113-713: Matthew Hopkins ( c. 1620 – 12 August 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War . He was mainly active in East Anglia and claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General , although that title was never bestowed by Parliament . The son of a Puritan minister, Hopkins began his career as a witch-finder in March 1644 and lasted until his retirement in 1647. Hopkins and his colleague John Stearne sent more accused people to be hanged for witchcraft than all
226-414: A "pleasing legend" grew up around the circumstances of Hopkins's death, according to which he was subjected to his own swimming test and executed as a witch, but the parish registry at Mistley confirms his burial there. Witch-hunt A witch hunt , or a witch purge , is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft . Practicing evil spells or incantations
339-454: A 1791 pamphlet by Gottfried Christian Voigt . Bedfordshire Bedfordshire ( / ˈ b ɛ d f ər d ʃ ɪər , - ʃ ər / ; abbreviated Beds ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England . It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement
452-445: A case was brought to trial, the prosecutors hunted for accomplices. The use of magic was considered wrong, not because it failed, but because it worked effectively for the wrong reasons. Witchcraft was a normal part of everyday life. Witches were often called for, along with religious ministers, to help the ill or deliver a baby. They held positions of spiritual power in their communities. When something went wrong, no one questioned either
565-402: A conspicuous part. The Code of Hammurabi (18th century BC short chronology ) prescribes that If a man has put a spell upon another man and it is not yet justified, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river ; into the holy river shall he plunge. If the holy river overcomes him and he is drowned, the man who put the spell upon him shall take possession of his house. If
678-493: A covenant with the Devil . Before this point, any malicious acts on the part of witches were treated identically to those of other criminals, until it was seen that, according to contemporary beliefs about the structure of witchcraft, they owed their powers to a deliberate act of their choosing. Witches then became heretics to Christianity, which became the greatest of their crimes and sins. Within continental and Roman Law witchcraft
791-539: A cultural phenomenon. Throughout the early medieval period, notable rulers prohibited both witchcraft and pagan religions, often on pain of death. Under Charlemagne, for example, Christians who practiced witchcraft were enslaved by the Church, while those who worshiped the Devil (Germanic gods) were killed outright. Witch-hunting also appears in period literature. According to Snorri Sturluson , King Olaf Trygvasson furthered
904-427: A form of Satanic influence and its classification as a heresy. As Renaissance occultism gained traction among the educated classes, the belief in witchcraft, which in the medieval period had been part of the folk religion of the uneducated rural population at best, was incorporated into an increasingly comprehensive theology of Satan as the ultimate source of all maleficium . These doctrinal shifts were completed in
1017-525: A human cultural universal. One study finds that witchcraft beliefs are associated with antisocial attitudes: lower levels of trust, charitable giving and group participation. Another study finds that income shocks (caused by extreme rainfall) lead to a large increase in the murder of "witches" in Tanzania. Punishment for malevolent magic is addressed in the earliest law codes which were preserved, in both ancient Egypt and Babylonia , where it played
1130-683: A key part in the life of the British nation during the Second World War as the church of the BBC. The Millbrook Proving Ground , near Junction 13 of the M1, has 70 kilometres (43 miles) of varied vehicle test tracks. Bedfordshire is home to Premier League team Luton Town F.C. and the Ampthill RUFC and Bedford Blues rugby teams, amongst other various sporting teams. Bedfordshire boasts
1243-541: A lawyer, but there is scant evidence to suggest this was the case. Following the Lancaster Witch Trials (1612–1634), William Harvey , physician to King Charles I of England , had been ordered to examine the four women accused, and from this there came a requirement to have material proof of being a witch. The work of Hopkins and John Stearne was not necessarily to prove any of the accused had committed acts of maleficium , but to prove that they had made
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#17327796505801356-419: A pact with the devil and using witchcraft. In 1615, she was called a witch by a female neighbor in the duchy of Württemberg following a dispute with her of having given her a bitter drink that had made her ill. She was held captive for over a year and threatened with torture, but was finally acquitted thanks to her son's efforts. Modern scholarly estimates place the total number of executions for witchcraft in
1469-554: A persecution and expulsion of witches among the Goths in a mythical account of the origin of the Huns . The ancient fabled King Filimer is said to have found among his people certain witches, whom he called in his native tongue Haliurunnae . Suspecting these women, he expelled them from the midst of his race and compelled them to wander in solitary exile afar from his army. There the unclean spirits, who beheld them as they wandered through
1582-576: A range of further education courses. Additionally, Stella Mann College is a private college which offers a range of further education courses relating to the performing arts . There are a number of independent schools , many of which have links to the Harpur Trust . These include Bedford School , Bedford Modern School and Bedford Girls' School . In Central Bedfordshire, the school systems in Dunstable and Sandy have been re-organised into
1695-460: A soothsayer, or an augur , or a sorcerer , or one that casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord"; and Exodus 22:18 prescribes: "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". Tales like that of 1 Samuel 28, reporting how Saul "hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of
1808-449: A three-tier education system, though its organisation of infant, junior and high schools mirrors the traditional transfer age into secondary education of 11 years. However, most of Luton's high schools do not offer sixth-form education. Instead, this is handled by Luton Sixth Form College , though Barnfield College and Cardinal Newman Catholic School also offer a range of further education courses. There are two universities based in
