Decline in accusations

• Hopkins’ influence ended when he died of tuberculosis in 1647
• Enlightenment ideas were becoming more common. These demanded a more scientific approach in life. The Royal Society was established in London in 1660 and brought together scientists from a wide range of fields.
• Enlightenment ideas meant that people based their ideas on modern scientific methods, rather than faith and tradition, and that higher standards of evidence were expected in courts.
• However, in some rural communities the belief in witchcraft persisted. The last recorded execution for witchcraft in England was in 1716.