#Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[weirdlookindog]

Matthew Hopkins - Witchfinder General, (born, Wenham, Suffolk, Eng.—died Aug. 12, 1647)

"Between the years 1644 and 1646, Hopkins and his associates are believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 300 women. And in the days when an average farm worker’s wage was just 6 pence a day, it is estimated that Hopkins may have collected fees of around £1000 for his gruesome services.

Hopkins even wrote a short pamphlet detailing his witch-hunting methods: ‘The Discovery of Witches’, which was published in 1647. His own end however, is far from clear; some accounts say he drowned undergoing his own “swimming trial” after being accused of witchcraft himself..."

historic-uk.com

[captainsamta]

I was bored

[terre-des-h0mmes]

Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General (1968, directed by Michael Reeves)

[twistedtummies2]

The Price May Be Right - Number 21

Welcome to “The Price May Be Right!” I’m counting down My Top 31 Favorite Vincent Price Performances & Appearances! The countdown will cover movies, TV productions, and many more forms of media. Today we focus on Number 21: Matthew Hopkins, from Witchfinder General.

“Witchfinder General” – also released as “The Conqueror Worm,” in a pointless attempt to connect this movie to Vincent Price’s popularity in Poe-based creations – is generally considered to be one of Price’s darkest and most disturbing movie appearances. And that’s saying a lot! The film is a sort of combo of a biopic and a horror story, presenting a heavily fictionalized account of the last days in the life of the infamous Matthew Hopkins. Hopkins was a professional witch hunter, who in the course of just three years, was believed to have been directly responsible for the torture and execution of more than a hundred people. It is generally an accepted belief that Hopkins was an opportunistic and murderous con-artist, who used the excuse of witch hunting as a means to earn a profit…at the expense of many innocent lives. The plot of the movie specifically focuses on Hopkins and his lieutenant, John Stearne (played by Robert Russell), in their persecution of a family living in Suffolk, England. The heinous acts they commit against this family ultimately lead to the pair’s downfall. At the time, the movie received mixed reactions from critics and audiences alike, mostly due to its graphic violence and more provocative scenes. The movie was released in 1968, at a time when increasing bloodthirstiness and sensuality in horror was only just starting to become more widely and openly accepted. In years since, people have become much more openly positive towards the film, largely due to Price’s performance in the role of the wicked witch hunter. Many consider this to be one of Vincent’s most subtle and scary performances. He plays Hopkins with an icy, almost mechanical coolness. In Price’s own words, the character was meant to be a “low-key, very laid-back, menacing” sort of villain: that is exactly what he presents to us. Hopkins is somewhat similar to the character of Frollo from Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame: a cold-hearted and sadistic scoundrel who uses the excuse of doing the Lord’s work as a way of permitting his evil deeds. The difference is that Hopkins’ belief in what he’s doing as righteous is ambiguous, at best, while Frollo believes he is truly in the right. Both are zealots, but Hopkins is arguably the worst sort: the kind of person who, for all his justifications, simply does what he does for profit and pleasure, and is allowed to continue without reproach. Interestingly, while Price had nothing but praise to offer the film following its release, making this movie was not a fun ride for the actor. He and the director – Michael Reeves – had a stormy relationship. Reeves, by all accounts, never wanted Vincent in the movie to begin with. However, the studio producers – who wanted to inject a bit more star power into the picture – insisted on Vincent being cast. The two were at each other’s throats throughout the production process. Famously, during an argument with Reeves, Vincent blurted out, “I’ve made eighty-seven films!” The director looked him dead in the eye, and calmly replied: “I’ve made three good ones.” Sorry, Vincent. Even I’ve kind of got to admit, that burn must have needed some strong ointment to heal. XD Tomorrow, the countdown moves into the Top 20! We’ll be covering my Number 20 choice, so stay tuned!

