{"product_id":"the-devils-neighbours","title":"The Devil's Neighbours: Fear, Betrayal and the Witchfinder General","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHe was never appointed. He was never paid a salary by anyone but the villages that hired him. In two years, Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne helped send roughly a hundred people to the gallows across five English counties.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Devil's Neighbours tells the true story of the East Anglian witch-hunt of 1645–1647, the largest of its kind England ever saw at a single sitting. It is a narrative history first, built around named individuals rather than statistics: Elizabeth Clarke, an older disabled woman accused after a neighbour's grudge; the vicar who finally stood up to Hopkins in print; the judges who quietly let the hunt run out of road.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou will know Hopkins as the Witchfinder General. That title was invented in 1968 by a film. This book explains where the myth came from, and what actually happened instead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you will find inside:\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe documented story of Hopkins and Stearne: who they really were, how an ordinary Puritan and a Suffolk landowner with no legal office between them came to run England's deadliest witch-hunt\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy a wartime collapse in local justice, not sorcery, let the accusations spread from one Essex village into Suffolk, Norfolk, the Isle of Ely and Huntingdonshire\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWho the accused actually were: overwhelmingly poor women, often already isolated by their own community, named and followed individually rather than reduced to a body count\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow local magistrates, clergy and neighbours let it happen, and exactly what Hopkins and Stearne were paid, parish by parish\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJohn Gaule, the vicar of Great Staughton whose sermons and determined book helped turn the legal tide against the hunt\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe real, quiet story of Hopkins's death in 1647, and why the popular legend that he was swum and hanged as a witch himself is false\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eTailored to your exam:\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe back matter includes a dedicated mapping to Edexcel A-level History Option 33 (The Witch Craze in Britain, Europe and North America), a timeline, cast of characters, essay-practice questions with guidance, and a section for GCSE Crime and Punishment students, for whom Hopkins is a named case study.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon A. Williams. Histories and Castles produces independent history books and articles for students, teachers and general readers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow you receive it:\u003c\/b\u003e You will be taken to Amazon.co.uk, where you can choose between instant ebook delivery or a printed paperback. All links are secure and direct you to Amazon UK.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhy this book:\u003c\/b\u003e While other witch trial histories focus on a single location (Salem, Pendle) or compress the story into a textbook format, The Devil's Neighbours spans five counties and traces the real, named people involved; accused, accusers, and the magistrates who allowed it. Unlike popular adaptations, this book separates the 1960s film myth from what Hopkins and Stearne actually did.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Amazon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59015829782860,"sku":null,"price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1028\/3869\/8316\/files\/The_Devil_s_Neighbours_Cover.jpg?v=1790839766","url":"https:\/\/historiesandcastles.com\/products\/the-devils-neighbours","provider":"Histories and Castles","version":"1.0","type":"link"}