1921-453: A town". The records at Stowmarket show their costs charged to the town to have been £23 (equivalent to £4,700 in 2023) plus his travelling expenses. The costs to the local community of Hopkins and his company were such that, in 1645, a special local tax rate had to be levied in Ipswich . Parliament was well aware of Hopkins and his team's activities, as shown by the concerned reports of
2034-595: A widely circulated pamphlet, "Newes from Scotland," James VI personally presided over the torture and execution of Doctor Fian. Indeed, James published a witch-hunting manual, Daemonologie , which contains the famous dictum: "Experience daily proves how loath they are to confess without torture." Later, the Pendle witch trials of 1612 joined the ranks of the most famous witch trials in English history. In England, witch-hunting would reach its apex in 1644 to 1647 due to
2147-822: A witch, for it is not possible, nor ought to be believed by Christian minds. This conforms to the teachings of the Canon Episcopi of circa 900 AD (alleged to date from 314 AD), which, stated that witchcraft did not exist and that to teach that it was a reality was, itself, false and heterodox teaching. Other examples include an Irish synod in 800 AD, and a sermon by Agobard of Lyons (810 AD). King Kálmán (Coloman) of Hungary , in Decree 57 of his First Legislative Book (published in 1100), banned witch-hunting because he said, "witches do not exist". The "Decretum" of Burchard, Bishop of Worms (about 1020), and especially its 19th book, often known separately as
2260-524: A witch-hunter, the methods used to extract confessions, and the tests he employed to test the accused: stripping them naked to find the Witches' mark , the "swimming" test , and pricking the skin . The swimming test, which included throwing a witch, who was strapped to a chair, into a bucket of water to see if she floated, was discontinued in 1645 due to a legal challenge. The 1647 book, The Discovery of Witches , soon became an influential legal text. The book
2373-477: Is Luton (225,262), and Bedford is the county town . The county has an area of 1,235 km (477 sq mi) and had a population of 704,736 at the 2021 census. Its other towns include Leighton Buzzard , Dunstable , Biggleswade , Houghton Regis , and Flitwick . Much of the county is rural. For local government purposes, Bedfordshire comprises three unitary authority areas: Bedford , Central Bedfordshire , and Luton. The county's highest point
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#17327796505802486-466: Is 243 m (797 ft) on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns . The first recorded use of the name in 1011 was " Bedanfordscir ", meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means "Beda's ford" (river crossing). Bedfordshire was historically divided into nine hundreds : Barford , Biggleswade , Clifton , Flitt , Manshead , Redbornestoke , Stodden , Willey , Wixamtree , along with
2599-558: Is also one motorway service station in the county: Toddington Services. Former trunk roads, now local roads managed by the local highway authorities, include the A428 (Cambridge-Coventry) running east–west through Bedford Borough, and the A6 from Luton to Carlisle . Three of England's main lines pass through Bedfordshire. The West Coast Main Line has but a short section where it passes through
2712-726: Is another local delicacy. A chocolate tart , Chocolate Toothpaste consists of a gritty chocolate filling (said to resemble the texture of toothpaste) within a pastry tart, commonly finished with a swirl of whipped cream on top. Bedfordshire lies on many of the main transport routes which link London to the Midlands , Northern England and the rest of the UK. Two of England's six main trunk roads pass through Bedfordshire. The A1 London to Edinburgh road (the Great North Road) runs close by Biggleswade and Sandy, and Watling Street ,
2825-654: Is based in Houghton Regis and Costa Coffee is now based in Dunstable . UltraVision is based in Leighton Buzzard , while Moto Hospitality is based at Toddington service station. The " Bedfordshire clanger " is a local dish consisting of a suet crust pastry filled with meat in one end and a fruit preserve in the other. It was traditionally a farm labourers' meal, designed so as to produce no waste as well as two separate meals. Chocolate Toothpaste
2938-412: Is clear from his much-quoted sermon of 1427, in which he says: One of them told and confessed, without any pressure, that she had killed thirty children by bleeding them ... [and] she confessed more, saying she had killed her own son ... Answer me: does it really seem to you that someone who has killed twenty or thirty little children in such a way has done so well that when finally they are accused before
3051-442: Is divided into seven constituencies, each returning a single Member of Parliament (MP): The present constituencies date from 1997 . The boundaries were slightly modified for the 2010 general election . This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Bedfordshire at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Bedfordshire
3164-636: Is provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia from Cambridge , the southern part of the county such as Luton can also receive BBC London & ITV London meaning the area can get news and television programmes from Cambridge and London . Local radio stations are BBC Three Counties Radio (broadcast from Dunstable ), Heart East , Greatest Hits Radio Bucks, Beds and Herts (formerly Mix 96), BigglesFM (covering Biggleswade , Potton and Sandy ), In2beats ( Bedford ) and Radio LaB ( Luton ). The state education system for all of Bedfordshire used to be organised by Bedfordshire County Council. Unlike most of
3277-538: Is recorded in 1563 in a pamphlet called "True and Horrifying Deeds of 63 Witches". Witchcraft persecution spread to all areas of Europe. Learned European ideas about witchcraft and demonological ideas, strongly influenced the hunt for witches in the North. These witch-hunts were at least partly driven by economic factors since a significant relationship between economic pressure and witch hunting activity can be found for regions such as Bavaria and Scotland. In Denmark,