[gaylos-lobos]

looking through the salem manga to collect refs for that wittebros foreigner design and i forgot that HE is here

[moltenbat]

I watched witch finder general the other day so I decided to draw Mathew Hopkins

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Do you think that Thou-Shalt-Not-Committ-Adultery Pulsifer was based off of Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins?

Hiya! :) In the book? Yes - like, him and Shadwell and the witchfinder army :). He is even mentioned in the book. Matthew Hopkins (real history character) claimed to have the Witchfinder General title tho Parliament never gave it to him, from that I think Terry and Neil did the who "Witchfinder Sergeant" and others hierarchy titles in their witchfinder army, also Hopkins was looking for extra nipples.

In the show they certainly used Hopkins' appearance when creating the Thou-Shalt-Not-Committ-Adultery Pulsifer :).

Also fun fact, when Crowley meets Shadwell, we see on the telly Shadwell's favourite movie - the Witchfinder General from 1968 where Vincent price plays the character of Matthew Hopkins :).

[dionysiaproductions]

I made a list of potential names for my kitten and instead of one name, she ended up with three. She's the tiniest little speck and yet we have officially given her the giant name "Tsuki Pyewacket Moon." (she'll grow into it.)

Her official nickname is Moonpye. (her unofficial nickname is Moon Moon)

This was the full list of potential names:

Witch Familiar Names:

Pyewacket (Kim Novak's cat in Bell, Book and Candle. Also, historical: Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins)

Corra (Diana Bishop's firedrake in Discovery of Witches)

Vinegar tom (historical: WFG Hopkins again)

Dandy (historical: James Device)

General Moon Names:

Moon (this was her shelter name, also the fur on top of her head looks like a crescent moon)

Artemis (Greek moon goddess)

Yutu (lunar rover/jade rabbit)

Yue ( Cardcaptors and Avatar)

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Names:

Serenity (bonus direct moon reference in the sea of serenity)

Sailor (Vibe)

Bunny (we all thought this would be funny since her pet-siblings are bunny-rabbits)

Tsuki 月 (part of Sailor Moon's family name in Japanese, also it means moon)

[william-the-ladyfinger]

The Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins

Youl can find all 6 episodes of The Witchfinder on Dailymotion, but only the last episode features Reece Shearsmith as Matthew Hopkins.

These are my favourite scenes:

[weirdlookindog]

Posting stuff about Matthew Hopkins and the 1968 movie classic made me think of this:

Witchfinder General - Witchfinder General

And that (naturally) lead into this:

Cathedral - Hopkins (Witchfinder General)

And then of course there's Oliver Cromwell who was in the movie as well:

Reverend Bizarre - Cromwell

[enchantedchocolatebars]

The Bloodied Dagger

Original story

Ao3 version

A small crowd was gathered in the center of town and was in awe as they witnessed THE Matthew Hopkins tying up an odious "witch".

The wicked wench pleaded for the great general to let her go, proclaiming her false innocence to him.

However, the woman was rightfully disregarded.

Witches were quite notorious for spinning lies and telling tall tales, and Hopkins was well-informed of that fact.

He was a man of God, after all.

"Look at those arms," a young woman in the crowd comments about the witchfinder to her friend, who nods in agreement.

Both women simultaneously exhale a sigh of infatuation as they begin to view Hopkins through a "crush filter", their pupils now taking on the shape of red hearts.

"He has the eyes of righteousness," a burly man would state out of admiration.

"Oh, that Matthew Hopkins is steamier than a stew in July~," another woman who was crushing on the general said with a giggle, fanning herself with her hand.

"I could kiss him!" a thrilled man shouts, to which the other townspeople fully support his excited statement.

To them and the other residents living in Gravesfield, a formal and friendly kiss between two gentleman was not a problem.

Standing among the chatty crowd was Philip, the teen's smile growing immensely as he watched his idol bring the "witch" to justice.

He aspired to be a great witch hunter just like him.

Once she was fully tied around her midsection, Hopkins wastes no time shoving the woman to the ground.

