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

this is the british isles 400 years ago you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead [Music] mass trials and executions erupted across the country and the reason for the chaos and violence witches people were convinced they sank ships brought famine and disease murdered and maimed because witches worked for satan hundreds of innocent people were persecuted tortured and put to death in a hysterical effort to stamp out the scourge of witchcraft imagine living in that world you could be accused tortured and executed on the basis of nothing more than gossip and superstition how could such a deadly and violent idea have got so out of control in britain what drove the persecutors to such awful lengths and what was it like for the victims who were tortured and executed for crimes they couldn't possibly have committed for over a hundred years shocking witch trials swept across the british isles and the most infamous figure in that whole terrifying century was matthew hopkins which finder general tell me the truth i am your confessor [Music] ah this is the sleepy village of manning tree on the river's tower in essex in 1645 something apparently trivial happened here that grew to engulf this corner of england in a frenzy of paranoia that would leave more than a hundred innocent people dead it all started with a sick woman she was the wife of local tailor john rivet on march 21 1645 rivet petitioned two magistrates who were visiting manningtree he believed they could save her my wife has been struck down by an all-consuming fever that threatens her life at first she complained of dizziness and nausea but now she is confined to her bed her body flushed hot and cold her senses dulled this is something more than merely natural my wife is bewitched to people of the time this was a completely rational explanation witches were as real to them as the ground beneath their feet and the sun above their heads they believed the devil made a pact with witches sealed by sex [Music] and that the devil gave witches supernatural powers to maim and to kill people were terrified of them in the 17th century life was often nasty brutish and short everyone was looking for someone to blame when things went wrong so it makes sense that a person like john rivert grasted witchcraft as an explanation for his wife's otherwise inexplicable illness my wife is bewitched by elizabeth clark elizabeth clark was well known around manning tree she was around 80 years old she was a widow she was poor and she had only one leg she was also famously cantankerous much given to cursing with a quick temper she wasn't well liked rivet wanted elizabeth convicted and executed to save his wife but even in the 17th century accusations alone were not grounds for arrest and so it might have ended there if it hadn't been for one man local landowner john stern we have evidence to support gum river's clay stern carried eyewitness statements that would transform this from a minor local incident into a catastrophe in the statements locals said elizabeth clark had not only refused to deny being a witch she'd also claimed to know plenty of other witches so they'd better watch their tongues stern's eyewitness accounts changed everything the magistrates gave stern a warrant to investigate the claims it backed him with the full weight of the law he could use anything short of torture to question elizabeth clarke and any other suspected witches living in essex essentially they'd given stern a man with no legal status at all a freelance license to hunt down witches it was this warrant that started the most brutal witch-hunt in english history but it wasn't stern who would drive it it was a young man standing quietly at the back of the room his name was matthew hopkins matthew hopkins was born in the 1620s though we don't know exactly what year what we do know is that his father was a strict puritan preacher from an early age matthew would have been immersed in his father's faith he was brought up to believe that it wasn't enough just to believe in christ he also needed to demonstrate his faith through public acts and in that manning tree meeting room hopkins saw an opportunity to do just that hopkins offered to help stern investigate elizabeth clark but proving her guilty would not be easy king charles the first had suppressed witch hunting by requiring extremely demanding standards of evidence in the last 20 years very few witches had been convicted but charles was now losing control and civil war had broken out this violent chaos came as no surprise to the puritans who dominated east anglia they were expecting it they believed it signaled the end days before the apocalypse when the devil would walk the earth so finding witches living amongst them was exactly what they had anticipated this collision between the terrifying chaos of war and rigid puritan beliefs created the perfect conditions for witch hunting so hopkins opportunistic approach to stern was perfectly timed stern accepted his help matthew hopkins was on his way to launching the most brutal witch hunt in english history [Applause] [Music] matthew hopkins and john