3390-702: Is the location of a number of notable UK and international companies who have either headquarters or major bases in the county. Autoglass , Boxclever and Charles Wells Pubs are all based in Bedford , while the Kier Group and Kingspan Timber Solutions are based in Sandy , and Jordans Cereals are based in Biggleswade . EasyJet , Impellam , TUI Airways and Vauxhall Motors are all based in Luton , Whitbread
3503-528: The 2009 structural changes to local government in England , Bedfordshire County Council was abolished, and its responsibilities for education were passed to Bedford Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council . Bedford Borough Council voted in November 2009 to change to the two-tier model in its area. The change was due to be introduced over a five-year period and be completed in 2015. However, with
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3616-492: The 5th century BC laws of the Twelve Tables laid down penalties for uttering harmful incantations and for stealing the fruitfulness of someone else's crops by magic. The only recorded trial involving this law was that of Gaius Furius Cresimus . The Classical Latin word veneficium meant both poisoning and causing harm by magic (such as magic potions), although ancient people would not have distinguished between
3729-531: The Bury St. Edmunds witch trials of 1645. Before the trial, a report was carried to Parliament – "as if some busie men had made use of some ill Arts to extort such confession" – that a special Commission of Oyer and Terminer was granted for the trial of these witches. After the trial and execution the Moderate Intelligencer , a parliamentary paper published during
3842-529: The Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, with some limestone . Local clay has been used for brick-making of Fletton-style bricks in the Marston Vale . Glacial erosion of chalk has left hard flint nodules deposited as gravel—these have been commercially extracted in the past at pits which are now lakes: at Priory Country Park , Wyboston and Felmersham . The Greensand Ridge is an escarpment across
3955-841: The Marston Vale Line . The River Great Ouse links Bedfordshire to the Fenland waterways. As of 2004 there are plans by the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust to construct a canal linking the Great Ouse at Bedford to the Grand Union Canal at Milton Keynes, 14 miles (23 km) distant. Luton Airport (the fifth busiest in the United Kingdom) has flights to many UK, European, Middle Eastern and North African destinations, operated largely (but not exclusively) by low-cost airlines. Local news
4068-750: The New England colonies with the hanging of Alse Young of Windsor, Connecticut, on May 26, 1647, followed by the conviction of Margaret Jones . As described in the journal of Governor John Winthrop , the evidence assembled against Margaret Jones was gathered by the use of Hopkins's techniques of "searching" and "watching". Jones's execution was the first in a witch-hunt that lasted in New England from 1648 until 1663. About eighty people throughout New England were accused of practising witchcraft during that period, of whom fifteen women and two men were executed. Some of Hopkins's methods were employed during
4181-520: The Parliamentarian Earl of Manchester "for the destruction of monuments of idolatry and superstition", visited the parish in 1645 he observed that "there was nothing to reform". Hopkins's brother John became Minister of South Fambridge in 1645 but was removed from the post a year later for neglecting his work. Hopkins states in his book The Discovery of Witches (1647) that he "never travelled far ... to gain his experience". In
4294-578: The Salem Witch Trials , which occurred primarily in Salem , Massachusetts, in 1692–93. These trials resulted in 19 executions for witchcraft, one man, Giles Corey , pressed to death for refusing to plead , and 150 imprisonments. Matthew Hopkins died at his home in Manningtree , Essex, on 12 August 1647, probably of pleural tuberculosis . He was buried a few hours after his death in
4407-403: The "Corrector", is another work of great importance. Burchard was writing against the superstitious belief in magical potions , for instance, that may produce impotence or abortion. These were also condemned by several Church Fathers. But he altogether rejected the possibility of many of the alleged powers with which witches were popularly credited. Such, for example, were nocturnal riding through
4520-476: The 15th and early 16th centuries, but then the witch scare went into decline, before becoming a major issue again and peaking in the 17th century; particularly during the Thirty Years' War . What had previously been a belief that some people possessed supernatural abilities (which were sometimes used to protect the people), now became a sign of a pact between the people with supernatural abilities and
4633-526: The 18th century. In other regions, like Africa and Asia , contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea , and official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia , Cameroon and South Africa today. In current language, "witch-hunt" metaphorically means an investigation that is usually conducted with much publicity, supposedly to uncover subversive activity, disloyalty, and so on, but with
Matthew Hopkins - Misplaced Pages Continue
4746-518: The 300-year period of European witch-hunts in the five digits, mostly at roughly between 35,000 and 60,000 (see table below for details), The majority of those accused were from the lower economic classes in European society, although in rarer cases high-ranking individuals were accused as well. On the basis of this evidence, Scarre and Callow asserted that the "typical witch was the wife or widow of an agricultural labourer or small tenant farmer, and she
4859-647: The 3rd century AD, the Lex Cornelia had begun to be used more broadly against other kinds of magic deemed harmful. The magicians were to be burnt at the stake. Persecution of witches continued in the Roman Empire until the late 4th century AD and abated only after the introduction of Christianity as the Roman state religion in the 390s. The German author Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan argued in History of
4972-649: The Chocolate Factory' and 'Batman Begins' and as a rehearsal space for Take That , with the other having been extensively refurbished and now accommodating Hybrid Air Vehicles, a British modern airship design and manufacturing company. St Paul's Church, Bedford is a Church of England parish church and the Civic Church of the Borough of Bedford and the County of Bedfordshire. Located on St Paul's Square,
