Matthew Hopkins was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He was mainly active in East Anglia and claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament.
Witchfinder General was the self-styled title of English witch hunter Matthew Hopkins.
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of novelisations and other assorted books based on the popular science fiction television series Doctor Who. Their first publications based on the serial were reprints in paperback of three novels which had been previously published as hardbacks: Doctor Who and the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Crusaders by David Whitaker, and Doctor Who and the Zarbi by Bill Strutton. As these sold well further novelisations of the show were commissioned. In 1975 Universal-Tandem was sold by its American owners, the Universal-Award group, to the British conglomerate Howard and Wyndham. The company was renamed Tandem Publishing Ltd before being merged with the paperback imprints of Howard and Wyndham's general publishing house W. H. Allen Ltd to become Wyndham Publications Ltd in 1976. However, during 1977 and 1978 the Wyndham identity was phased out and, until 1990, Target books were published by 'the paperback division of WH Allen & Co'.
Manningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It is part of the Suffolk Coast and is an Area of Natural Beauty.
Witchfinder General is a 1968 British period horror film directed by Michael Reeves and starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Hilary Dwyer, Robert Russell and Rupert Davies. The screenplay, by Reeves and Tom Baker, was based on Ronald Bassett's 1966 novel Witchfinder General. The film is a heavily fictionalised account of the murderous witch-hunting exploits of Matthew Hopkins (Price), a lawyer who falsely claimed to have been appointed as a "Witch Finder Generall" by Parliament during the English Civil War to root out sorcery and witchcraft. The plot follows Roundhead soldier Richard Marshall (Ogilvy), who relentlessly pursues Hopkins and his assistant John Stearne (Russell) after they prey on his fiancée Sara (Dwyer) and execute her priestly uncle John Lowes (Davies).
Michael Reeves was an English film director and screenwriter. He is best remembered for the 1968 film Witchfinder General. A few months after the film's release, Reeves died in London at the age of 25 from an accidental alcohol and barbiturate overdose.
Pyewacket was one of the supposed familiar spirits of an alleged witch accused by the witchfinder general Matthew Hopkins in March 1644 in the town of Manningtree, Essex, England. Hopkins claimed he spied on the witches as they held their meeting close by his house, and heard them mention the name of a local woman. She was arrested and deprived of sleep for four nights, at the end of which she confessed and called out the names of her familiars, describing the forms in which they should appear. They were:
Mistley is a large village and civil parish in the Tendring district of northeast Essex, England. It is around 11 miles northeast of Colchester and is east of, and almost contiguous with, Manningtree. The parish consists of Mistley and New Mistley, both lying beside the Stour Estuary, and Mistley Heath a kilometre to the south. Mistley railway station serves Mistley on the Mayflower Line.
Ronald Leslie Bassett DSM was a British writer and novelist. He wrote numerous works of historical fiction, sometimes under the pseudonym of "William Clive". He received many awards for his medical and pharmaceutical writing.
Brandeston is a village in Suffolk, England on the River Deben 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Ipswich. Brandeston is west of Kettleburgh and northwest of Hoo Green. It is a Parish in Plomesgate district and 3½ miles SW of Framlingham r. station."
The Bury St Edmunds witch trials were a series of trials conducted intermittently between the years 1599 and 1694 in the town of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England.
Wenham Magna, also known as Great Wenham, is a village and a civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk in eastern England.
John Stearne was an associate of self-styled "Witchfinder General" Matthew Hopkins, who was active during the English Civil War. The duo's activities were portrayed unreliably in the 1968 cult classic Witchfinder-General. Stearne was known at various times as the witch-hunter, and "witch pricker".
Matthew Hopkins was an English witchhunter whose career flourished during the time of the English Civil War. Between 1644 and 1645, Hopkins and his associates were responsible for the deaths of more accused witches than had been executed in the previous 100 years.
A Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcrafts was a book written by George Gifford and published in 1593. It 'is notable for its attention to the ministerial challenges posed by witch belief as well as for its entertaining dialogue designed to appeal to a wide audience'.
The Last Witchfinder is a 2006 historical fiction novel by James Morrow. The book was first published in hardback on March 14, 2006 through William Morrow and has subsequently been re-published in paperback format. The Last Witchfinder follows a young girl whose father works as a witch-finder.
Witch trials and witch related accusations were at a high during the early modern period in Britain, a time that spanned from the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century.
Elizabeth Clarke, alias Bedinfield, was the first woman persecuted by the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins in 1645 in Essex, England. At 80 years old, she was accused of witchcraft by local tailor John Rivet. Hopkins and John Stearne took on the role of investigators, stating that they had seen familiars while watching her. During the process, she was deprived of sleep for multiple nights before confessing and implicating other women in the local area. She was tried at Chelmsford assizes, before being hanged for witchcraft.
Malcolm John Gaskill FRHistS is an English academic historian and writer on crime, magic, witchcraft, spiritualism, and the supernatural. Gaskill was a professor in the history department of the University of East Anglia from 2011 until 2020, when he retired from teaching to give more time to writing.
