Witch hunt motives

Matt Salusbury’s feature on witchcraft sceptics [ FT367:40-44] had me wondering. What happened to the property and possessions of witches – confiscated by the state, perhaps? And were any aristocrats accused of witchcraft? I suspect that persecutions like these were an excuse to take possession of worldly goods rather like the persecution of Jews, where property is confiscated and debts wiped out. James Wilkins Southampton, Hampshire

Matt Salusbury replies: “I didn’t really look into the “confiscation of property” aspect of the witch persecutions. Many witches in England were accused after “refusing charity” from the well-to-do residents of their community, at a time when the poor relief was being formalised by legislation. Many witches were destitute old widows with little by way of property to seize. It seems that some of the suspected witches targeted by Matthew Hopkins were thought to be Royalist sympathisers, or at least the neighbours of suspected Royalists, so there was some sort of sneaky targeting of Royalists

going on in the witchcraft trials, at a time when an open purge of Royalists might have led to open rebellion. (Hopkins is known to have used the “Rosicrucian cypher” code employed by Parliamentary spies, and is believed to have met with Parliamentary commanders on at least one occasion.) There were certainly some local feuds that escalated into accusations of witchcraft – the Reverend John Lowes of Brandeston, Suffolk, hanged after being brought to trial by Hopkins, seems to have been caught up in a feud between High Church (Anglicans) and Low Church (Puritans).