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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 81
Page
... Royal Institution of Cornwall and Mr E. H. Milligan, Librarian at Friends House. Documents quoted from the Public Record Office are Crown Copyright. In Oxford my work has been greatly eased by Mr Charles Morgenstern of St John's College ...
... Royal Institution of Cornwall and Mr E. H. Milligan, Librarian at Friends House. Documents quoted from the Public Record Office are Crown Copyright. In Oxford my work has been greatly eased by Mr Charles Morgenstern of St John's College ...
Page
... Royal Historical Society W. Turner, A Compleat History of the Most Remarkable Providences, Both of Judgment and Mercy, which have hapned in this Present Age (1697) Victoria County History D. Wing, Short-title Catalogue of Books printed ...
... Royal Historical Society W. Turner, A Compleat History of the Most Remarkable Providences, Both of Judgment and Mercy, which have hapned in this Present Age (1697) Victoria County History D. Wing, Short-title Catalogue of Books printed ...
Page
... Royal College of Physicians condemned this habit.15 It was just as well that in strict Galenic theory one of the humours was bound to predominate unnaturally, so that perfect health was almost by definition unattainable.16 In the ...
... Royal College of Physicians condemned this habit.15 It was just as well that in strict Galenic theory one of the humours was bound to predominate unnaturally, so that perfect health was almost by definition unattainable.16 In the ...
Page
... Royal Society, 'and I am afraid will remain so, for all the observations and 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 ...
... Royal Society, 'and I am afraid will remain so, for all the observations and 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 ...
Page
... Royal College of Physicians in 1687 ruled that their members should give free advice to the poor and soon afterwards set up a short-lived Dispensary to sell medicine at cost price. This step angered the apothecaries (grocers-cum-drug ...
... Royal College of Physicians in 1687 ruled that their members should give free advice to the poor and soon afterwards set up a short-lived Dispensary to sell medicine at cost price. This step angered the apothecaries (grocers-cum-drug ...
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 | |
Other editions - View all
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