Witchfinders
Subtitle: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy
Edition: New Ed edition
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: October 31, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 384
ISBN-13: 9780674019768
Subjects: British & Irish history: c 1500 to c 1700; c 1600 to c 1700; History: World; Europe - Great Britain - General; fl. 17th cent; History; History - General History; Witchcraft; England; Hopkins, Matthew,; Witchcraft & Wicca; History / Great Britain; d. 1647; Reference; 17th century; East Anglia; Stearne, John,
Description: "By spring 1645, two years of civil war had exacted a dreadful toll upon England. People lived in terror as disease and poverty spread, and the nation grew ever more politically divided. In a remote corner of Essex, two obscure gentlemen, Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne, exploited the anxiety and lawlessness of the time and initiated a brutal campaign to drive out the presumed evil in their midst ... Malcolm Gaskill retells the story of the most savage witch-hunt in English history ... Though their campaign was never legally sanctioned, they garnered the popular support of local gentry, clergy, and villagers ... [This story] serves as a reminder of the power of fear and fanaticism to fuel ordinary people's willingness to demonize others"--Dust jacket.