Mathew Hopkins, Witchfinder General.

Mathew Hopkins, Witchfinder General. Matthew Hopkins is perhaps the most notorious name in the history of English witchcraft, more commonly he was known as “The Witch-Finder General”. Throughout his reign of terror 1645-1646, Hopkins acquired a feared and evil reputation as a ‘fingerman’ (informer), paid by local authorities to commit perjury. Together with his henchman and fellow ‘Witch-Pricker’ John Sterne, in just 14 months, Hopkins was responsible for the condemnations and executions of some 230 alleged witches, more than all the other witch-hunters that proliferated during the 160-year peak of the country’s witchcraft hysteria.