Summary of England's Most Famous Witch Hunter | Witches: A Century Of Murder | Absolute History

00:00:00 - 00:40:00

The video discusses the 1645 arrest of Essex witch Elizabeth Clarke, who would be tortured and convicted despite having no concrete evidence. Matthew Hopkins, a man without any legal training, offered to help John Sten and investigate her; the ensuing witch-hunt would be one of the most brutal in English history.

• 00:00:00 In the 17th century, England was gripped by a witch-hunt, with hundreds of people being persecuted and executed for crimes they could not possibly have committed. The most infamous figure in this century was Matthew Hopkins, the finder general, who claimed witches were as real to him as the ground beneath his feet and the sun above his head. Elizabeth Clark, a widow and 80-year-old cantankerous woman, was accused of witchcraft and executed, to the dismay of John Rivert, her husband. If it hadn't been for John Stern, a landowner, Clark might have gone unpunished.
• 00:05:00 The video discusses the 1645 arrest of Essex witch Elizabeth Clarke, who would be tortured and convicted despite having no concrete evidence. Matthew Hopkins, a man without any legal training, offered to help John Sten and investigate her; the ensuing witch-hunt would be one of the most brutal in English history.
• 00:10:00 In the 17th century, witch hunters in England used torture to get confessions from suspects, but old woman Elizabeth Clark refused to confess and was eventually executed. After her execution, other witch hunters used her confession to start their own careers, which led to more witch trials. Four prisoners died from typhus while being transported to Chelmsford courts, and the witch hunters' zeal led to the execution of more witches.
• 00:15:00 Matthew Hopkins, a witch hunter known for his brutal methods, recorded the details of the case himself and how he plead "not guilty" to witchcraft charges against him. The court had an uproar, with spectators heckling and hissing from the gallery. The judge intervened whenever he saw fit, then into the chaos of the courtroom stepped Hopkins, who had something that recent trials lacked - the confession of a witch. This was enough to hang the witches, and Hopkins had a secret weapon - her name was Rebecca West, who had been singled out in jail and offered freedom if she gave evidence against the others. She accepted, and together with 15 other condemned women, they were brought here to where the gallows stood in Chelmsford Market Square. Elizabeth Clark had to be helped up to have the noose put round her neck because of course she only had one leg. Clark's only crime was to be poor, bad tempered and in the wrong place at the wrong time. When Hopkins was launching his career, execution by the short drop was the norm. The victims died slowly of strangulation, making Hopkins reputation and transformed himself into something new and terrifying - a finder general.
• 00:20:00 Matthew Hopkins is famous for his work as a witch hunter in England in the 1640s. In this time, he sent 15 people to the gallows for witchcraft, most notably reverend John Lowe. His success in this field led to a meteoric career, but his increasing confidence led to him breaking the law. This led to a potentially dangerous situation, as no serving clergyman had ever been convicted of witchcraft.
• 00:25:00 In 1645, John Lowe's half-naked body was dragged to the moat at Framingham Castle in order to try and break his alleged witchcraft. James I's book "Demonology" recommended using swimming the witch as a technique, and Hopkins used it. After eight years of torture and false accusations, Reverend Lowe was found guilty of being a witch and condemned to death. However, he read his own funeral service before being hanged.
• 00:30:00 Matthew Hopkins was a notorious witch hunter in England during the 1600s. He was paid by towns and villages for finding witches, and his success led to him being hired by other countries as well. His methods were explicitly banned by law, and he often operated beyond the legal boundaries of his original warrant. Villages and towns used the witch hunts as a form of social cleansing, and Hopkins was simply the well-paid instrument of their will.
• 00:35:00 In the early 1600s, England was plagued by a rash of witch trials, during which Matthew Hopkins tortured and executed hundreds of alleged witches. However, his success eventually led to his downfall, when he was accused of incompetence and self-interest. John Gall, a puritan preacher, took advantage of this situation by preaching against Hopkins openly, and the witchfinder's attack on Gall's book led to his downfall.
• 00:40:00 In 1647, Matthew Hopkins published a pamphlet accusing witches of crimes such as fraud and torture, which backfired. He was eventually killed by tuberculosis. This original copy of his pamphlet contains accusations of torture and illegal imprisonment, which he justified with quotes from King James's book on demonology. His influence continued on into the next century, with more than 500 people being arrested, tried and hanged as witches.