stern two men with no legal training whatsoever had been given a warrant to interrogate suspected witch elizabeth clark on friday the 21st of march 1645 a group of women chosen by hopkins and stern went to elizabeth's cottage [Music] the women stripped and searched her looking for the devil's mark people believed that the pact between the devil and the witch was consummated with sex he would then mark her body the devil often concealed these marks beneath the witch's body hair the searchers would do whatever it took to find it a devil's mark could be any skin blemish a mole even an age spot so the chance of finding something on an elderly woman was pretty high they found the mark hidden on elizabeth's genitals this was an appalling level of casual brutality imagine the shame and humiliation for elizabeth clarke remember we're talking about an old and disabled woman as a widow she didn't even have the protection of her husband but the mark alone wasn't enough to be certain of a conviction they needed elizabeth to confess hopkins and stern's warrant restricted them to operating within the law which excluded torture so to get what they needed they would have to be creative elizabeth clark was tied to a chair and deprived of sleep wake up hold on in the 17th century sleep deprivation by the thinnest of margins was legal are you a witch no not i don't hopkins henchmen worked on elizabeth in shifts keeping her awake for three days and nights wake up but elizabeth clark must have been tough as old boots because she still would not confess on the third day hopkins and stern paid her a visit it was the first time hopkins had come face to face with elizabeth do you know who i am old woman i'm your confessor when did you sign a pact of the devil what sins have you committed in his name continue hopkins was never going to give up it was all too much for elizabeth stop please stop talk then old woman in what form did the devil come to you he was a tall proper black-haired gentleman a proper man and you yourself come to me three or four times in a week to my bed chamber and go to bed with me i never deny him imagine the depths of degradation to which elizabeth had been exposed she'd been brutalized starved and denied water and sleep and although she was clearly made of strong stuff the elderly widow finally broke that gave her the dubious privilege of becoming hopkins first victim and what elizabeth did next doomed many more victims to follow her [Music] she said that she was part of a covenant there were more witches out there for hopkins to hunt down after torturing elizabeth clark matthew hopkins and john stern used her confession to forge new careers for themselves careers that had never previously existed in england they became freelance witch hunters hopkins and stern used the manning tree warrant to begin hunting down the people elizabeth clark had named elizabeth was arrested in march six more arrests followed in april by june as hopkins and stern hit their stride the number had swollen to at least 30. the suspects were brought here to colchester castle and conditions in this jail were appalling the prisoners were shackled day and night and routinely beaten by the guards there was no light no space no sanitation by june four prisoners had already died most probably from typhus [Applause] on the 17th of july 1645 the survivors were herded onto carts bound for the courts at chelmsford for many of them it wasn't the first time they'd been arrested for witchcraft but previous cases had been dismissed for lack of evidence perhaps they expected the same result this time if so they reckoned without matthew hopkins zeal he was determined to rid the world of satan's agents elizabeth clark was tried with the first group of suspects hopkins recorded the details of the case himself how do you plead i am innocent the court has an uproar at the back spectators heckled and hissed from the gallery and the judge intervened whenever he saw fit then into the chaos of the courtroom stepped matthew hopkins clark was apprehended and searched and found upon her three teeth so upon command from the justice they kept her from sleep two or three nights immediately after this this witch confesses several other witches hopkins had something that recent trials had lacked the confession that he'd extracted from elizabeth the confession of a witch in my judgment is enough to hang a witch and hopkins had a secret weapon to convict the rest of the coven her name was rebecca west [Music] he had singled her out in jail and offered her freedom if she gave evidence against the others the alternative was conviction and death so unsurprisingly she accepted [Music] we came to the house where there were five witches they commanded their spirits some to kill a man's horse some to lame a cow lame a child rebecca's testimony sealed the fate of the accused women culpabilities of non culpabilities fifteen of the accused including elizabeth clark were found guilty and sentenced to death hopkins was victorious it was the largest number of convictions in a single witch trial in english history on friday the 18th of july elizabeth clark together with 14 other condemned women was 