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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... disease of the towns and it particularly affected the poor, who lived in crowded, filthy conditions, thus attracting the black rats, which are nowadays thought to have carried the fleas which spread the disease. (Like the people of ...
... disease of the towns and it particularly affected the poor, who lived in crowded, filthy conditions, thus attracting the black rats, which are nowadays thought to have carried the fleas which spread the disease. (Like the people of ...
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... disease with them. Further violence accompanied popular resistance to the quarantine regulations and restrictions on ... diseases, the most dreadful and terrible;... then all friends leave us, then a man or woman sit(s) and lie(s) alone ...
... disease with them. Further violence accompanied popular resistance to the quarantine regulations and restrictions on ... diseases, the most dreadful and terrible;... then all friends leave us, then a man or woman sit(s) and lie(s) alone ...
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... disease – fever or dysentery – rather than the disease itself. The patient's urine was taken to be the best guide to his condition, and there were some practitioners who even thought it enough to see the urine without the patient ...
... disease – fever or dysentery – rather than the disease itself. The patient's urine was taken to be the best guide to his condition, and there were some practitioners who even thought it enough to see the urine without the patient ...
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... disease,' confessed the current Secretary of the Royal Society, 'and I am afraid will remain so, for all the ... diseases did not matter very much to most of the population. The attentions of a qualified physician were effectively beyond ...
... disease,' confessed the current Secretary of the Royal Society, 'and I am afraid will remain so, for all the ... diseases did not matter very much to most of the population. The attentions of a qualified physician were effectively beyond ...
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... diseases, for which only their poverty prevented them from finding a remedy.29 In lieu of the physicians, patients could turn to the surgeons and apothecaries. Seventy-two surgeons were licensed to practise in London in 1514, while in ...
... diseases, for which only their poverty prevented them from finding a remedy.29 In lieu of the physicians, patients could turn to the surgeons and apothecaries. Seventy-two surgeons were licensed to practise in London in 1514, while in ...
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