He then places a triumphant foot on her.

The crowd celebrates this heroic action with a loud cheer as Philip quickly rushes over to Hopkins.

"Mr. Hopkins, that was AMAZING!" he said, his blue eyes sparkling with inspiration.

A cocky chuckle is released by Hopkins at the compliment.

'Ah, the youth and their praise,' he thought to himself.

His ego loved it.

"Well, what can I say?" he began. "I do what must be done."

He grabs the end of his rope.

"Now, I must be off. This she-devil needs to be condemned for her heinous crimes."

As he starts heading towards the outskirts of town, a crooked dagger slips out of Hopkins's holder.

Upon seeing this, Philip immediately goes to pick the weapon up.

"Mr. Hopkins, you dropped this!"

"Hm?"

After halting, Hopkins turns around and spots his dagger in the boy's hand.

"Keep it," he said with false humility, causing Philip to gasp as he continued.

"A generous gift from me to you." He had plenty other daggers that looked exactly the same at home.

"Protect yourself against any wild witches you might come in contact with," he told Philip.

Philip gave a second gasp.

He couldn't believe it.

Matthew Hopkins, the greatest witch hunter of all time, was giving him his knife... as a gift?!

Philip could faint.

He wasn't going to, but he could have.

Philip nods. "I will! Oh, Mr. Hopkins, I am truly honored to have this!"

Hopkins chuckled.

This kid was something else.

"You should be!" he shouts back with a smug expression.

And with that, the general continues his way through town.

As he gazes at his new dagger, Philip squeals with pure delight.

He planned to keep it forever and couldn't wait to show it off to Caleb, but first, he had to clean off the blood that stained the metal.

He was certain it belonged to a witch.

[lampmanliveblogs]

We get here a brief summary of Philip’s character and his motivations. It’s adequate, but perhaps a bit simplistic.

Our information is very limited and a lot of aspect surrounding Philip’s character are kinda diffuse. What we do know is that he did grow up at the time and around the place where the Connecticut Witch Trails were taking place. Based on his comment about wanting to be called ”Witchhunter General” in King’s Tide we can also assume he was at least somewhat familiar with the story of, and perhaps even the works of Matthew ”Witchfinder General” Hopkins… though I’m not 100% sure if the timeline fully matches.

The important part is this: Philip was, since a child, taught to live in fear of witches. Witches made deals with the devil to receive wicked powers, they go against God. And as I’m sure you know, a person’s religious beliefs can be quite motivating. During these formative years, Philip was playing games with his older brother Caleb, games where Philip was a brave witch hunter, hunting down the evil witches.

At some point in their adult years, Caleb and Philip find a real witch, Evelynn. Philip was terrified, but Caleb was interested. It’s interesting that although they were both were raised the same way, Caleb seemed to be much more open-minded and kindhearted than his brother. And this could very well be a nature vs. nurture thing, maybe Caleb was just naturally better person than Philip.

And I mean… were I more knowledgable about psychology, the various ailments and peculiarities of the human mind, there might be any number of diagnoses I might try to give to Philip. For one thing, assuming they were not real ghosts (which they could be, this is a magic world after all) he seemed to suffer from some kind of hallucinations last episode when he saw the ghostly figure of Caleb and the Golden Guards. But I’m not gonna say that it’s definitely because Philip is crazy and his brother was normal in the head, that’s getting way too close to demonizing mental illness and conditions.

The important part is this: Caleb could see and accept that witches were not what he had been taught they were. Philip could not.

When Caleb followed Evelynn into the Demon Realm, Philip swore he would save his brother, thinking Caleb to have been taken against his will or seduced by the witch’s evil spells. Philip (likely by finding a hidden vial of Titan’s Blood) succeeded and spent some time looking for Caleb in the Demon Realm. And considering that by the time he found Caleb again. Philip had already acquired his monstrous transformation, he must’ve spent a decent amount of time in the Demon Realm, at least a few years I think.

