History A-Level
Methods and influence of the witchfinders
What Methods and influence of the witchfinders means in History A-Level, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.
Definition of Methods and influence of the witchfinders
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Reference: Pearson Edexcel
Watching, sleep deprivation, searching for teats or marks, and swimming were used to obtain confessions, while influence rested on local patronage, payment by fee, weak legal checks and official acceptance of their evidence.
Topics that use Methods and influence of the witchfinders
- Paper 3, Option 33: The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580–c1750 - 4 Matthew Hopkins and the East Anglian witch craze, 1645–47 (Pearson Edexcel A-Level)
Related terms
- Breakdown of traditional authority
- Collapse of legal and church structures
- Cost of prosecution
- Economic crisis and wartime hardship
- Geography of the craze
- Restoration of authority
- Class and gender of victims
- Critique of witch-finding
Using Methods and influence of the witchfinders in the exam
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