5085-552: The Christian conversion of Norway by luring pagan magicians to his hall under false pretenses, barring the doors and burning them alive. Some who escaped were later captured and drowned. The manuals of the Roman Catholic Inquisition remained highly skeptical of witch accusations, although there was sometimes an overlap between accusations of heresy and of witchcraft, particularly when, in the 13th century,
5198-655: The Devil in March 1644 in Manningtree . The first accusations were actually made by Stearne, and Hopkins was appointed as his assistant. Twenty-three women were accused of witchcraft and were tried at Chelmsford in 1645. As the English Civil War was in progress, the trial was conducted not by justices of assize , but by justices of the peace presided over by the Earl of Warwick . Four died in prison and nineteen were convicted and hanged. During this period, excepting Middlesex and chartered towns , no records show any person charged of witchcraft being sentenced to death other than by
5311-681: The English Civil War, in an editorial of 4–11 September 1645, expressed unease with the affairs in Bury. Methods of investigating witchcraft drew heavy inspiration from the Daemonologie of King James I , which was directly cited in Hopkins's The Discovery of Witches . Although torture was nominally unlawful in England, Hopkins often used techniques such as sleep deprivation to extract confessions from his victims. He would also cut
5424-467: The House of Commons – and began a programme of Sunday sermons to suppress witch-hunting. In Norfolk, both Hopkins and Stearne were questioned by justices of the assizes about the torturing and fees. Hopkins was asked if methods of investigation did not make the finders themselves witches, and if with all his knowledge did he not also have a secret, or had used "unlawful courses of torture". By
5537-621: The Inquisition to prosecute sorcerers in 1320, inquisitorial courts rarely dealt with witchcraft save incidentally when investigating heterodoxy. In the case of the Madonna Oriente , the Inquisition of Milan was not sure what to do with two women who, in 1384, confessed to have participated in the society around Signora Oriente or Diana . Through their confessions, both of them conveyed the traditional folk beliefs of white magic. The women were accused again in 1390, and condemned by
5650-676: The Roman road between London and Chester, passes through Dunstable. Until it was diverted in 2017, this was also the route of the A5 road between London and Holyhead . The Bedfordshire section of the A5 now runs from junction 11a of the M1 to rejoin Watling Street between Dunstable and Hockliffe , then continues on to cross the Buckinghamshire border at the City of Milton Keynes . To these
5763-469: The Signoria you should go to their aid and beg mercy for them? Perhaps the most notorious witch trial in history was the trial of Joan of Arc . Although the trial was politically motivated, and the verdict later overturned, the position of Joan as a woman and an accused witch became significant factors in her execution. Joan's punishment of being burned alive (victims were usually strangled before burning)
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#17327796505805876-537: The United Kingdom, Bedfordshire County Council operated a three-tier education system arranged into lower, middle and upper schools, as recommended in the Plowden Report of 1967, although Luton continued to operate a two-tier system. The three-tier arrangement continued in the rest of the county, though in 2006 a vote was held with a view to moving to the two-tier model, but this was rejected. After
5989-581: The Witchcraft Trials that the philosopher and mathematician Hypatia , murdered by a mob in 415 AD for threatening the influence of Cyril of Alexandria , may have been, in effect, the first famous "witch" to be punished by Christian authorities. Cyril's alleged role in her murder, however, was already controversial among contemporary sources, and the surviving primary account by Socrates Scholasticus makes no mention of religious motivations. The 6th century AD Getica of Jordanes records
6102-528: The Würzburg trials of 1629, children made up 60% of those accused, although this had declined to 17% by the end of the year. Rapley (1998) claims that "75 to 80 percent" of a total of "40,000 to 50,000" victims were women. The claim that "millions of witches" (often: " nine million witches ") were killed in Europe is spurious, even though it is occasionally found in popular literature, and it is ultimately due to
6215-399: The accused with knives and special needles looking for such marks, normally after the suspect had been shaved of all body hair. It was believed that the witch's familiar , an animal such as a cat or dog, would drink the witch's blood from the mark, as a baby drinks milk from the nipple. Hopkins and his company quickly ran into opposition after their work began, but one of his main antagonists
6328-444: The accused, which was important for the success of the witch trials. In practice, appeals were made to other witnesses to the crimes, so that the first informer was followed by others. In the event of a conviction, the informer sometimes received a third of the accused's assets, but at least 2 guilders . A well-known and well-documented example is the case of Katharina Kepler , the mother of the astronomer Johannes Kepler , for being in
6441-734: The air, the changing of a person's disposition from love to hate, the control of thunder, rain, and sunshine, the transformation of a man into an animal, the intercourse of incubi and succubi with human beings, and other such superstitions. Not only the attempt to practice such things, but the very belief in their possibility, is treated by Burchard as false and superstitious. Pope Gregory VII , in 1080, wrote to King Harald III of Denmark forbidding witches to be put to death upon being suspected of having caused storms or failure of crops or pestilence. There were many such efforts to prevent unjust treatment of innocent people. On many occasions, ecclesiastics who spoke with authority did their best to disabuse
6554-452: The area of strongest Puritan and Parliamentarian influences which formed the powerful and influential Eastern Association from 1644 to 1647, which was centred on Essex. Both Hopkins and Stearne would have required some form of letters of safe conduct to be able to travel throughout the counties. According to his book The Discovery of Witches , Hopkins began his career as a witch-finder after he overheard women discussing their meetings with
6667-416: The arm of the accused with a blunt knife, and if she did not bleed, she was said to be a witch. Another of his methods was the swimming test , based on the idea that as witches had renounced their baptism , water would reject them. Suspects were tied to a chair and thrown into water: all those who "swam" (floated) were considered to be witches. Hopkins was warned against the use of "swimming" without receiving
6780-460: The belief that humans could enter pacts with demons, which became the basis of future witch hunts. Ironically, many clerics of the Middle Ages openly or covertly practiced goetia , believing that as Christ granted his disciples power to command demons, to summon and control demons was not, therefore, a sin. Whatever the position of individual clerics, witch-hunting seems to have persisted as
6893-425: The breath" meant slashing across a woman's forehead in order to remove the power of her magic. This was seen as a kind of emergency procedure which could be performed in absence of judicial authorities. Another important element of the persecution of witches were denunciations . "In England, most of the accusers and those making written complaints against witches were women." Informers did not have to be revealed to
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#17327796505807006-403: The burning of witches increased following the reformation of 1536. Christian IV of Denmark , in particular, encouraged this practice, and hundreds of people were convicted of witchcraft and burnt. In the district of Finnmark, northern Norway, severe witchcraft trials took place during the period 1600–1692. A memorial of international format, Steilneset Memorial , has been built to commemorate
7119-670: The cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future programme in 2010, the borough changed its proposals, and the switch proceeded on school by school basis where council funds allowed. However as of 2020 all of Bedford Borough has a two-tier education structure apart from in the Marston Vale area (one upper school remains). Most of the secondary schools in the area offer sixth form courses (such as A Levels ), though Bedford College and The Bedford Sixth Form also offer
7232-418: The castle ' ". His father was popular with his parishioners, one of whom in 1619 left money to purchase Bibles for his then three children James, John and Thomas. Thus Matthew Hopkins could not have been born before 1619, and could not have been older than 28 when he died, but he may have been as young as 25. Although James Hopkins had died in 1634, when the iconoclast William Dowsing , commissioned in 1643 by
7345-544: The county from near Leighton Buzzard to near Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire . Bedfordshire, being situated in the east of England, has a relatively dry mixed climate for the UK with regular but generally there is sometimes rainfall. Average annual rainfall is 608.6 millimetres (23.96 in) at Bedford. October is the wettest month, with 65.3 millimetres (2.57 in), and March the driest, with 37.3 millimetres (1.47 in). Although temperatures are usually moderate,
7458-660: The county has one of the largest absolute temperature ranges in the UK – of more than 60 °C (108 °F). Average temperatures in Bedford range from a low of 1.5 °C (34.7 °F) overnight in February to a high of 22.4 °C (72.3 °F) during the day in July. The highest official temperature recorded in Bedfordshire was 39.7 °C (103.5 °F) in 2022. The lowest official temperature recorded in Bedfordshire
7571-510: The county – the University of Bedfordshire and Cranfield University . These institutions attract students from all over the UK and abroad, as well as from Bedfordshire. The enormous Cardington airship sheds are situated to the south of Bedford, near the villages of Cardington and Shortstown. They were originally built for the construction of large airships during World War I. Since falling out of their intended use, one has been used for many purposes including housing film sets for 'Charlie and
7684-419: The county, alongside the City of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire . Policing and fire and rescue services continue to be provided on a county-wide basis, with Bedfordshire Police governed by the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner and Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service governed by a Fire Authority comprising members of the three councils. For elections to the House of Commons , Bedfordshire
7797-462: The death penalty. This law banned the trading and possession of harmful drugs and poisons, possession of magical books and other occult paraphernalia. Emperor Augustus strengthened laws to curb these practices, for instance in 31 BC, by burning over 2,000 magical books in Rome, except for certain portions of the hallowed Sibylline Books . While Tiberius Claudius was emperor, 85 women and 45 men accused of sorcery were executed. By
7910-419: The devil. To justify the killings, some Christians of the time and their proxy secular institutions deemed witchcraft as being associated to wild Satanic ritual parties in which there was naked dancing and cannibalistic infanticide . It was also seen as heresy for going against the first of the Ten Commandments ("You shall have no other gods before me") or as violating majesty , in this case referring to
8023-411: The divine majesty, not the worldly. Further scripture was also frequently cited, especially the Exodus decree that "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22:18), which many supported. Witch-hunts were seen across early modern Europe, but the most significant area of witch-hunting in modern Europe is often considered to be central and southern Germany. Germany was a late starter in terms of
8136-582: The early 1640s, Hopkins moved to Manningtree , Essex, a town on the River Stour , about 10 miles (16 km) from Wenham. According to tradition, Hopkins used his recently acquired inheritance of a hundred marks (£66 13s. 4d.) to establish himself as a gentleman and to buy the Thorn Inn in Mistley . From the way that he presented evidence in trials, Hopkins is commonly thought to have been trained as
