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A confirmation and discovery of witchcraft

John Stearne

A confirmation and discovery of witchcraft

Source verified · September 2026

John Stearne’s tract is a key mid-17th-century account from the English witchcraft prosecutions, written by one of the principal witch-finders active in East Anglia. It is historically significant as a firsthand defense of witch-hunting practice and contains descriptions of alleged cases, signs of bewitchment, and the methods used to identify accused witches.

About John Stearne

John Stearne was an English clergyman and anti-witchcraft polemicist associated with the seventeenth-century witch trials. His writings, including works defending witch-hunting, are significant for the study of early modern demonology and religious controversy.

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