4.3 the ending of the witch craze Flashcards
(25 cards)
Growing cost
what were the 5 aspects of growing cost in the witch hunt?
- imprisonment
- feeding prisoners
- assizes were expensive
- executions
- fees demanded by Hopkins/Stearne
Growing cost
Imprisonment
cost of prisoners. Ipswich
- 3 pence per prisoner per day
- Eg. Ipswich prisoners cost up to £50 to keep while they waited for their date at court.
- the money collected to keep the suspects wasnt enough
Growing cost
feeding the prisoners
BSE
- Eg. Bury St Edmunds, an officer was appointed to collect bread-money for the witches detained in the jail
Growing cost
Assizes being expensive?
feasts, John Godbold
- funding for judges’ accommodation, horses, heat, food, administrators, and the witchfinders.
- Eg. meat list for 1 assize court included beaf, veal, lamb, duck, pike, carp, and salmon
- Eg. John Godbold from the 1645 trial at Bury St Edmunds sent an invoice of £130 to cover himself and his assistant
Growing cost
Executions
Mary Lakeland.
Eg. one witch executed at Yarmouth, Mary Lakeland, was burned for murdering her husband, and it cost 3x higher than it would have costed to hang her.
Growing cost
Feed demanded by Hopkins/Stearne
payment.
- inns, horses, search-women/watchers wages
- Eg. they complained they had to travel miles and would only be paid 20 shillings (a month’s wages for a labourer)
Growing cost
What did Hopkins and Stearne claim, despite records showing the opposite?
they were only paid 20 shillings
- records showed the figure was much higher
Growing cost
1646 payments in Aldebrugh
total payment being extortionate
- with Hopkins search woman Mary Phillips, he accumulated £6 over 2 visits
- the gaoler recieved £2
- the innkeeper recieved £15
- carpenter £1
- executioner 11 shillings.
- the total £40 was more than 1/7 of the towns entire annual budget.
Growing cost
how did the witch hunt end as a result of growing costs?
Hopkins/Stearne, civil war, stearne’s debts.
-by the end of 1647, Hopkins was dead and Stearne was returning home to his pregnant wife and child.
- the cost was too high to justify further investigations with funds still required to finance the war
there were a number of debts to Stearne he never called in, suggesting he didn’t believe it was worth it. Lawsuits had been filed over wrongful convictions.
re-establishment of traditional authority
most fighting stopped when? what did this mean for the judges and the witches?
- when charles surrendered to the Scots at Newark in May 1646
- East Anglia could then recieve assize judges more regularly
- many suspected witches were being acquitted by late summer.
re-establishment of traditional authority
what happened to the royalists and parliamentarians?
gentry, clergy
- parliament maintained control over the country
- royalist gentry could return to their estates in East Anglia, and began to punish their tenants/servants if they had been involved in fighting for parliament
- clergy members who were accused of having royalist sympathies were taking up new livings.
re-establishment of traditional authority
what was the result of the end of the civil war for the population?
acquittals, scapegoats
- acquittals became more likely
- authorities in towns/parishes were not as fearful as they had been, and didn’t need scapegoats
re-establishment of traditional authority
Hopkins in King’s Lynn 24 September 1646
witches, Judge MC, acquitting.
- gave evidence against 9 witches
- Judge Miles Corbett was alongside the mayor and alderman of the town, along with all JPs
- all prisoners pleaded guilty
- 7/9 of the suspects were acquitted
- Hopkins was given £2 and quickly left.
re-establishment of traditional authority
2 days later, September 1646 at Ely assize court
JG and trial
- judge John Godbold was present at the trial of 3 witches
- all 3 were acquitted
re-establishment of traditional authority
what happened at the Norfolk assizes of 1647?
questioning Hopkins
- presiding judges were given a list of questions compiled by a number of leading gentry who took issue with aspects of the hunt
- this was aided by John Gaule’s scepticism
- most of which Hopkins responded to in his discovery of witches
re-establishment of traditional authority
questions made to hopkins included…
- Was Hopkins a witch
- did hopkins meet the devil and get a list of all witches in england
- where did hopkins learn his skills
- why were so many people condemned for having strange marks, when these can be explained naturally
- if the devil is a spirit, how can he desire to suck the blood of witches
- watching and walking will make people say anything
- swimming test is ilegal, so why did Hopkins insist on using it
- believing the devil has power to kill is blasphemous because God has the power to place limits on the devil
the role of john gaule
Who was John Gaule?
minister of great staughton
the role of john gaule
How did John Gaule become involved with the witchfinders? what did he believe?
parishioners, Huntingdon
- He believed parishioners blaming witches for their misfortunes had sinned themselves
- he visited one of the detained suspects in Huntingdon to hear her account of what happened to her, which didn’t convince him the witchfinders were noble.
the role of john gaule
what was his work criticising them/
Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcrafts. 1646
the role of john gaule
what were his 3 points he pointed out in his work?
- witches were real and witch hunting was practical, but Hopkins/Stearne’s methods were dishonest.
- Witchfinding should be carried out meticulously and cautiously
- witchfinding was becoming idolatrous, people of East Anglia praised the witchfinders more then they praised god.
the role of john gaule
how is his communication with the witchfinders evidenced?
publication criticised..?
reprinting a letter?
- in his publication he criticised ‘watching’ after it had been explained to him
- Gaule reprinted a letter from Hopkins to an anonymous parishoner of Gaule’s known as ‘M.N’ stating he wouldn’t visit Great Staughton without a better welcome
the role of john gaule
how is it clear Gaule was a conservative? where was his anger?
episcopacy, churches, authority?
- he was angry that the hierarchy of bishops that controlled the Church of England (episcopacy) had been eroded during the Civil war
- he was angry churches were being used as stables, and vice versa
- he was aggrieved the witchfinders assumed authority when they had none.
the role of john gaule
John Gaule’s preaches?
- he preached in Great Staughton against the witchfinders
- he interviewed imprisoned witches, spoke to parishioners and his congregation
- he preached confesseions should not be taken at face value, and evidence should be carried out ONLY by magistrates.
the role of john gaule
what was the impact of his attacks on the witchfinders?
- they may not have been popular initially
- but he helped convince judges that the hunt was no longer necessary as authority was re-established and the costs were too expensive.
