Mr H
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Question 5 - The witch craze5. Why was the seventeenth century a time of the witch craze?
You could include the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
• In 1590 King James VI of Scotland wrote an important book on witchcraft.
• At least 50 people were executed in Essex in 1645 because of the work of Matthew Hopkins.
• In 1717 the last trial for witchcraft took place in England.
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Mr H
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Student responseGavell
The seventeenth century was a time of witch craze because of work of Matthew Hopkins. During his time their was people who lived alone and were really wierd. There was also alot of crops that was rotten which people would be farming along time for harvesting. When these crops would rotten the owner would look for someone and blame them for committing witchcraft. The people that liable to be picked as witch would old ladies with black cats or new people coming into the town and they do not want them their. The farmer would choose old people with pet cats as witch because they say that black cats are associated with the devil. They would say the new members of the community because they might not like them or they want something from them. Witchcraft was made up because people was looking for someone to blame for the wrong things that was happening. If someone was found guilty of being a witch they would be coprally punished by getting executed. They punishment that they would have if they are denying being a witch is that they would be tortured by getting whipped, put up for Public display in  (unsure of name) where the people would throw things at them until they confess. They would sometimes be put in ducking stool the aim of this test is to see if the accused witch floats then shes definately a witch because people believe that they are using their power to escape. On the other hane if they dont then they would be human. However, by the time they hsould lift that person out of the water they would've drowned.
When their was alot of vagobonds coming into a town people general threw things at them and run them out of the town. When the witchcraft issue was getting carried away Matthew Hopkins who was said to hunt witches. He allowed at least 50 people to be executed in Essex in 1645 because he wrongly accused them of being witches. The work of Matthew Hopkins was for the money that he got when he say that there is a witch around. The people that Matthew Hopkins said were witches was not really witches, they were simply old women that are lonely and keep themselves to themselves.
The punishments that they recieved were very harsh. They would be be-headed or in some cases burnt alive. The witchcraft trials were abolished in 1717 after the last trial which was taken place in England. The seventeenth century was a witch craze because of people wanting someone to hold some for the unfortunate happenings.
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Mr H
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Student responseJustin
The seventeenth century was a time of witch craze. One reason for this is that in 1590 King James of Scotland wrote an important book on witchcraft. In those times kings had a powerful Authority of their subjects. As a result of this book infleunced a lot of people. When they read this book it made them suspicous, they must of been thinking: Are there any of these sought of people in our town? This books also spoke of the power of witcraft and what people who practice witchcraft could do to their fellow man. People were frightened at this so this is another reason why they were extremely suspicous. If a person had an enemy OR if the person wasn't particularly fond of someone they used to cry out witch! So people would get suspicous and carry out various tests to determine if they were a witch or not. Like the cucking chair tests unfortunately for the witches, these tests usually resulted with death. Also, if someone had any peculliar body features liked webed hands/feet or 6 fingers, they would be seen as witches.
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Mr H
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Student responseDarren A
There was a period in the seventeenth century that became known as the witch craze. This was a time where hundreds of people were accused of being witches. It all started with a man called Matthew Hopkins, who later became known as the witch finder general. Hopkins would go around the country visiting villages and towns looking for witches. A lot of old people were accused of being witches because they would normally have some sort of an animal as a companion. These were supposed to be the witches familiars. A familiar was an animal who would help the witch do the devils work. Villagers would accuse other villagers of being witches, so no one really trusted eachother. If someone was to have an argument with someone else and one of them became ill suddenly, the person who was well would be accused of being a witch. Matthew Hopkins saw a great opportunity of making money and charged towns and villages money to test if accused people were witches. He would get paid for every witch that was accused so most of the time the accused, were found to be witches.
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Mr H
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Student responseJason
Witch were on the minds of everybody in the seventh century because mainly a book that King James VI of Scotland wrote talking about the different ways of talking if someone was a witch. One of the most common treats that where suposedly a sign that a person was a witch was abnormalities of the skin and features. Living in London was hard at the time and 80 percent of people where extremely poor so many had no money to bath therefore skin disfiguration was common. Matthew Hopkins was the first real witch hunter and become famous for tourchering people till they admitted that the where witches. He would travell from villiage to villiage in Essex capturing and executing and tourching many inicent people. Hopkins would look for the elderly, lonely people of the villiage as they where the most suspect. If people crops were desecreated by bugs they would acuse them of being a witch. Matthew hopkins main insentive for finding and tourching 'witches' was because of money! for every witch he killes the goverment at the time would pay him.
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