Matthew Hopkins

Matthew Hopkins, the self-proclaimed "Witchfinder General," emerges from the shadows of the English Civil War, a figure whose name remains inextricably linked to the darker currents of historical occultism. While his career was tragically brief, spanning mere years from 1644 to 1647, Hopkins's impact on the perception and persecution of alleged witchcraft was seismic. Drawing heavily from the arcane pronouncements of King James I's *Daemonologie*, Hopkins authored his own treatise, *The Discov…