8249-424: The efforts of Puritan Matthew Hopkins . Although operating without an official Parliament commission, Hopkins (calling himself Witchfinder General) and his accomplices charged hefty fees to towns during the English Civil War . Hopkins' witch-hunting spree was brief but significant: 300 convictions and deaths are attributed to his work. Hopkins wrote a book on his methods, describing his fortuitous beginnings as
8362-712: The far west of the county, with one station at Leighton Buzzard served by West Midlands Trains to London Euston and Northampton . The East Coast Main Line has stations at Arlesey , Biggleswade and Sandy , served by Great Northern services to King's Cross and Peterborough . The Midland Main Line serves Luton , Luton Airport (via Luton DART link from the station at Luton Airport Parkway ) and Bedford , with trains to many destinations operated by East Midlands Railway and Thameslink . Intermediate stations at Flitwick , Harlington and Leagrave are served by Thameslink. There are London North Western rural services also running between Bedford and Bletchley along
8475-461: The graveyard of the Church of St Mary at Mistley Heath . In the words of historian Malcolm Gaskill , Matthew Hopkins "lives on as an anti-hero and bogeyman – utterly ethereal, endlessly malleable". According to historian Rossell Hope Robbins , Hopkins "acquired an evil reputation which in later days made his name synonymous with fingerman or informer paid by authorities to commit perjury". What historian James Sharpe has characterised as
8588-459: The harmful effects of pharmaka – an ambiguous term that might mean "poison", "medicine", or "magical drug" – do survive, especially those where the drug caused injury or death. Antiphon 's speech " Against the Stepmother for Poisoning " tells of the case of a woman accused of plotting to murder her husband with a pharmakon ; a slave had previously been executed for the crime, but the son of
8701-400: The holy river declares him innocent and he remains unharmed the man who laid the spell shall be put to death. He that plunged into the river shall take possession of the house of him who laid the spell upon him. The Hebrew Bible condemns sorcery. Deuteronomy 18:10–12 states: "No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, who practices divination, or is
8814-427: The inquisitor. They were eventually executed by the secular arm. In a notorious case in 1425, Hermann II, Count of Celje accused his daughter-in-law Veronika of Desenice of witchcraft – and, though she was acquitted by the court, he had her murdered by drowning. The accusations of witchcraft are, in this case, considered to have been a pretext for Hermann to get rid of an "unsuitable match," Veronika being born into
8927-496: The judges of the assizes. Hopkins and Stearne, accompanied by the women who performed the pricking , were soon travelling over eastern England, claiming to be officially commissioned by Parliament to uncover and prosecute witches. Together with their female assistants, they were well paid for their work, and it has been suggested that this was a motivation for his actions. Hopkins stated that "his fees were to maintain his company with three horses", and that he took "twenty shillings
9040-581: The king 120 shillings, and pay the wer to his kindred, and enter into borh for him, that he evermore desist from the like. In some prosecutions for witchcraft, torture (permitted by the Roman civil law ) apparently took place. However, Pope Nicholas I (866 AD), prohibited the use of torture altogether, and a similar decree may be found in the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals . Condemnations of witchcraft are nevertheless found in
9153-627: The land", suggest that in practice sorcery could at least lead to exile. In the Judaean Second Temple period , Rabbi Simeon ben Shetach in the 1st century BC is reported to have sentenced to death eighty women who had been charged with witchcraft on a single day in Ascalon . Later the women's relatives took revenge by bringing false witnesses against Simeon's son and causing him to be executed in turn. No laws concerning magic survive from Classical Athens. However, cases concerning
9266-420: The large medieval and later church of cathedral proportions and iconic spire dominates the town and area, exercises a ministry of welcome to thousands of visitors and pilgrims from far and wide each year, and is a focus for special commemorations and celebrations in the borough, county, region and wider community, as well as being a central venue for concerts, recitals and exhibitions. Historically, St Paul's played
9379-705: The largest and most notable of these trials were the Trier witch trials (1581–1593), the Fulda witch trials (1603–1606), the Würzburg witch trial (1626–1631) and the Bamberg witch trials (1626–1631). In addition to known witch trials, witch hunts were often conducted by vigilantes, who may or may not have executed their victims. In Scotland, for example, cattle murrains were blamed on witches, usually peasant women, who were duly punished. A popular method called "scoring above
9492-605: The liberty and the ancient borough of Bedford . There have been several changes to the county boundary; for example, in 1897 Kensworth and part of Caddington were transferred from Hertfordshire to Bedfordshire. The southern end of the county is on the chalk ridge known as the Chiltern Hills . The remainder forms part of the broad drainage basin of the River Great Ouse and its tributaries. Most of Bedfordshire's rocks are clays and sandstones from
9605-485: The lower nobility and thus "unworthy" of his son. A Catholic figure who preached against witchcraft was popular Franciscan preacher Bernardino of Siena (1380–1444). Bernardino's sermons reveal both a phenomenon of superstitious practices and an over-reaction against them by the common people. However, it is clear that Bernardino had in mind not merely the use of spells and enchantments and such like fooleries but much more serious crimes, chiefly murder and infanticide. This
9718-600: The mid-15th century, specifically in the wake of the Council of Basel and centered on the Duchy of Savoy in the western Alps, leading to an early series of witch trials by both secular and ecclesiastical courts in the second half of the 15th century. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued Summis desiderantes affectibus , a Papal bull authorizing the "correcting, imprisoning, punishing and chastising" of devil-worshippers who have "slain infants", among other crimes. He did so at
