anglia was highly puritan
• Where did the first accusation come from?

  the community
• Who alerted the authority to the witch problems?

  John Stearne
• Could Elizabeth Clarke's sleep deprivation be seen as a form of torture?


  yes, a lack of sleep can cause hallucinations
• Various familiars were observed by Hopkins and Stearne during their vigil. They took the form of animals. What might these creatures actually have been?

  Shadows
• Why do you think the magistrate , Harbottle Grimstone, wanted to know about accomplises?


  Witches were apart of a coven -- to wipe out witches
• Breakdown of traditional authority:

  • east anglia was Parlimants main recruiting ground for troops in the civil war -- few adult men left
  • traditional church authority was undermined by the war - church had purged 'Laudian' heretics -->> replaced them with Puritans
  • local gentry undermines - many were fighting
  • legal system was disrupted -- normally important cases were tried at the Assizes by judges
• When was the Arcbishop of Canterbury executed for treason?


  1645
• Who else had passed witchcraft acts?

  Henry VIII and Elizabeth I
• What did the Puritan faction believe about King Charles I?


  he was an agent of Satan as he had married a catholic.
• Religious Background:

  • Puritans believed that there was increasing use of Catholic beliefs within the Church
  • traditional entertainments were seen as sinful