Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century EnglandWitchcraft, astrology, divination and every kind of popular magic flourished in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the belief that a blessed amulet could prevent the assaults of the Devil to the use of the same charms to recover stolen goods. At the same time the Protestant Reformation attempted to take the magic out of religion, and scientists were developing new explanations of the universe. Keith Thomas's classic analysis of beliefs held on every level of English society begins with the collapse of the medieval Church and ends with the changing intellectual atmosphere around 1700, when science and rationalism began to challenge the older systems of belief. |
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... Discourse Potts Powicke and Cheney, Councils and Synods P.R.O. Procs. P.S. Rev. R.O. Robbins, W. Lilly, Christian Astrology Modestly Treated of in Three Books (1647) Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic of the reign of Henry VIII ...
... Discourse Potts Powicke and Cheney, Councils and Synods P.R.O. Procs. P.S. Rev. R.O. Robbins, W. Lilly, Christian Astrology Modestly Treated of in Three Books (1647) Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic of the reign of Henry VIII ...
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... to bring prosperity and adversity, there will he worship. George Gifford, A Discourse of the Subtill Practices of Devilles by Witches and Sorcerers (1587), sigs.B4v-C1 PROLOGUE 1. THE ENVIRONMENT* IN the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
... to bring prosperity and adversity, there will he worship. George Gifford, A Discourse of the Subtill Practices of Devilles by Witches and Sorcerers (1587), sigs.B4v-C1 PROLOGUE 1. THE ENVIRONMENT* IN the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
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... discourses made of it.'21 Yet the failure of contemporary doctors to offer an adequate therapy for this or most other contemporary diseases did not matter very much to most of the population. The attentions of a qualified physician were ...
... discourses made of it.'21 Yet the failure of contemporary doctors to offer an adequate therapy for this or most other contemporary diseases did not matter very much to most of the population. The attentions of a qualified physician were ...
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... discourse on the sin of sacrilege, emphasizing God's readiness to punish both the guilty party and his posterity, if necessary rooting out whole families. 'Read the annals of all ages,' demanded a pamphleteer in 1649, 'Show me but one ...
... discourse on the sin of sacrilege, emphasizing God's readiness to punish both the guilty party and his posterity, if necessary rooting out whole families. 'Read the annals of all ages,' demanded a pamphleteer in 1649, 'Show me but one ...
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Contents
Ghosts and Fairies | |
Times and Omens | |
Cunning Men and Popular Magic | |
Magic and Religion | |
its Practice and Extent | |
its Social and Intellectual Role | |
Astrology and Religion | |
THE APPEAL TO THE PAST 13 Ancient Prophecies WITCHCRAFT | |
the Crime and its History | |
Witchcraft and Religion | |
The Decline of Magic | |
Index | |
Providence | |
Prayer and Prophecy 6 Religion and the People | |
Magical Healing | |
The Making of a Witch | |
Witchcraft and its Social Environment | |
Decline | |
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Common terms and phrases
2nd edn accused almanac Archaeol Ashm Ashmole astrological Aubrey Autobiography belief Bishop Bodl Book Cambridge Catholic chap charms Christian Church clergy clients confessed conjuration contemporary courts cunning cunning folk cure curse death declared Devil Diary Discourse Discoverie disease divine doctrine early ecclesiastical Elizabeth Elizabethan England English Essex evil Ewen example fairies faith G. G. Coulton Gadbury Gentilisme ghosts God's healing Henry Hist History holy Hugh Latimer intellectual John John Aubrey John Dee John Gadbury John Jewel Josten Journ judicial astrology King Kittredge Lilly Lilly's Lollards London magic medicine medieval misfortune natural Oxford Parish persons Physicians plague popular practice prayer predictions prognostication prophecies prophetic prosecution Protestant Puritan Records Reformation Reginald Scot reign religion religious Richard ritual Robert Royal scepticism Science Scot Sermons sixteenth century Sloane social society sorcery spirits supernatural Superstitions Thomas thought trans Treatise Tudor William William Lilly William Perkins witch-beliefs witchcraft witches wizard woman