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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... Elizabethan prisons65 and among the lower classes. (It was only during the seventeenth century that the lord replaced the beggar as proverbially the drunkest member of the community.) 66The poor took to drink to blot out some of the ...
... Elizabethan prisons65 and among the lower classes. (It was only during the seventeenth century that the lord replaced the beggar as proverbially the drunkest member of the community.) 66The poor took to drink to blot out some of the ...
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... Elizabethan pamphleteers, that 'the ignorant sort, beholding a man affected but only with melancholy, are so strongly conceited that it is no physical means, but only the good words and prayers of learned men that must restore them ...
... Elizabethan pamphleteers, that 'the ignorant sort, beholding a man affected but only with melancholy, are so strongly conceited that it is no physical means, but only the good words and prayers of learned men that must restore them ...
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... Elizabethan Reginald Scot wrote sardonically of the Pope: 'He canonizeth the rich for saints and banneth the poor for witches.98 Theologians further enhanced popular belief in the existence of the Church's magical powers by stressing ...
... Elizabethan Reginald Scot wrote sardonically of the Pope: 'He canonizeth the rich for saints and banneth the poor for witches.98 Theologians further enhanced popular belief in the existence of the Church's magical powers by stressing ...
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... Elizabethan London. Indeed, declared Scot, 'I see no difference between these and Popish conjurations: for they agree on order, words and matter, differing in no circumstances, but that the Papists do it without shame openly, the other ...
... Elizabethan London. Indeed, declared Scot, 'I see no difference between these and Popish conjurations: for they agree on order, words and matter, differing in no circumstances, but that the Papists do it without shame openly, the other ...
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... Elizabethan successor emphasised the urgency of the matter by permitting it on days other than Sundays and holidays in cases of 'necessity'. Most Elizabethan theologians denied the Tridentine doctrine that baptism was absolutely ...
... Elizabethan successor emphasised the urgency of the matter by permitting it on days other than Sundays and holidays in cases of 'necessity'. Most Elizabethan theologians denied the Tridentine doctrine that baptism was absolutely ...
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