Essay
A* - 17/20 - Source Essay Witchcraze
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- PEARSON (PEARSON)
A* Source essay for Witchcraft - Band 5: 17/20 marks - East Anglian witch hunts with Hopkins.
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Assess the value of the source for revealing the methods used by witch hunters and commonperceptions of witches in covens in the 17th century.
Plan:
Intro - line of argument, useful for both
Paragraph 1 - provenance of the source
Nature: Pamphlet - informative piece - useful as it lets a historian know what is likely happening
Purpose: Educate/ perhaps used as precedent, make the hunters seem to know what they’re
doing - defending their actions?
Origin: May be limited because it is anonymous and has an air of ambiguity - lacks reliability as
a result
Paragraph 2: Revealing the methods used - confessions to secure convictions, took
confessions, important part of all trials - links to Bamberg, North Berwick etc - accurate
- Evidence about familiars, links to the Devil were important to Hopkins
- Did not need strong evidence ‘this examinanth cannot remember’
Paragraph 3: Common perceptions - familiars, covens, meeting together, reading a Devil’s
book, groups of 13, in London - suggests there was great interest in the hunts
Paragraph 4: Limitations - less valuable - leaves out torture, huge part of Hopkin’s trials,
watching, walking, puts them in a good light - omits it because they want to seem legitimate -
West was a wittness to the crown, could make up elaborate lies, she might lie to implement
people she dislikes, lacks reliability as a result
There is no doubt that the source is valuable for revealing the methods used by witch hunters
and common perceptions of witches in covens in the 17th century. The source comes from the
East Anglian witch hunts 1645- 47 which were led by Hopkins and Stearne, this gives the
source value as it allows a historian to infer what methods were used by witch hunters. More so,
the role of Rebbeca West was important in the beginnings of the trials in Manningtree which
would further help a historian in understanding the methods of witch hunters and how they might
use witches to find out further names of witches. Furthermore, the source has value when
assessing common perceptions of witches in covens as it portrays the women who ‘met all
together’ with their ‘familiars,’ which illustrates a conventional witches coven. Furthering this, the
provenance of the source adds to its value as it is intended to be an informative piece which
gives a historian a detailed amount of description which can be useful for both enquiries as
there is a lot of evidence present. However, the source has some areas of limitations, for
instance, the lack of reference to torture which the author has clearly omitted from their writing.
Yet, it is still evident that the source holds value regarding both inquires due to its content which
, a historian can use to infer information about both methods of hunters and perceptions of witch
covens.
To begin, the source is valuable as a result of its provenance which can be seen by the fact that
it is an informative pamphlet. This can be valuable because it was written to educate people
about the trials at the time and what happened during the prosecution of witches. This can also
be valuable for a historian in assessing the methods used by witch hunters as it is clear that in
the East Anglian trials things were not done in secret (unlike perhaps the Bamberg trials). More
so, the source is made to educate people however it could be argued that it lacks reliability or
credibility as it is anonymous which suggests that the writer wants to remain hidden which
brings into question if they can be trusted if they do not want to be tracked back. However, the
source can still be valuable for a historian regarding methods used by hunters as the pamphlet
circulated to London which suggests that hunts were becoming popular during this time period
which is accurate and suggests that it would be difficult for the writer to lie, particularly about
common perceptions of witch covens, as so many people would have access to the pamphlet.
Furthermore, a historian could also assess the methods used by hunters as a pamphlet is made
to spread awareness and if more people knew about the hunters’ trials and success then they
might be called to other cities to do more work which was lucrative business for them as they
could make up to £23 per town. Therefore, the provenance of the source makes it useful as it is
accurate and a lot can be inferred from it regarding both enquiries, particularly the methods
used by witch hunters.
Furthermore, the source is valuable in revealing the methods used by witch hunters as the
source shows witch hunters such as Hopkins and Stearne valued confessions as it secured
further convictions. This can be seen through Wests’ confession which was responsible for a
number of other convictions, including her own mother, as well as ‘Anne Leech, Elizabeth
Goodling, Hellen Clark…’ More so, the confession is given in great detail from when they ‘met
all together’ to what they did up until their departure which is useful in revealing methods used
by hunters as it shows that they would try get detailed explanations from witches but it also
depicts common perceptions of covens as it was believed that witches would congregate and
meet up in houses to conspire. This value can be reinforced by the reference to ‘familiars’ which
was another big part of the methods used by witch hunters as people such as Hopkins and
Stearne were interested in the relationship witches had with the Devil and this would include
their relationships with imps and familiars. This is further valuable to a historian as the source is
accurate as many witch hunts took an interest in familiars such as the 1596-97 Boy of Burton
case in which Alice Gooderidge confessed to having a familiar called ‘Minny’ or other cases
such as Good Smith in the East Anglian case who claimed to have an imp. However, the source
also shows that the witch hunters did not always seek strong evidence when convicting witches
‘the examinant cannot remember’ which is valuable for a historian in understanding the methods
hunters used and how they treated witches. This is because a historian can infer that the
confessions may lack an air of credibility but that hunters still took them nonetheless. Therefore,
it is evident that the source is valuable for assessing and revealing the methods used by witch
hunters because it depicts the fact that the hunters held confessions in a high regard.
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