The Growing Cost (Edexcel A-Level History): Revision Notes

The Growing Cost

The financial burden of witch-hunting played a crucial role in bringing the East Anglian witch craze to an end by 1647. As the investigations intensified under Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne, the costs spiralled out of control, creating unsustainable pressure on local communities already struggling with the economic demands of the Civil War.

The financial burdens of witch-hunting

Every aspect of the witch-hunting process generated significant expenses that fell upon local authorities and communities. These costs accumulated rapidly as more suspects were detained and prosecuted.

Imprisonment expenses

Imprisonment was extraordinarily expensive, costing approximately three pence per prisoner per day. This may seem modest, but the costs accumulated quickly when multiple suspects were held for extended periods awaiting trial.

For example, the witches imprisoned at Ipswich cost up to £50 just to maintain them whilst they waited for their assize court date. The jailer at Ipswich complained bitterly that he was suffering financially because the money collected to keep the suspects was never sufficient to cover the actual costs.

Feeding costs

As more and more individuals were detained on witchcraft charges, feeding prisoners became an increasingly serious issue. At Bury St Edmunds, authorities appointed a specific officer whose sole responsibility was to collect bread-money for the witches detained in the gaol.

Assize court expenses

The assize courts themselves were remarkably expensive to operate. A sheriff was required to find funds and accommodation for the judges, as well as provide horses, heating and food for the officers, administrators and the witchfinders themselves.

The scale of expenditure is revealed in the lavish provisions made for these courts. The meat list for one assize court included beef, veal, lamb, duck, pike, carp and salmon – clearly far more than basic sustenance. The judge at the 1645 trial at Bury St Edmunds, John Godbold, sent an invoice for a staggering £130 to cover his and his assistant's costs alone.

Execution costs

Executions carried substantial costs that varied depending on the method used. One of the witches executed at Yarmouth, Mary Lakeland, was burned for murdering her husband, at a cost three times higher than it would have been to hang her. Over £3 was spent on her execution alone – a considerable sum at the time.

In Suffolk, churchwardens and overseers of the poor were instructed to collect a new levy (local tax) specifically to pay for the searching and trying of witches, adding to the financial burden on communities.

Hopkins and Stearne's fees

The fees demanded by Hopkins and Stearne became increasingly controversial as the witch-hunt progressed. They inevitably had to stay in inns, and the upkeep of horses and the paying of search-women and watchers also incurred significant expense.

Hopkins complained that he and his assistants would have to travel many miles to investigate a case and would be paid just 20 shillings (approximately a month's wages for a labourer). Both Hopkins and Stearne were eager to claim that their services represented good value for money, and they consistently maintained that they took just 20 shillings for each visit.

The Aldeburgh case study

Official records reveal that the fees paid to the witchfinders were considerably higher than their claims suggested. The Aldeburgh case provides a detailed breakdown of the true costs involved.

This astronomical proportion of the budget demonstrates why communities became increasingly reluctant to pursue witchcraft cases. The gap between Hopkins' claimed fee of 20 shillings and the actual total cost of over £40 reveals the hidden expenses that made witch-hunting unsustainable.

Hopkins' defence of his fees

In his publication The Discovery of Witches (1647), Hopkins responded to accusations that he was profiteering from witch-hunting. The dialogue was based on genuine questions Hopkins was asked at the Norfolk assizes.

When accused of fleecing the country of their money by riding to towns to gain employment and making promises whilst possibly doing nothing, Hopkins defended himself vigorously:

Hopkins insisted that:

• He never actively sought out work; towns always requested his services
• He never declared someone a witch without proper trial by search and their own confessions
• He charged only 20 shillings per town, sometimes riding 20 miles for that fee
• He received no more for all his charges travelling there and back, and might stay a week
• This modest sum had to maintain his company with three horses
• Finding even one witch made the service 'cheap enough'

The end of the witch-hunt and Stearne's account

By the end of 1647, John Stearne's witch-hunt was over and his partner Hopkins was dead (probably of tuberculosis). Stearne was able to return home to his wife, who was expecting their second child, but he must have recognised that the brief golden age of East Anglian witch-hunting had ended.

Several factors contributed to this conclusion:

• Judges and juries were now reluctant to convict suspects
• Across the region, particularly in Suffolk, the cost of keeping and prosecuting witches was simply too high to warrant further investigations
• Critics of both the cost and the nature of the hunt began making their voices heard
• With funds still required to finance the war effort, witch-hunting was viewed as an unnecessary luxury

Financial disputes

A number of debts owed to Stearne for his work were never called in, suggesting that he recognised the futility of pursuing them. Lawsuits had been filed against him to overturn wrongful convictions, and there is evidence that he was taken to court to recover fees he had charged.

Stearne's published defence

In A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft (1648), Stearne defended both his own conduct and that of Hopkins:

Stearne claimed that:

• He never took any money by way of bribe or gift, not even to the value of one penny
• He only took payment openly in the view of the townsmen where he worked
• In many places he never received payment and was unlikely to, despite having documentation for satisfaction
• Some towns were actually pursuing him for money that had been received
• He had been out of pocket in many places for charges and other expenses

Regarding Hopkins' death, Stearne was keen to dispel rumours:

Stearne emphasised that Hopkins was 'the son of a godly Minister' and died peacefully, contrary to popular rumours that he had died in guilt and torment.

The re-establishment of traditional authority

As the cost of witch-hunting spiralled, an element of traditional authority was returned to East Anglia, which helped bring the witch-hunt to an end.

The changing political situation

The majority of fighting ceased when Charles I surrendered to the Scots at Newark in May 1646, and East Anglia was safe enough to receive the assize judges more regularly. By late summer 1646, more and more suspected witches were beginning to be acquitted – a stark contrast to the earlier period when convictions were almost automatic.

Although Parliament maintained control of the country, many Royalist gentry were able to return to their estates in East Anglia. They began to reassert their authority and even punished their tenants and servants who had been involved in fighting for Parliament.

The end of Puritan dominance

Even clergy who had been accused of being Royalist sympathisers were beginning to take up new livings (clerical positions) across the region. The Puritan-dominated pursuit of witches was now being disturbed by the previously established authorities, who had different priorities and were less inclined to support expensive witch-hunting campaigns.

Why communities became reluctant to pay

By 1646-47, town and parish authorities had multiple reasons for being more reluctant to pay Hopkins and Stearne for their services:

• Financial exhaustion: The cumulative costs of multiple investigations had drained local budgets, as demonstrated by Aldeburgh spending one-seventh of its annual budget on a single case
• War expenses: Communities still needed to finance the Civil War effort, making witch-hunting seem like an unnecessary luxury
• Discrepancy in fees: The gap between Hopkins' claimed fees (20 shillings) and actual costs (£40+ in Aldeburgh) created suspicion about profiteering
• Increasing acquittals: As more suspects were being acquitted by returning assize judges, the investment seemed wasteful
• Legal challenges: The lawsuits against Stearne and attempts to recover fees suggested growing resistance to the witchfinders' activities
• Return of traditional authority: Royalist gentry and more sceptical clergy were less supportive of Puritan-driven witch-hunts

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