9831-676: The ministers or the power of the witchcraft. Instead, they questioned whether the witch intended to inflict harm or not. Current scholarly estimates of the number of people who were executed for witchcraft vary from about 35,000 to 60,000. The total number of witch trials in Europe which are known to have ended in executions is around 12,000. Prominent contemporaneous critics of witch-hunts included Gianfrancesco Ponzinibio (fl. 1520), Johannes Wier (1515–1588), Reginald Scot (1538–1599), Cornelius Loos (1546–1595), Anton Praetorius (1560–1613), Alonso Salazar y Frías (1564–1636), Friedrich Spee (1591–1635), and Balthasar Bekker (1634–1698). Among
9944-795: The newly formed Inquisition was commissioned to deal with the Cathars of Southern France, whose teachings were charged with including witchcraft and magic. Although it has been proposed that the witch-hunt developed in Europe from the early 14th century, after the Cathars and the Knights Templar were suppressed, this hypothesis has been rejected independently by virtually all academic historians (Cohn 1975; Kieckhefer 1976). In 1258, Pope Alexander IV declared that Inquisition would not deal with cases of witchcraft unless they were related to heresy. Although Pope John XXII had later authorized
10057-584: The newly invented printing presses, enjoyed a wide readership. It was reprinted in 14 editions by 1520 and became unduly influential in the secular courts. In Europe, the witch-hunt craze was negligible in Spain, Poland, and Eastern Europe; conversely, it was intense in Germany, Switzerland, and France. The witch trials in Early Modern Europe came in waves and then subsided. There were trials in
10170-411: The numbers of trials, compared to other regions of Europe. Witch-hunts first appeared in large numbers in southern France and Switzerland during the 14th and 15th centuries. The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest Germany were from 1561 to 1670. The first major persecution in Europe, when witches were caught, tried, convicted, and burned in the imperial lordship of Wiesensteig in southwestern Germany,
10283-717: The other witch-hunters in England of the previous 160 years, and were solely responsible for the increase in witch trials during those years. Little is known of Matthew Hopkins before 1644, and there are no surviving contemporary documents concerning him or his family. He was born in Great Wenham , Suffolk, and was the fourth son of six children. His father, James Hopkins, was a Puritan clergyman and vicar of St John's of Great Wenham, in Suffolk. The family at one point held title "to lands and tenements in Framlingham 'at
10396-776: The people of their superstitious belief in witchcraft. A comparable situation in Russia is suggested in a sermon by Serapion of Vladimir (written in 1274~1275), where the popular superstition of witches causing crop failures is denounced. Early secular laws against witchcraft include those promulgated by King Athelstan (924–939): And we have ordained respecting witch-crafts, and lybacs [read lyblac "sorcery"] , and morthdaeds ["murder, mortal sin"] : if any one should be thereby killed, and he could not deny it, that he be liable in his life. But if he will deny it, and at threefold ordeal shall be guilty; that he be 120 days in prison: and after that let kindred take him out, and give to
10509-601: The real purpose of harming opponents. It can also involve elements of moral panic , as well as mass hysteria . The wide distribution of the practice of witch hunts in geographically and culturally separated societies (Europe, Africa, New Guinea) since the 1960s has triggered interest in the anthropological background of this behaviour. The belief in magic and divination , and attempts to use magic to influence personal well-being (to increase life, win love, etc.) are universal across human cultures. Belief in witchcraft has been shown to have similarities in societies throughout
10622-474: The request of inquisitor Heinrich Kramer , who had been refused permission by the local bishops in Germany to investigate. However, historians such as Ludwig von Pastor insist that the bull neither allowed anything new, nor was necessarily binding on Catholic consciences. Three years later in 1487, Kramer published the notorious Malleus Maleficarum (lit., 'Hammer against the Evildoers') which, because of
10735-407: The time this court session resumed in 1647, Stearne and Hopkins had retired, Hopkins to Manningtree and Stearne to Bury St Edmunds . Hopkins's witch-hunting methods were outlined in his book The Discovery of Witches, which was published in 1647. These practices were recommended in law books. During the year following the publication of Hopkins's book, trials and executions for witchcraft began in
10848-417: The two-tier model in response to parent and school demand, but elsewhere in the authority the three-tier model continues. Plans for the construction of new settlements in Marston Vale have included lower, middle and upper schools. As well as sixth form departments in schools, the main further education providers in the district are Central Bedfordshire College and Shuttleworth College Luton also operates
10961-607: The two. In 331 BC, a deadly epidemic hit Rome and at least 170 women were executed for causing it by veneficium . In 184–180 BC, another epidemic hit Italy, and about 5,000 people were brought to trial and executed for veneficium . If the reports are accurate, writes Hutton , "then the Republican Romans hunted witches on a scale unknown anywhere else in the ancient world". Under the Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis of 81 BC, killing by veneficium carried
11074-487: The victim claimed that the death had been arranged by his stepmother. The most detailed account of a trial for witchcraft in Classical Greece is the story of Theoris of Lemnos , who was executed along with her children some time before 338 BC, supposedly for casting incantations and using harmful drugs. During the pagan era of ancient Rome , there were laws against harmful magic. According to Pliny ,
11187-516: The victim's permission first. This led to the legal abandonment of the test by the end of 1645. Hopkins and his assistants also looked for the Devil's mark . This was a mark that all witches or sorcerers were thought to possess that was said to be dead to all feeling and would not bleed – although it was sometimes a mole , birthmark or an extra nipple . If the suspected witch had no such visible marks invisible ones could be discovered by pricking. Therefore, "witch prickers" were employed, who pricked