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 elizabeth 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 [Applause] execution was by the short drop the victims died slowly of strangulation these deaths made hopkins reputation used this to transform himself into something new and terrifying hopkins gave himself a grand new title which finder general he became unrecognizable from the man who had stood quietly at the back of the meeting room in manning tree this is a contemporary portrait of hopkins notice what he's wearing he's got a high crowned hat boots spurs and he's carrying a staff he's the very image of a respected country magistrate when someone dressed like this walks into a room people are going to sit up and pay attention and i think it's obvious that hopkins has dressed himself like this to have the appearance of authority i mean what does a man in his 20s need with a staff except to have the symbol of a rank that he doesn't actually possess in just four short months hopkins had become one of the most feared men in eastern england his career was on a meteoric path in the previous 20 years just two women had been executed for witchcraft in east anglia culpabilities so non golden brothers hopkins had now sent 15 to the gallows in a single day this wasn't just good for god it was good for business because hopkins received a fee for everyone news of his success at the chelmsford witch trials began to spread beyond essex this is all saints church in brandeston suffolk in 1645 the parishioners here published a pamphlet that accused a local man of witchcraft hopkins offered to help expose the witch but he had absolutely no legal right to do so hopkins original permission came from two magistrates in essex which meant he actually didn't have legal authority to operate in other counties such as suffolk but hopkins was clearly feeling very confident and why not not only did he genuinely think that he was doing god's work but also in the chaos of civil war who exactly was going to stop him this wasn't the only sign of hopkins growing confidence because the witch he went after in suffolk wasn't some poor unloved one-legged old crone it was an ordained clergyman hello is there somebody there [Music] reverend john lowes had been the vicar at brandeston for over 40 years [Applause] but he was so disliked that his parishioners described him as naught but a foul witch such a conspicuous target was risky for hopkins no serving clergyman had ever been convicted of witchcraft in england so in this case more than any other hopkins simply had to get a result your parishioners think you're not but a witch we'll see as ever what hopkins needed was a confession to extract a confession hopkins reused the procedure that had worked on elizabeth clark sleep deprivation but hopkins had refined his technique instead of tying john lowe's to a chair he made him run up and down the room every few minutes lowes was walked constantly for days when did you make the pact with the devil confess tell me the truth i am your confessor hopkins had successfully used sleep deprivation many times to get a confession it was the most extreme technique he could legally apply but this time it had failed hopkins new career was under threat hopkins had built an entire reputation on getting results when no one else could so he took a momentous step in order to get the results he wanted he would break the law of the land after all in his mind he was doing god's work matthew hopkins had a problem he could not get vicar john lowes to confess to witchcraft it threatened to damage his flawless reputation for success [Music] to win hopkins would now do absolutely anything including breaking the law on a freezing day in the winter of 1645 hopkins men dragged vicar john lowe's half naked and terrified here to the moat at framingham castle to try and break lowe's hopkins used a technique known as swimming the witch it came highly recommended james the first had written about it in his book demonology he said that by accepting the devil the witch rejected the sacred waters of baptism and as a result the water would reject the witch's body and he or she would float if the suspect floated he was a witch and should be executed but if the suspect hadn't rejected the waters of baptism then he would sink as the waters embraced him and he was proved innocent of course there was also a great chance that he would drown so by the time he arrived here sink or swim john loads was a dead man whatever james the first may have said about this test it was considered torture and therefore highly illegal but hopkins believed he could get away with it as long as it got results this decision would come back to haunt him the eight-year-old vicar was bound with ropes and thrown into the ice cold moat face down partially drowning it must have been a terrifying ordeal [Music] there's no record of how many times john lowe's was plunged into the water all we do know is the torture finally broken my imps killed cattle and sank ships hopkins was victorious [Music] but there was one thing lowes would not admit i never made confidence my familia tried to persuade me to do so [Music] unlike