All that time, and he never once stopped to consider that the witches and demons he saw and met were a lot more like him than he first thought. Even as he began experimenting with the magic of this realm did he stop to consider that maybe he had been mistaken… then again, considering the magic of the Demon Realm turned him into a monster, that part might be a bit more understandable.

The important part is this: though all of that, Philip must have been thinking of himself as the hero. after all, he was coming to save his brother from the evil witch that had spirited him away into a world full of ghosts and dangerous things, and monsters running around.

So then he finally finds his brother… and finds out that caleb went along willingly with Evelynn. Not only that, eh says he is in love with the witch and that they are expecting a child together.

I believe the knife was meant for Evelynn, in the vain hope that killing the witch would break the enchantment on Caleb. But that was not meant to be, and Philip ended up taking the life of his own brother.

Unable to accept responsibility for his own actions, Philip doubled down and swore to kill all witches, no matter the cost. And so he began his grand and terrible work, acquiring power, taking control over the isles, gaining a powerful ally in The Collector. An otherworldly figure that granted Philip great power in exchange for a favor.

It might be that when he first began working on the draining spell, he was doing so because he felt that he needed to redeem himself for the crime of killing Caleb, and that only something as massive as destroying every witch on the Boiling Isles was big enough. Though at some point, and most certainly where we are now in this episode, I’m sure Philip is doing it because there is nothing else. The cost has been sunk and now all that remains for him to do in his life (if one can call the state he finds himself in alive) is to finish what he has begun and see it through to the end. I don’t think he cares about living after that.

But lets go back a bit. At some point between Caleb’s death and Philip meeting the time traveling Luz and Lilith, he began working on creating grimwalkers. Grimwalkers are clones, and these clones were of Caleb, an attempt to recreate his brother… but better this time, this time he would see the evil of witches and remain by Philip’s side, help him carry out the deed that needs doing.

However… be it because the grimwalkers inherited Caleb’s good heart, or because Philip could never see the magically created clones as anything more than abominations of wicked sorcery and a corruption of his brother’s image… no grimwalker would be alive to live for very long. Philip would always kill them, with new ones waiting to be grown. I think I’ve mentioned before that Philip’s insistence of killing the grimwalkers may be his way of in some way punishing his brother for forgetting the sacred teachings and betraying them, betraying him.

In conclusion, uh… yeah, Philip is pretty messed up.

(jeez luise… I thought to myself ”okay, lets write a couple of brief paragraphs about Philip, basically just a summary.” This is like every time I think I’m just gonna write a short, quick little one-shot fanfic, and then my treacherous brain keeps saying ”okay, but what iff…?” and then it balloons out of control.)

”Oh no! Now I’m radioactive! That can’t be good!” -The Titan, probably

Uh-oh, seems like Philip Phungi possessing The Titan’s body is beginning to have some adverse effects on their soul as well…

I suppose that’s one advantage for you, Luz. Your body was consumed and disintegrated, so you don’t have to carry about any ghosts possessing your body and using it for evil. Also, funeral’s gonna be real cheap. I’m sure Camila will appreciate that.

And yes, I am trying to lighten the mood after I spent an hour writing that dissertation on Philip’s history and motivation above.

(and i know i said i wouldn’t do any more at4w references before, but that was like… two months ago for me)

Luz: ”Are you sure you wanna give this power… to me?” Dad Titan: ”I mean… you are literally the only other person here and you’re kinda nice. Really, you were my second choice, but Raine somehow survived.”

…actually, now that I think about it, that’s not too bad an idea for like a short AU thing. Raine dies due to their injuries when Philip Phungi possesses The Titan’s heart, they end up in the In-Between, and Dad Titan gives them his powers.

(Future Lampman here: someone get me fanart of that!)

((oh, and Dad Titan calls Luz a good witch, as in the good witch Azura, the character Luz always wanted to emulate, something about luz getting the Azura books from her father before she died and now Dad Titan calls her a good witch. something about that))

Aaaawwww yeah, this is gonna be awesome, I just know it!

