![]() Hopkins and his colleague John Stearne sent more accused people to the gallows than all the other witch-hunters in England of the previous 160 years. ![]() He is believed to have been responsible for the executions of over 100 alleged witches between the years 16. He and his associates were responsible for more people being hanged for witchcraft than in the previous 100 years, and were solely responsible for the increase in witch trials during those years. The son of a Puritan minister, Hopkins' career as a witch-finder began in March 1644 and lasted until his retirement in 1647. He was mainly active in East Anglia and claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament. Matthew Hopkins ( c. 1620 – 12 August 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. A portrait of Matthew Hopkins, 'The Celebrated Witch-finder', from the 1837 edition of The Discovery of Witches ![]()
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