Project Gutenberg 2004-11-10 Public domain in the USA. 689 Hopkins, Matthew 1647 The Discovery of Witches Reading ease score: 53.5 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. E-text prepared by Feòrag NicBhrìde, Andrea Ball, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team "The Discovery of Witches" by Matthew Hopkins is a historical account written in the mid-17th century, during a time when the witch trials were prevalent in England. The book serves as a justification for Hopkins' controversial methods in identifying witches, which he argued were both necessary and effective for the sake of public safety. It primarily focuses on the practice and beliefs surrounding witchcraft, particularly examining the role of confessions and the techniques used to detect witches. In this text, Hopkins responds to numerous queries about his witch-finding practices, defending his actions against accusations of cruelty and incompetence. He discusses his experiences in identifying witches, including the use of physical examinations to find marks of witchcraft, such as "teats" on the body. Throughout the book, he recounts specific cases, detailing how suspected witches were discovered and examined, their confessions, and the common rationalizations for their actions. The work highlights the tumultuous nature of witch hunts and sheds light on the societal fears and misconceptions regarding witchcraft during this period. Hopkins seeks to validate his methods while discrediting challenges to his authority, ultimately portraying himself as a protector of the community against malign forces. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Witchcraft -- England BF Text Witchcraft Browsing: Philosophy & Ethics Browsing: Psychiatry/Psychology Browsing: Religion/Spirituality/Paranormal 50451 49269 2024-10-06T10:55:08.051208 2023-10-06T11:28:44.362938 text/html text/html 46535 2020-12-18T15:42:22 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 17761 2020-12-18T15:42:22 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 95620 2024-10-06T10:55:13.349185 application/epub+zip 94027 2024-10-06T10:55:10.936189 application/epub+zip 82222 2024-10-06T10:55:09.762254 application/epub+zip 202368 2024-10-06T10:55:15.246166 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 186758 2024-10-06T10:55:12.652191 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 145249 2022-09-07T14:08:41.739077 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 41998 41901 2024-10-06T10:55:07.747196 2023-10-06T11:28:44.159956 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 41734 2020-12-18T15:42:22 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16063 2020-12-18T15:42:22 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19806 2024-10-06T10:55:15.370156 application/rdf+xml 13541 2024-10-06T10:55:10.317200 image/jpeg 3714 2024-10-06T10:55:10.041186 image/jpeg 92681 2024-10-06T10:55:08.057209 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia