John Stearne (c. 1610–1670) was an associate of self-styled "Witchfinder General" Matthew Hopkins, who was active during the English Civil War.A detailed account of the two men's activities can be found in Malcolm Gaskill's Witchfinders: A Seventeenth Century English Tragedy (Harvard, 2005). The duo's activities were heavily fictionalized in the 1968 horror film Witchfinder-General (U.S. title: The Conqueror Worm). Stearne was known at various times as the witch-hunter,Notestein 1911: p. 166 and "witch pricker".Notestein 1911: p. 248
Raised in Long Melford, Suffolk, Stearne later became a land owner at Lawshall near Bury St Edmunds.Gaskill 2005: p. 13 He met Hopkins, who was 10 years' his junior, in Manningtree and appointed him as his assistant. As a result of Stearne's accusations, a trial was held in Chelmsford in July 1645 for 29 people accused of witchcraft and sorcery.Gaskill 2005: p. 123 Of these, four had died in prison prior to the trial and 15 or 16Notestein 1911: pp. 173, 403 were subsequently hanged. Nine who had been convicted of conjuring spirits were reprieved.Gaskill 2005: p. 129
Within a year of the death of Matthew Hopkins, John Stearne retired to his farm and wrote A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft.
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External links http://www.witchtrials.co.uk/stearne.html http://www.witchtrials.co.uk/matthew.html A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft