Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy. Malcolm Gaskill - Softcover

Gaskill, Malcolm

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0719561213 ISBN 13: 9780719561214

Publisher: John Murray Publishers, 2006

Synopsis

By the spring of 1645, civil war had exacted a terrible toll upon England. Disease was rife, apocalyptic omens appeared in the skies, and idolators detected in every shire. In a remote corner of Essex, two obscure gentlemen began interrogating women suspected of witchcraft, triggering the most brutal witch-hunt in English history.

Witchfindersis a spellbinding study of how Matthew Hopkins, 'the Witchfinder General', and John Stearne extended their campaign across East Anglia, driven by godly zeal. Exploiting the anxiety and lawlessness of the times, and cheered on by ordinary folk, they extracted confessions of satanic pacts resulting in scores of executions.

About this title

About the Author:

Malcolm Gaskill was born in Suffolk but grew up in Kent. He attended Cambridge University where he read History. He completed a PhD on early modern England, then taught at Keele, Belfast and APU, before becoming Director of Studies in History at Churchill College, Cambridge, in 1999.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/pdf/GASWIT_excerpt.pdf

About this edition

• Publisher: John Murray Publishers
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0719561213
• ISBN 13: 9780719561214
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384