Witchfinders

The book starts of with a broad history of 16th century England covering mainly political & religious issues. The narrative throughout the book is largely following the so called savage witch hunt of 1645 - 1647 instigated by the 2 famous protagonists Matthew Hopkins & John Stearne.The author & his research know more about Hopkins' father & other siblings than about the man himself. Throughout the book the information on Hopkins in very sketchy to put it mildly, which will come as a major disappointment to many readers, the fact is no one actually knows hard facts about the witch finder and unfortunately never will. The research on John Stearne is even worse. Giving the author credit, he manages to follow Stearne's witch hunt & journey from 1645+, but information regarding his past is non existent.The author takes great liberties, constantly suggesting that Hopkins 'may have' done this this or been there, that 'it bears the hallmarks of' Hopkins 'probably' visited such & such etc.The author waxes lyrical about religious issues from the 1st chapter & this theme continues throughout the entire book. I found this extremely tedious, mr Gaskill I get the message loud & clear, there's no need to consantly remind the reader that England was a very godly society in the grip of civil war, imo this is just lazy filler.After labouring through the entire book I would suggest that that the 'mass murderer' Hopkins was in truth responsible for perhaps under 100 executions. After 1645 many so called witches were aquitted during trial despite the best efforts of the well paid witch finders to have them liquidated. The whole book concludes with Hopkins death & Stearne's disappearance into historical obscurity. Apparently witch hunts continued after 1647 but on a reduced scale.Overall an informative but very dry boring read. Only for the hardcore Hopkins buff.

This is a classic study of its subject, detailed, humane and precise. The conclusion is quite spine tingling. Highly recommended.

This book was a fantastic read. Clear and concise. Highly recommended

Very informative

Really enjoyed this book. It is about more than just witchfinding as it gives an insight into the country during the Civil War period.

I felt stunned and in a state of shock that this could have happened in my own, civilised, supposedly law-abiding country. Of course there were circumstances around that influenced events (the English Civil War, poor weather, poor harvests, starvation, etc.) but it really IS an English tragedy.If your only brush with this subject is the Vincent Price film, read this. The truth is just so much more horrible. Very well-written, entertaining and informative. I have also bought this book for friends.

The book gives a very interesting account of the witch trials, but it is too long. After having read the first 20 accounts of how potential witches were watched and interrogated and finally convicted, number 21, 22 etc are not really that interesting. The book has a good distance to its subject and includes remarks about the political climate in which the witch trails took place (probably a main cause of them). Had it been half as long, it would have received double the stars.

Great, easy to read and understand. Everyone who likes witchy stuff needs a copy