the other accused lowe's never confessed to making a pact with the devil he gave hopkins enough rope to hang him but he never truly broke his covenant with god he was after all a man of the cloth you have to admire someone who clung to what he believed was right through the appalling sleep deprivation and partial drownings and still would not yield that final inch but hopkins gamble to use torture had paid off and by the time reverend lowe's was hauled into court a few months later hopkins already had 90 other witches on trial on that same day so the old ministers claimed that he'd been tortured had no chance of a fair hearing he was found guilty of being a witch and was sentenced to death in the summer of 1645 as reverend john lowe's stood at the gallows awaiting his death he read his own funeral service i am the resurrection and the life he who believeth in me yea though he were dead he had asked to do it himself he probably didn't trust the ungodly people around him [Music] and who could blame him [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign hopkins had now had a sitting vicar convicted and executed he was using interrogation techniques that were expressly banned by law and he was operating in seven counties across the south east of england far beyond the legal limits of his original warrant and no one stopped him [Music] and i suspect there's a good reason for that what's really interesting about his success is that although hopkins called himself a witch finder he didn't actually have to find a single witch locals were doing all that for him look at elizabeth clark the local community essentially offered her up on a plate she was bad tempered and poor a charity case who was a drain on village resources and all she offered in return was cursing and swearing and john lowe's parishioners hated him so much they published a pamphlet denouncing him as a witch how much easier life would be if people like that simply disappeared it's hard to avoid the conclusion that towns and villages were using the witch hunts as a form of social cleansing and matthew hopkins was simply the well-paid instrument of their will by the summer of 1646 villages and towns across the southeast of england were clamoring for hopkins help in july he was in norwich where 20 witches met their end in september he was in yarmouth where 11 more were tried hopkins scored more successes at yoxford wesselton and great glenum at its widest his territory now spanned 300 miles hopkins was now overseeing hundreds of interrogations and attending countless trials and he was receiving a fee for everyone but this success was storing up trouble for the witchfinder [Music] the first warning signs can be found here in the archives of the east suffolk records office these are accounting ledgers from 1645 and 1646 they detail payments made to hopkins [Music] in kingsland they pay 15 pounds to mr hopkins for interrogating suspected witches and a few weeks later they give him another three pounds for acting as a witness in order we have him paid on a regular basis so we have here on the 8th of september to mr hopkins a gratuity for being in town for finding out witches of two pounds he's paid the same amount on the 20th of december and again on the 7th of january and here in stone market we have that he's paid 23 pounds in the spring of 1646 matthew hopkins may have started out doing god's work but he had turned it into a very lucrative business the witch finder general's fee wasn't the only cost these accounts from order bro tell us how much it cost to execute a witch so this reference here says to william daniel for the gallows and setting them up one pound and for henry lawrence the roper for seven hauters and for making the knots eight shillings we've got a cost here for the sundry men for watching days and nights over the witches 13 chillings and tempens in total it adds up to something like 40 pounds which would have been a seventh of the town's yearly income and to pay it the town had to raise a massive additional tax and it seems that this was a pattern that was repeated wherever hopkins went in short matthew hopkins witchfinder general was starting to hit people where it mattered in their pockets matthew hopkins reign of terror was about to come crashing down around him matthew hopkins career as a freelance witch hunter had been a spectacular success in just two years he'd been responsible for the torture and execution of hundreds of accused witches but this success would ultimately bring him down [Music] people began to complain about the executions it wasn't the killing they minded it was the cost at brandeston and suffolk for example parishioners refused to pay for the execution of their own vicar john lowes people with serious objections to the witchfinder's cruel methods now joined the growing chorus of opposition against him one man in particular would go to any length to bring him down john gall was a puritan preacher here in the village of grant staunton he hated everything that matthew hopkins stood for and when he heard that the witch finder general was planning to come to his parish he began to preach openly against him the office of witchfinder