Why did the East Anglia witch hunt come to an end? Flashcards
What was the cost of a witch hunt?
Witches imprisoned at Ipswich cost £50 to keep while they waited for their date at the assize court.
What was were the cost of assizes?
Expensive. A sheriff was required to find funds and accommodation for the judges. £130 sent invoice to John Godbold for his and his assistant’s costs/
What was the cost of executions?
Huge. Mary Lakeland, burned in Yarmouth for executing husband cost £3 alone.
What was the problem with the fees for Hopkins and Stearne?
Inevitably had to stay in inns, and upkeep of horse and the paying of search-women and watches also incurred expense. Would be paid just 20 shillings they said.
What was a more accurate cost for Hopkins and Stearne?
They helped to convict seven witches at Aldeburgh. Together with search-woman, Mary Phillips, he accumulated a bill of £6 over two visits. Gaoler received £2, local innkeeper got £15. Carpenter £1 for erecting the gallows and the executioner 11 shillings. In total, the witch-hunt cost £40, 1/7 of twon’s entire annual budget, special tax raised to pay. (February 1646)
What caused the majority of fighting to be ceased?
Charles surrendered to the Scots at Newark in May 1646, and East Anglia was sage enough to receive the assize judges more regularly.
What happened to trials after the end of the Civil War?
Some relief to suffering, even if harvests continued to be poor for the next few years. In this context acquittals became more likely, authorities in towns and parishes were not as fearful as they had been, not in need of scapegoats in before.
What cases showed authority had been restored in East Anglia?
Hopkins visited King’s Lynn. Mayor, aldermen, and JPs in attendance. Prisoners were 8 women and 1 man. Jury acquitted 7, convicted 2. Hopkins given £2, departed promptly.
Two days later, three tried at the assize court at Ely. Possibly at the direction of the judge, John Godbold, all three women were acquitted.
What happened in Norfolk assizes of 1647?
Judges given a list of question compiled by a number of leading gentry who had taken issue with aspects of the witch-hunt. Questions influenced by the scepticism presented by John Gaule in his book. Very well prepared and critical.
What did John Gaule believe about people’s misfortunes?
His parishioners were increasingly blaming witches for their misfortunes, and he believed instead that their own sins were to blame. Visit to Huntingdon, does not seem to have convinced him witchfinders were doing noble work.
What was John Gaule’s book?
Published in 1646, ‘Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcraft’
- He affirmed the existence of witches and noted his approval of witch-hunting but criticised the methods of Hopkins and Stearne.
- He pleaded for common sense and restraint in following up accusations of witchcraft, and stressed that witchfinding should be carried out in a meticulous and cautious way.
- He even alleged the craze for witchfinding was becoming idolatrous. He complained people in East Anglia were praising witchfinders more than God, Christ and the Bible.
