Matthew Hopkins: the Witchfinder General and His Victims

In a reign of terror lasting almost three years Matthew Hopkins, self-appointed Witchfinder General, ranged across East Anglia interrogating and accusing nearly 300 people of the diabolical crime of witchcraft. During this period of religious and civil turmoil caused by the English Civil War the majority of his victims were poverty-stricken elderly widows, although a number of men were tried alongside them. This talk by local historian Stephen Poulter, looks at the strategy which made Hopkins so effective and uncovers the stories of some of the individual women who he bought to a premature death.

Ages 12+