Witches disclose their familiar spirits to Matthew Hopkins. This is supposed to describe Hopkins' first "discovery" of witches.

Matthew Hopkins, d. 1647, was an English witchhunter whose career flourished in the time of the English Civil War. He held, or claimed to hold, the office of "Witch-finder General", though this was not a title ever bestowed by Parliament, conducting witch-hunts in the counties of Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk and other eastern counties of England. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... This article is part of the Witchcraft series. ... “Familiar” redirects here. ... 1647 (MDCXLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... A witch-hunt is a search for suspected witches; it is a type of moral panic. ... For other uses, see English Civil War (disambiguation). ... The English parliament in front of the King, c. ... Suffolk (pronounced ) is a large historic and modern non-metropolitan county in East Anglia, England. ... This article is about the county of Essex in England. ... Norfolk (IPA: //) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ...

Matthew Hopkins, born in Great Wenham, Suffolk, was a lawyer or lawyer's clerk, the son of James Hopkins, a Puritan clergyman. According to his book The Discovery of Witches (not to be confused with Reginald Scot's book The Discovery of Witchcraft) he began his career as a witch-finder when he overheard various women discussing their meetings with the Devil in March 1644 in Manningtree, a town near Colchester, where he was living at the time. As a result of Hopkins's accusations, nineteen alleged witches were hanged and four more died in prison. Suffolk (pronounced ) is a large historic and modern non-metropolitan county in East Anglia, England. ... For the fish called lawyer, see Burbot. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... This article is part of the Witchcraft series. ... Reginald Scot (circa 1538 - 1599) was the English author of The Discoverie of Witchcraft, which was published in 1584. ... This page is about the concept of the Devil. ... // Events February to August - Explorer Abel Tasmans second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia. ... This article is about the town in England. ...

Hopkins was soon travelling over eastern England, claiming truthfully or not to be an official specially commissioned by Parliament to uncover and prosecute witches. His witch-finding career spanned from 1644 to 1646. While torture was technically unlawful in England, he used various methods of browbeating to extract confessions from some of his victims. He used sleep deprivation as a sort of bloodless torture. He also used a "swimming" test to see if the accused would float or sink in water, the theory being that witches had renounced their baptism, so that all water would supernaturally reject them. He also employed "witch prickers" who pricked the accused with knives and special needles, looking for the Devil's mark that was supposed to be dead to all feeling and would not bleed. It was believed that the witch's familiar would drink their blood from the mark as milk from a teat. // Events February to August - Explorer Abel Tasmans second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia. ... 1646 (MDCXLVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... Torture, according to international law, is any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has... Sleep deprivation is a general lack of the necessary amount of sleep. ... Baptism in early Christian art. ... A witches mark, also known as a Devils mark or a witches teat was a supposed mark on the body indicating (to those participating in witchhunts) that an individual was a witch. ... In witchcraft, a familiar spirit, commonly called familiar (from Middle English familiar, related to family) is a spirit who obeys a witch, conjurer, etc. ...

Hopkins and his co-worker John Stearne, together with female assistants, were well paid for their work, earning £20 from one visit to Stowmarket, Suffolk, which was then more than a year's wages for most people. For the former Parliamentary constituency, see Stowmarket (UK Parliament constituency). ... Suffolk (pronounced ) is a large historic and modern non-metropolitan county in East Anglia, England. ...

Samuel Butler's satire Hudibras commented on Hopkins's activity, saying: Samuel Butler Samuel Butler (4 December 1612–18 June 1680) was born in Strensham, Worcestershire and baptised 14 February 1613. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... Hudibras is a mock heroic poem from the 17th century written by Samuel Butler. ...

Has not this present Parliament

A Lieger to the Devil sent,

Fully impowr'd to treat about

Finding revolted witches out

And has not he, within a year,

Hang'd threescore of 'em in one shire?

Some only for not being drown'd,

And some for sitting above ground,

Whole days and nights, upon their breeches,

And feeling pain, were hang'd for witches.

And some for putting knavish tricks

Upon green geese and turky-chicks?

And pigs, that suddenly deceast

Of griefs unnat'ral, as he guest;

Who after prov'd himself a witch

And made a rod for his own breech.

The last line refers to a tradition that disgruntled villagers caught Hopkins and subjected him to his own "swimming" test: he floated, and therefore was hanged for witchcraft himself. However, it is believed by most historians that Hopkins actually died of illness (possibly tuberculosis) in his home. The parish records of Manningtree in Essex record his burial in August of 1647. Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or TuBerculosis) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ... Manningtree is a town in Essex, England, which has merged with the port of Mistley, on the River Stour. ... 1647 (MDCXLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ...

simple words please :)

External links

• Works by Matthew Hopkins at Project Gutenberg
  • The Discovery of Witches, available at Project Gutenberg.
• Animated/Audio Story of Hopkins and his demise
• History of the Essex Witch Trials