is exceedingly doubtful a trade that was not taken up in england till this time it was risky for a lowly priest to take on the superstar status of hopkins but ghoul was too angry to care he accused hopkins of incompetence and self-interest hopkins response to google sermons was to go on the attack [Music] he wrote to one of guru's parishioners warning of the consequences of disagreeing with him on the matter of witches he writes i have known a minister in suffolk preach as much against their discovery in a pulpit and forced to recant it in the same place this letter was a thinly veiled threat [Music] he was reminding reverend gaul that he'd already sent one vicar john lowes to the gallows he could easily do it again but hopkins was being overconfident ghoul wasn't intimidated instead he went public this is a copy of the book that jungle wrote it's called select cases of conscience touching witches and witchcraft and in it he says that hopkins is just choosing easy targets he says every old woman with a wrinkled face a furrowed brow a hairy lip a gobbler tooth a squint eye a squeaking voice or a scolding tongue and a dog or cat by her side is not only suspected but pronounced for a witch gore went on to say that hopkins had lucrative skill which is to say the whole thing was a money-making scheme that the witch finder had no special skill or ability and was a job that hopkins had simply invented it was a pretty damning attack when gaul's book was published it caught the attention of a group of influential norfolk gentlemen when they read it they were outraged in spring 1647 they went into open court in norwich to present their objections to visiting westminster judges hopkins abusive techniques and his cavalier attitude to the law would be his undoing they must be tortured make them say anything which is a way to tame a wild cult besides this unnatural watching they were extraordinarily warped till their feet were blisted and so through that cruelty forced to confess hopkins wisest course of action would probably have been to ignore the accusations [Music] but they had thrown down a gauntlet and hopkins picked it up [Music] he printed the accusations in a pamphlet alongside his defense it was a disastrous mistake this is an original copy of matthew hopkins pamphlet it's called the discovery of witches and in it he prints the allegations made by the norfolk gentleman against him alongside his responses this one says all that the witch finder does is to fleece the country of their money therefore he rides goes to towns to have employment promises them fair promises but it maybe does nothing for it hopkins denies everything i demand for 20 shillings a town and that is the great sum it takes me to maintain a company with three horses we know from the surviving financial records that hopkins was lying he was routinely paid far more than 20 shillings but the most astonishing thing about this book is that he reprints accusations of illegal torture there have been an abominable inhumane and unmerciful trial of these poor creatures by tying them and heaving them into the water a trial not allowable by law or conscience and i would feign know the reasons for that hopkins justified his use of torture by quoting king james's book demonology king james in his demonology saith it is a certain rule for saith he witches deny their baptism when they covenant with the devil so hopkins justification was that james a king who had been dead for 22 years had once approved of swimming witches this was no kind of legal defense hopkins failed to appreciate the danger of publicizing the accusations of illegal torture and of fleecing the public demand for his skills evaporated the witch finder general had hunted his last witch [Music] we'll never know if hopkins would have ended up in court for breaking the law because fate intervened first on thursday the 12th of august 1647 in the village where his spectacularly bloody career began barely two years earlier hopkins died most probably of tuberculosis in his short career he'd been responsible for the death of over a hundred innocent people [Music] perhaps hopkins truly believed he was doing god's work but he was also a ruthless opportunist who used the persecution suffering and death of innocent people to make his name and fortune the hatred and hysterical fear of witches that he kindled was not easily extinguished over the next hundred years more than 500 innocent people were arrested tried and hanged in the british isles as witches hopkins malign influence even crossed the atlantic a trial 45 years after his death advocated the course that hath been taken in england for the discovery of witches hopkins had found new admirers in a small east coast town in the americas it was called salem the 20 witches executed there added to hopkins legacy of suffering and death

Channel: Absolute History

Views: 54,699

Keywords: history documentaries, absolute history, world history, ridiculous history, quirky history, matthew hopkins, witchfinder general, english civil war, witch trials, suzannah lipscomb

Id: nDpeniMaj3M

Length: 44min 27sec (2667 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 04 2021