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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... Tudor and Stuart England (Cambridge, 1954) J.-B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions qui regardentles sacremens (1679; 5th edn, Paris, 1741) J. A. F. Thomson, The Later Lollards, 1414–1520 (Oxford, 1965) L. Thorndike, A History of Magic ...
... Tudor and Stuart England (Cambridge, 1954) J.-B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions qui regardentles sacremens (1679; 5th edn, Paris, 1741) J. A. F. Thomson, The Later Lollards, 1414–1520 (Oxford, 1965) L. Thorndike, A History of Magic ...
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... Tudor and Stuart England may have been an under-developed society, dependent upon the labours of an under-nourished and ignorant population, but it also produced one of the greatest literary cultures ever known and witnessed an ...
... Tudor and Stuart England may have been an under-developed society, dependent upon the labours of an under-nourished and ignorant population, but it also produced one of the greatest literary cultures ever known and witnessed an ...
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... Tudor and Stuart Englishmen were, by our standards, exceedingly liable to pain, sickness and premature death. Even among the nobility, whose chances are likely to have been better than those of other classes, the life expectation at ...
... Tudor and Stuart Englishmen were, by our standards, exceedingly liable to pain, sickness and premature death. Even among the nobility, whose chances are likely to have been better than those of other classes, the life expectation at ...
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... Tudor and Stuart England, for medical science was helpless before most contemporary hazards to health. There was an organised medical profession, but it had little to offer. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries university ...
... Tudor and Stuart England, for medical science was helpless before most contemporary hazards to health. There was an organised medical profession, but it had little to offer. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries university ...
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... Tudor and Stuart England men were fully accustomed to disease and a low expectation of life. Parents were slower to recognise the individuality of their children, for they well knew that they might lose them in their infancy. Husbands ...
... Tudor and Stuart England men were fully accustomed to disease and a low expectation of life. Parents were slower to recognise the individuality of their children, for they well knew that they might lose them in their infancy. Husbands ...
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