John Stearne (witch-hunter)

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John Stearne (c. 1610–1670)^[1] was an associate of self-styled "Witchfinder General" Matthew Hopkins, who was active during the English Civil War.^[2] The duo's activities were heavily fictionalized in the 1968 horror film Witchfinder-General (U.S. title: The Conqueror Worm). Stearne was known at various times as the witch-hunter,^[3]^[4] and "witch pricker".^[5]

Raised in Long Melford, Suffolk,^[6] Stearne later became a land owner at Lawshall near Bury St Edmunds.^[7] He met Hopkins, who was 10 years' his junior, in Manningtree and appointed him as his assistant. As a result of Stearne's accusations, a trial was held in Chelmsford in July 1645 for 29 people accused of witchcraft and sorcery.^[8] Of these, four had died in prison prior to the trial^[8] and 15 or 16^[9] were subsequently hanged. Nine who had been convicted of conjuring spirits were reprieved.^[10]

Within a year of the death of Matthew Hopkins, John Stearne retired to his farm and wrote A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft.

References

Notes

^ Davies, S.F (2007). The Discovery of Witches and Witchcraft: The Writings of the Witchfinders. Puckrel. ISBN 9780955635014.
^ A detailed account of the two men's activities can be found in Malcolm Gaskill's Witchfinders: A Seventeenth Century English Tragedy (Harvard, 2005).
^ St Edmundsbury, Borough Council. "Reformation and Civil War 1539-1699". Archived from the original on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2007.
^ Notestein 1911: p. 166
^ Notestein 1911: p. 248
^ Gaskill, Malcolm (October 2007). Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674025424.
^ Gaskill 2005: p. 13
^ ^a ^b Gaskill 2005: p. 123
^ Notestein 1911: pp. 173, 403
^ Gaskill 2005: p. 129

Bibliography

Gaskill, Malcolm (2005), Witchfinders: A Seventeenth Century English Tragedy, London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-6120-5
Notestein, Wallace (1965) [1911], A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718, New York: American Historical Association, ISBN 978-1169793521, OCLC 223043

External links

[1] Davies, S.F (2007). The Discovery of Witches and Witchcraft: The Writings of the Witchfinders. Puckrel. ISBN 9780955635014.

[2] A detailed account of the two men's activities can be found in Malcolm Gaskill's Witchfinders: A Seventeenth Century English Tragedy (Harvard, 2005).

[3] St Edmundsbury, Borough Council. "Reformation and Civil War 1539-1699". Archived from the original on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2007.

[4] Notestein 1911: p. 166

[5] Notestein 1911: p. 248

[6] Gaskill, Malcolm (October 2007). Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674025424.

[7] Gaskill 2005: p. 13

[page123-8] Gaskill 2005: p. 123

[9] Notestein 1911: pp. 173, 403

[10] Gaskill 2005: p. 129

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