As retailers across the region stock up on Halloween-themed items from toys to disposable plates, one reoccurring motif on them is that of the witch’s hat. The pointed black appendage is famous the world over and thanks to modern books, television, and films, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the Harry Potter series, the wearers are often heroic and inspiring.
The historic reality however is far more bleak and deadly and in Britain, East Anglia was to play a central role.
The death toll of witches
Witch hunts were common throughout Europe between 1300 and 1850. It will never be known how many people were put on trial for witchcraft. Some estimate around 42,000 people, but it may be as high as 90,000 across the continent. In both cases though, around half of that number went on to be executed.
The ratio of men to women accused varies, with around 70% being women. However in Scotland it was higher, at 84%, with up to 4,000 executed. England saw around 1,000 killed in the same period.
The first law in England concerning witchcraft was introduced by Henry VIII in 1542. The Act made the practice of witchcraft punishable by death. It was replaced by the Witchcraft Act of 1604, enacted by James I, a man who even when he was James the VI of Scotland, displayed a dark fascination with the supernatural.
A king’s obsession
Following the execution of James’s mother Mary in 1587 and then fearing for the life of his future wife, Anne of Denmark, on her marriage trip when violent storms impeded the fleet, James returned to Scotland convinced he was the victim of a curse. Once ashore he ordered a witch hunt on a scale unseen before in Scotland. Eventually 70 suspects ‘confessed’ under torture, cementing his belief.
James I is the only monarch in history to publish a book on witchcraft. Called Daemonologie, its purpose was not only to silence the doubters of the existence of witchcraft, but also to inspire those that chose to hunt them.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, he become James I of England and is remembered for facing the Gunpowder plot, publishing a revised version of the Bible and uniting England and Scotland. But less so for enacting the Witchcraft Act of 1604 and revising the phrase “Thou must not suffer a poisoner to live” to “thou must not suffer a witch to live” in the 1611 bible.
It was just forty years later, as the Roundheads and Cavaliers fought a civil war for the future of the monarchy and parliament, that James I’s rallying cry from Daemonologie was answered.
The Witchfinder General
This is where East Anglia comes in. Matthew Hopkins, a lawyer by trade, began his search for witches in the region in 1645. Those accused would be blamed for using harmful magic on neighbours or livestock and in turn evidence of their guilt would be determined by the presence of scars or marks on the accused person’s body.
Hopkins gave himself the title of “Witchfinder General” and would falsely claim to have been given permission by parliament to hunt for witches. What is not disputed was that he would be paid for his work. Towns in which he operated would pay the twenty shillings for his work although records in Stowmarket show he was paid £23 – the equivalent of £21,000 in today’s money.
With this financial incentive driving him, Hopkins, accompanied by his colleague John Stearne, would name some 300 women as witches in 1645 alone. Hopkins even published his own book, ‘A Discovery of Witches’ about his exploits. And it is Bury St Edmonds that has the ignominy of being the location for the largest witch trial in England. 18 people were hung for witchcraft in what is now the market square.
Confessions would be gained after those accused had been subjected to sleep deprivation and forced starvation. Other methods of determining if a person was a witch would include cutting them with a blunt knife: if they did not bleed, then they were guilty. Another was the process that Hopkins called ‘swimming’, more commonly known as the dunking stool. This would involve a person being tied to a chair and lowered into a body of water. If they floated, they were guilty, if they stayed submerged, they were innocent. Fye Bridge in Norwich is believed to be one such location where people were submerged.
Between 1645 and 1647 it is believed that 112 people were either drowned or hung for the crime of witchcraft as a result of the actions of Hopkins. Hopkins died in 1647, with Stearne stating in his own book “A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft” that Hopkins had died ‘peacefully in his sleep’. He is buried in Mistley, Essex.
Today’s witch hunters
An exhibition about the Witch Trials in Suffolk may be seen at the Sudbury Arts Centre until 31 Oct and then in The Bull pub, Long Melford after which it travels to Elmswell Library.
Speaking to the BBC, Nadia Cenci, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member for communities, said she was “excited” about the exhibition and how it could help change the narrative.
“This fascinating collaboration finally sheds light on those persecuted, and the legacy of the fear and loss that ripped through communities.”
The witch hunts have long since passed into history, yet we are perhaps not as enlightened as we’d like to believe. In their day, were they the means to rid oneself of those who challenged your own beliefs or power? Turn on the news and you will see that intolerance has moved onto new pastures and mobs, clothed in good intentions, but still hound the innocent.
On Hallowe’en it may just be children knocking on your door. But for others in these modern times, it may be something far more pernicious and far from supernatural.
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