11300-706: The victims of the Finnmark witchcraft trials. In England, the Witchcraft Act 1541 regulated the penalties for witchcraft. In the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland, over 70 people were accused of witchcraft on account of bad weather when James VI of Scotland , who shared the Danish king's interest in witch trials, sailed to Denmark in 1590 to meet his betrothed Anne of Denmark . According to
11413-502: The view of the Church for many centuries. The general desire of the Catholic Church 's clergy to check fanaticism about witchcraft and necromancy is shown in the decrees of the Council of Paderborn , which, in 785 AD, explicitly outlawed condemning people as witches and condemned to death anyone who burnt a witch. The Lombard code of 643 AD states: Let nobody presume to kill a foreign serving maid or female servant as
11526-427: The wilderness, bestowed their embraces upon them and begat this savage race, which dwelt at first in the swamps, a stunted, foul and puny tribe, scarcely human, and having no language save one which bore but slight resemblance to human speech. The Councils of Elvira (306 AD), Ancyra (314 AD), and Trullo (692 AD) imposed certain ecclesiastical penances for devil-worship. This mild approach represented
11639-462: The world. It presents a framework to explain the occurrence of otherwise random misfortunes such as sickness or death, and the witch sorcerer provides an image of evil. Reports on indigenous practices in the Americas, Asia and Africa collected during the early modern Age of Exploration have been taken to suggest that not just the belief in witchcraft but also the periodic outbreak of witch-hunts are
11752-465: The writings of Augustine of Hippo and early theologians, who made little distinction between witchcraft and the practices of pagan religions. Many believed witchcraft did not exist in a philosophical sense: Witchcraft was based on illusions and powers of evil, which Augustine likened to darkness, a non-entity representing the absence of light. Augustine and his adherents like Saint Thomas Aquinas nevertheless promulgated elaborate demonologies, including
11865-575: Was John Gaule , vicar of Great Staughton in Huntingdonshire . Gaule had attended a woman from St Neots who was held in gaol charged with witchcraft until such time as Hopkins could attend. Upon hearing that the woman had been interviewed, Hopkins wrote a letter to a contact asking whether he would be given a "good welcome". Gaule hearing of this letter wrote his publication Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcrafts ; London, (1646) – dedicated to Colonel Walton of
11978-463: Was crimen exceptum : a crime so foul that all normal legal procedures were superseded. Because the Devil was not going to "confess", it was necessary to gain a confession from the human involved. The witch-hunts undertaken by Stearne and Hopkins were mainly in East Anglia , in the counties of Suffolk , Essex , Norfolk , Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire , with a few in the counties of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire . They extended throughout
12091-464: Was added in 1959 the M1 motorway , running from London to Leeds . Running from junctions 10 to 13 in Bedfordshire, there are two junctions serving Luton (at the southern end), with another one serving Bedford and Milton Keynes (at the northern end). Between these lies two other junctions in the county, with one connecting to the A5 and serving Dunstable , and the other serving the town of Flitwick . There
12204-451: Was found innocent, while Mary was acquitted of witchcraft but she was still sentenced to be hanged as punishment for the death of her child. She died in prison. About eighty people throughout England's Massachusetts Bay Colony were accused of practicing witchcraft; thirteen women and two men were executed in a witch-hunt that occurred throughout New England and lasted from 1645 to 1663. The Salem witch trials followed in 1692–1693. Once
12317-676: Was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the Middle East . In medieval Europe , witch-hunts often arose in connection to charges of heresy from Christianity. An intensive period of witch-hunts occurring in Early Modern Europe and to a smaller extent Colonial America , took place from about 1450 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years' War , resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 60,000 executions. The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in
12430-422: Was reserved solely for witches and heretics, the implication being that a burned body could not be resurrected on Judgment Day . The resurgence of witch-hunts at the end of the medieval period, taking place with at least partial support or at least tolerance on the part of the Church, was accompanied with a number of developments in Christian doctrine, for example, the recognition of the existence of witchcraft as
12543-812: Was used in the American colonies as early as May 1647, when Margaret Jones was executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts , the first of 17 people executed for witchcraft in the Colonies from 1647 to 1663. Witch-hunts began to occur in North America while Hopkins was hunting witches in England. In 1645, forty-six years before the notorious Salem witch trials , Springfield, Massachusetts experienced America's first accusations of witchcraft when husband and wife Hugh and Mary Parsons accused each other of witchcraft. In America's first witch trial, Hugh
12656-672: Was well known for a quarrelsome and aggressive nature." According to Julian Goodare, in Europe, the overall proportion of women who were persecuted as witches was 80%, although there were countries and regions like Estonia, Normandy and Iceland, that targeted men more. In Iceland 92% of the accused were men, in Estonia 60%, and in Moscow two-thirds of those accused were male. In Finland, a total of more than 100 death row inmates were roughly equal in both men and women, but all Ålanders sentenced to witchcraft were only women. At one point during
12769-508: Was −20.6 °C (−5.1 °F) in 1947. The Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner is John Tizard , a member of the Labour Party . For local government purposes, Bedfordshire is divided into three unitary authorities : the boroughs of Bedford and Luton , and the district of Central Bedfordshire . Healthcare in the county is dealt with by a single Clinical Commission Group (CCG), which serves all three local authorities in
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