Dad Titan: ”Luz, as we do this, I need you to do something for me.” Luz: ”What is it?” Dad Titan: ”Yell.” Luz: ”Yell?” Dad Titan: ”Yes, Yell as loud as you can. Yell so loud that it ruptures the ears of Philip and lets him know. Let him know that it is not a scream. Because it is never a scream.” Luz: ”What is it then?” Dad Titan: ”It’s a war cry! Now, blessed be ye, you silly person!”

Just gonna include this screenshot of Dad Titan’s giant skeleton he’s got standing around as decoration in the In-Between. It’s cool. I wanna have one of those in my garden for halloween.

[thealmightyemprex]

Halloweenathon: Witchfinder General

....So this has been on the list for a LONG time,a film I honestly was scared to watch....Cause theres a lot here to discuss .This is a film where the behind the scenes are as interesting as the final film :Compromised visions ,clash between the young up and coming director and a seasoned film star,and the film is ultimately the final work of said director who died at a very young age .A film declared a masterpiece ,considered the finest performance of its star and a filmthat has been debated whether it is horror or period drama ....Forgive me for being intimidated .AS such Im mainly gonna just talk about my feelings of it as a movie

Content warning :This film contains Sexual Assault

In this 1968 film Cornet Richard MArshall (Ian Oglivy ) is out for blood and revenge against the witch hunter Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price ) and his assistant John Stearne (Robert Russell ) for the wrongs done to his wife Sara (Hilary Dwyer )

OK the big debate with this film:IS it horror or not.I can see arguement that its not because there are no witches ,supernatural and when you break it down.....Its a revenge period drama ,and the fact Vincent Price is the villain is why its called horror.....On the other hand Im counting it cause it is the horror of man kind,the films goal is to horrify .I have sat with this film for days just trying to figure out my emotions to it and I say this is a dark very bleak film that is honestly a pretty damn good movie though not what I expected .as I went in expecting a kind of explotative violent film examing the mind of a violent man.....And instead its a meditation of violence with a villain who is very much an enigma as our hero falls into madness and obsession ,Hilkary Dwyer and Ian Oglivy are very likeable protagonists tortured by the cruelity of not only the villains but the very world.I especially love the performance of Oglivy ,a wannabe whyite hat hero whose lust for vengence leads to a chilling finale .What also stands out is our villains who contrast eachother well ,the thuggish Stearne and the elegant Hopkins .Russell brings this sleazy sadistic quality to Stearne ,a man who believes in nothing save what will fufill his desires or fill his coin purse

And then we have Matthew Hopkins.ORiginally envisioned as a pathetic character ,but changed to accomidate the casting of the very imposing Vincent Price ,the Hopkins of the film is a mysterious figure whose motives are unknown to us.Are his motives self rightiousness ? Greed ? Lust ? Sadism ? All are hinted at but honestly I view Hopkins more as a symbol,for this is not a film about a cruel man who brings his evil upon the world.....It is film about a cruel world that within it a creature as loathsome and vile as Hopkins can thrive .PArt of the greatness of Hopkins can be attributed to his performer,the legendary Vincent Price .PRice is known for playing lovable or sympathetic antagonists ,but in Hopkins allllllllllllllll that is gone ,no winks and hamming here,just a cold cruel man .Price once said he didnt play monsters he played men best by fate ,and while I agree,I think Hopkins is the truest mosnter Price ever played ......The human monster .While there are performance I love more by PRice ,this is the most impressive poerformance Ive seen from him

Also the ending of this film is....Haunting and brutal one of the best horror endings

Great movie ,its bleak but worth a watch

@themousefromfantasyland @ariel-seagull-wings @the-blue-fairie

@countesspetofi @amalthea9 @princesssarisa

@barbossas-wench @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @filmcityworld1

[meneatyoghurt]

Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins Thomas Mayo