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Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins

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Not much is known about Matthew Hopkins before 1644, but he had been a lawyer in Essex, England. In March 1644 he alleged his first discovery of witches—six of them, in Manningtree, who he claimed tried to kill him. He thereupon became a “Witch Finder General,” going about the counties of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Huntingdon getting villagers and townspeople to hire him and his assistants (for a fee) to search for witches, force their confessions, and have them hanged by the authorities. Between 1644 and 1647 his actions resulted in the deaths of nearly 300 including some clergymen.

His cruel methods included sleep deprivation for three or four days by which time victims confessed to anything.

Water torture where victims were bound and thrown into water, if they floated then they were a witch either way they would be killed.

Another method was if they bled then they were innocent but his assistants' used blunt blades on their victims and then declaring them as witches'.

He died of TB and is buried in Mistley Heath, Essex.

Rode around Essex with murder in mind With evil followers from town to town Matthew Hopkins was the worst of his kind Hunting for witches that he could take down. Towns people would say that woman's a witch She'd then be tortured until she confessed Then hanged until death and thrown in a ditch Hopkins got paid saying she was possessed . People believed his work was of the good Earned a large fortune from superstition By ridding' evil 'from the neighbourhood Claimed witch finding was his holy mission. Three hundred murdered in his killing spree Were all tortured and charged with sorcery. Written 1st August 2019. Sent from my Windows 10 device

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Panagiota Romios

Date: 8/4/2019 9:33:00 PM

Tom...your brilliance is dazzling. Panagiota. xoxo

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/5/2019 4:53:00 AM

Thank you Panagiota, he was walking evil pretending to do gods work. Tom

Kim Rodrigues

Date: 8/2/2019 6:47:00 PM

Well written and a reminder. Read other comments so that’s all I’ll say!

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/3/2019 4:31:00 AM

Thank you Kim

Gershon Wolf

Date: 8/2/2019 4:20:00 PM

So, how much has changed really?! Now the witch-hunters are autocratic heads of authoritarian states. (And I don't mean Trump or BoJo. I mean Putin, Xi, Kim, Assad, bin Salman, and their ilk --- though they don't measure up to their 20th century predecessors, thank God)…. Interesting episode. You are the historian par excellence of Poetry Soup, Tom!! ~ Gershon

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/2/2019 4:37:00 PM

Thanks Gershon, you're absolutely right, this sort of mentality didn't fade into the history books sadly it is still here in the minds of many. Instill fear into people and you control them. Recent events in the middle east proves that. Is mankind the civilisied creature he thinks he is, I think not. Tom.

John Gondolf

Date: 8/2/2019 7:42:00 AM

Nicely written sonnet, Tom. It amazes me how people were able to get away with such things just by instilling fear in everyone else. All the best. John

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/2/2019 2:47:00 PM

Thanks John, they must have put the fear of god into people riding into town knowing some people would be found ' guilty ' of witchcraft and killed, dark times. It made gruesome reading that they could carry out such evil, but we saw that recently in the middle east, some still live in the dark ages. Tom.

Andrea Dietrich

Date: 8/2/2019 6:10:00 AM

He was a one man horror show. So evil. Well described, tom

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/2/2019 2:39:00 PM

Thanks Andrea, pretending he was doing gods work but it was money and some twisted perverted pleasure he had. Tom.

Kudzai Mhangwa

Date: 8/2/2019 5:10:00 AM

Wow, I loved how you made use of the Sonnet form to paint this gruesome picture. The images are so vivid and the narrative comes to life. Very well done

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/2/2019 2:37:00 PM

Thank you very much Kudzai, happy you enjoyed it, a very dark and dangerous time of fear and superstition in England. Tom

Demetrios Trifiatis

Date: 8/2/2019 3:39:00 AM

I am familiar with this character and his evil doings. How fortunate we live not in his era and that of Charles the first who lost his head in 1649. Your notes and your poem are captivating, well- written and informative. Thank you for this lesson of history and of human evil nature who in order to make a living don't care to destroy the life of others dear, Tom. Superb story!

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/2/2019 4:46:00 AM

Thank you Demetrios, all through history we hear of these evil characters, how dare they use religion for their ghastly evil deeds, even recently we heard of this happening in Syria, Tom

Janice Canerdy

Date: 8/1/2019 12:51:00 PM

This is very well-written and informative, Tom! Janice

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/1/2019 1:24:00 PM

Thank you very much Janice, glad you enjoyed the history lesson, I love history and then try and compose a verse from it. Tom

Vijay Pandit

Date: 8/1/2019 11:23:00 AM

Enjoyed reading your poem Tom..and the introduction in your note was enlightening. You are an expert sonnet writer..this poem flows naturally in rhymes..well done. Don't know who was more evil..the witches or the general.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/1/2019 12:12:00 PM

Thank you very much Vijay, happy you enjoyed it, a dark period in English history. Life back then was cheap , people would sell their souls for a florin. Strange that even today some believe in sorcery and black magic. Tom.

Jennifer Proxenos

Date: 8/1/2019 10:22:00 AM

What a macabre individual, blood thirsty and money driven - an excellent poem and very informative prologue, had heard there were witch hunters around that period in history but had not heard of this unsavoury character, You are so good at giving us history lessons Tom, well penned my friend. Blessings. Jennifer.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/1/2019 12:07:00 PM

Thank you Jennifer, wouldn't have fancied living in those times, also I read if you had an enemy in the village you could dob them in by whispering to the witchfinders that you'd heard them talking to the devil and that would be the end of them. Tom

Quoth Theraven

Date: 8/1/2019 9:42:00 AM

Tom, I like this poem. Though history can be so bizarre sometimes. -Richard

Tom Cunningham
Date: 8/1/2019 12:03:00 PM

Thank you Richard, it was a dark time with fears and superstitions rife. Tom.