ABSTRACT
During the Civil War reports of witchcraft were often used to convey particular theological or political opinions to simple folk by exploiting their superstitious beliefs. Popular beliefs and superstitions concerning witchcraft also began to be supported by many learned writers during this period, especially after 1660. No doubt this was aided by the rise in popularity of empiricism in scientific thought. The members of the Royal Society Joseph Glanvill and Henry More, for example, had both claimed witches existed because so many of those accused of witchcraft had admitted their offence voluntarily, and also because numerous persons had claimed to have witnessed acts of witchcraft.1 Whether the manipulation of popular belief was cynically exploited in a similar fashion with witchcraft prosecution is another matter, and probably impossible to prove. Certainly the breakdown of the judicial system was a contributory factor,2 but there is no evidence to suggest witch-hunts, as opposed to the publication of witchcraft accounts, were instigated by central government. Instead it seems more likely that the judicial chaos prevalent during this period, coupled with social tensions caused by increased sectarianism, allowed certain individuals to exploit such conditions by instigating witch-hunts either for reasons of religious zeal or simply to make money. Moreover they were able to achieve this largely unchecked by any authority. During the English Civil War witchcraft persecution was dominated by the large-scale witch-hunts of Mathew Hopkins in East Anglia and the south east of England, while during the Restoration a similar campaign took place in Somerset presided over by the JP Richard Hunt. These episodes of witchcraft will be analysed with a view to gaining some further insight into popular belief and the tensions prevalent within isolated rural communities.
