Early modern period: 1500 - 1700

• When was the English Civil War?

  1642 - 1649. The execution of King Charles I created a sense of insecurity that lasted for decades
• How did religious changes in 1530s made by Henry VIII change public attitudes?


  Increased public belief in the evil and supernatural
• When was the gunpowder plot?

  1605
• Cause of the gunpowder plot

  James I became king in 1603 and in 1604 he declared his hatred for Catholics. Laws against Catholics were made harsher
• Who was involved in the gunpowder plot?

  Robert Catesby, Guy Fawkes and 11 others
• Guy Fawkes’ role in the gunpowder plot

  He filled a vault beneath the Houses of Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder
• Guy Fawkes’s role in the gunpowder plot

  Filled a vault beneath the houses of Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder
• Why was the gunpowder plot stopped?

  An anonymous letter warned Lord Monteagle not to go to Parliament on the 5th of November, he took the letter straight to Robert Cecil (king’s chief minister)
• were the plotters caught?

  The vaults were searched and Fawkes was arrested. The other plotters escaped but 200 government soldiers caught up to them at Holbeach house where some including Catesby were killed fighting
• How were the plotters punished?

  Guy Fawkes tortured on the rack for three days until he confessed names of other plotters. Plotters were hung, drawn and quarted
• When was Daemonologie written?

  1597 by King James I
• How did the witch hunt begin?

  In 1645, Matthew Hopkins aged 25 and assistant John Stearne began searching East Anglia for witches
• When was the witchhunt?

  1645 - 1647
• How many women did Hopkins label as witches?

  36, mainly old and poor
• Animals Hopkins labelled as familiars

  Mouse, fly, spider
• What did Hopkins regard as a ‘devil’s mark’


  Scar, spot, boil
• Name for hopkins

  Witchfinder general
• between 1645-47 there were at least 100 executions in East Anglia for witchcraft, 19 were women from Manningtree
• It is estimated Hopkins earned £1000 for his services
• in 1542 law was changed so witchcraft couldn’t be tried in church courts
• 80% of those accused as witches were elderly widows or unmarried women
• Justices of Peace (JPs) could send people to the stocks or pillory
• What were quarter sessions?


  from the late 1300s JPs would meet 4 times a year to judge serious cases
• What were County Assizes?


  royal judges visited each county twice a year to deal with serious offences since 12th century
• The Haebeas Corpus Act 1679 was passed to prevent the authorities from arresting anyone without a warrant
• What was the Bloody Code, 1688?


  Name given to the legal system from late 17th century to early 19th century
• Number of crimes carrying death penalty in 1688 was 50, by 1815 it was 225
• By the late 1500s there were many Houses of Correction which became known as Bridewells
• What were scolds?


  Women who were publicly accused of being argumentative, troublesome, or gossiping
• Wages were at their lowest point in the late 1590s since the year 1200
• Why were Christians afraid of vagabonds?


  The Bible says ‘the devil makes work for the idle hands’ so they believed vagabonds would be tempted to commit crimes
• Thomas Harman’s book was published in 1567 describing 23 different types of vagabonds
• What was the language of the vagabonds?


  Canting
• 1531: vagabonds were whipped
• 1547: first offences of vagabondage was 2 years of slavery. second offence was slavery for life
• 1572: first offence of vagabondage was whipped and burnt, second offence was execution
• 1576: Houses of Correction built in every county to hold vagabonds