Lesson Y8-U01-L05

Y8-U01-L05 The Witchfinder General in Suffolk Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 7

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U01-L05, The Witchfinder General in Suffolk: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 7: Year 8: English Civil War, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Between which years did Matthew Hopkins's witch-hunts take place?

    • 1645 to 1647
    • 1620 to 1630
    • 1685 to 1690
    • 1603 to 1610

  2. What grand title did Matthew Hopkins give himself?

    • Royal Inquisitor
    • Lord Protector
    • Witchfinder General
    • Chief Justice of Essex

  3. Which group of eastern counties fought for Parliament and was the setting of the hunts?

    • The Scottish Covenant
    • The Northern Army
    • The Royalist Assize
    • The Eastern Association

  4. How were people in England executed for witchcraft?

    • Burning at the stake
    • Drowning in the sea
    • Beheading in the square
    • Hanging

  5. What did Hopkins's 'swimming' test involve?

    • Walking the accused across a river
    • Pricking the skin with a pin
    • Searching the accused for a body mark
    • Tying the accused and lowering them into water

  6. What was 'watching' in Hopkins's methods?

    • Keeping the accused awake for days
    • Pricking the skin with a pin
    • Placing the accused in a river
    • Searching for a Devil's mark

  7. What was 'pricking' as one of Hopkins's tests?

    • A judge reading a sentence aloud to the accused in the crowded courtroom
    • A doctor stitching a wound on the arm of a patient in a village hospital
    • A woman spinning wool at her cottage door while the village gathered nearby
    • A witch-pricker jabbing a mark with a pin to test for a spot that did not bleed

  8. Who wrote 'Select Cases of Conscience Touching Witches' in 1646 to attack the hunts?

    • John Lowes
    • Matthew Hopkins
    • John Stearne
    • John Gaule

  9. Who were most of the people accused of witchcraft?

    • Poor, older women, often widows or beggars
    • Young soldiers from the Royalist army
    • Wealthy merchants and lawyers
    • Parliamentary MPs

  10. How was Hopkins paid for his work?

    • A royal salary paid by the King
    • A tax paid by every Suffolk farmer
    • A share of the land of the accused
    • A fee charged to each town he 'cleansed'

  11. Who was Hopkins's partner in the witch-hunts?

    • John Gaule
    • John Stearne
    • John Pym
    • John Hampden

  12. Was judicial torture legal in England at this time?

    • Yes, it was used routinely by every judge in every English county court
    • Yes, but only in Scotland, where the King's law allowed it for witchcraft
    • No, it was banned, so Hopkins used sleep deprivation instead
    • Only for accused priests who had been convicted of plotting against the Crown

  13. Source A says the accused were 'kept from sleep' and then confessed. Why should we doubt this as proof of witchcraft?

    • Sleep helps people remember the Devil
    • Hopkins was a doctor who checked their health
    • Sleep deprivation forced exhausted people to confess to anything
    • The accused were actually real witches who confessed freely

  14. Who wrote Source A, and why does that matter when we judge it?

    • A Royalist soldier who witnessed the trials in Bury St Edmunds during the summer
    • A modern historian writing in 2010 about the witch trials of the Civil War years
    • Hopkins himself, defending his methods, so he had reason to paint himself well
    • A neutral court clerk writing for the King, recording the proceedings with care

  15. Why was a paid witchfinder more likely to find people 'guilty'?

    • He was paid only if the accused were innocent
    • He was forbidden from finding anyone innocent
    • Finding guilt earned him his fee and got him hired again
    • He could be hanged for failing to find witches

  16. Why was the 'swimming' test described as a no-win test?

    • It only tested people who could swim well, so those who could not were always found guilty
    • It allowed the accused to choose their own result by deciding whether to float or to sink
    • Floating was taken as proof of guilt, while sinking meant drowning, so an innocent person could not pass
    • It was designed to test physical strength rather than guilt, so the weak were always condemned

  17. Why did the Civil War make the witch-hunts possible?

    • The war banned all witchcraft laws
    • The Royalists encouraged witch trials
    • Church courts, bishops and royal judges had stopped working
    • Parliament ordered every village to hunt witches

  18. Which of these is a BELIEF factor behind the witch-hunts?

    • Royal judges were all Catholics who wanted to punish English Protestants
    • Bread prices fell sharply in 1645, so families had more money to spend on wine
    • Hopkins was paid a fee for each town he visited and cleansed of witches
    • Puritans believed the Devil was loose and England had to be purified

  19. Why do historians say the hunts were rigged?

    • The tests were only used in Scotland
    • The accused were allowed to appeal to the Pope
    • Each test was approved by the King's judges as fair
    • Each test was designed so an innocent person could not pass

  20. Why were the witch-hunts of 1645-47 so much larger than in calmer years?

    • Hopkins was appointed by Parliament as Witchfinder General
    • The Pope ordered more trials that year
    • Breakdown of normal courts and order during the Civil War
    • Belief in witches suddenly began in 1645

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