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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... Elizabeth Allen, who gave me some references to the Peterborough diocesan archives; and Mr F. C. Morgan, who both made it possible for me to work in Hereford Cathedral Library and also let me borrow and quote from his transcripts of the ...
... Elizabeth Allen, who gave me some references to the Peterborough diocesan archives; and Mr F. C. Morgan, who both made it possible for me to work in Hereford Cathedral Library and also let me borrow and quote from his transcripts of the ...
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... Elizabeth I.52 Even the most advanced municipality possessed nothing more in the way of equipment than some leather buckets, a few ladders and iron hooks for pulling down thatch so as to stop the fire spreading. Until the mid ...
... Elizabeth I.52 Even the most advanced municipality possessed nothing more in the way of equipment than some leather buckets, a few ladders and iron hooks for pulling down thatch so as to stop the fire spreading. Until the mid ...
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... Elizabeth I and had become well-established by the time of her death. At first there was an attempt to represent tobacco as being taken only for medicinal purposes, but the pretence soon became unconvincing. In 1597 a contemporary ...
... Elizabeth I and had become well-established by the time of her death. At first there was an attempt to represent tobacco as being taken only for medicinal purposes, but the pretence soon became unconvincing. In 1597 a contemporary ...
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... Elizabeth Barton, the Nun of Kent, to pray that she would not lose her next child in childbirth, and that her husband would come home safely from the wars.66 Sir Thomas More told of a friar in Coventry who declared that anyone who said ...
... Elizabeth Barton, the Nun of Kent, to pray that she would not lose her next child in childbirth, and that her husband would come home safely from the wars.66 Sir Thomas More told of a friar in Coventry who declared that anyone who said ...
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... Elizabeth Celsay and her mother, made a fire upon the dung of the said Elizabeth; and took a holy candle and dropt upon the said dung. And she told the neighbours that the said enchantment would make the cule [buttocks] of the said maid ...
... Elizabeth Celsay and her mother, made a fire upon the dung of the said Elizabeth; and took a holy candle and dropt upon the said dung. And she told the neighbours that the said enchantment would make the cule [buttocks] of the said maid ...
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