Witch Hunt: A Century of Murder (2015)
Part 1 covers the start of the Witch craze (1600) in the British Isles with King James VI and Bailiff David Seaton.
The torture of Gillis Duncan, Seaton's maid, which set off the witch hunting in Scottland was bad enough but it was a domino effect that killed 100s of innocents. This includes Agnes Sampson who is often considered to be the "witch" that convinced King James VI of Scotland (Later King James I of England) that witches were a threat.
There is some good coverage of the Malleus Maleficarum, but mostly it focuses on the more "local" Demonologie by King James.
Presented by Suzannah Lipscomb a professor emerita of history. Reading over her CV I am pretty impressed to be honest.
This one also spends some time on the Pendle Hill witches, a particularly dark time of the English witch trials.
Part 2 large focuses on Mathew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General. We are now in the reign of King Charles I and the British Civil War. The conditions were right to bring about the likes of Hopkins. There is a level of cruelty here that I can scarcely believe. Scratch that. I can believe it. I have been reading this stuff for years. Humans suck.
A direct line is drawn between King James to Hopkins to as far away as the Salem Witch Trails.
By my count this accounts for few hundred murdered.
Far worse horrors than any horror movie I watched so far.
October Horror Movie Challenge 2023
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1 comment:
That sounds pretty interesting. A lot of attention was given to Salem but there have obviously been plenty of other literal witch hunts.
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