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==Witchfinder General== | ==Witchfinder General== | ||
[[File:Familiars.png|350px|thumb|Frontispiece from Matthew Hopkins' The Discovery of Witches (1647)]] | |||
Following the Lancaster Witch Trials (1612–1634), William Harvey, physician to King Charles I of England, had been ordered to examine the four women accused, and from this there came a requirement to have material proof of being a [[witch]]. The work of Hopkins and John Stearne was not necessarily to prove any of the accused had committed acts of maleficium, but to prove that they had made a covenant with [[the Devil]]. Prior to this point, any malicious acts on the part of witches were treated identically to those of other criminals, until it was seen that, according to the then-current beliefs about the structure of [[witchcraft]], they owed their powers to a deliberate act of their choosing. | Following the Lancaster Witch Trials (1612–1634), William Harvey, physician to King Charles I of England, had been ordered to examine the four women accused, and from this there came a requirement to have material proof of being a [[witch]]. The work of Hopkins and John Stearne was not necessarily to prove any of the accused had committed acts of maleficium, but to prove that they had made a covenant with [[the Devil]]. Prior to this point, any malicious acts on the part of witches were treated identically to those of other criminals, until it was seen that, according to the then-current beliefs about the structure of [[witchcraft]], they owed their powers to a deliberate act of their choosing. | ||