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
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... Holy Communion, thought Christopher Marlowe, would have been 'much better being administered in a tobacco pipe'.74 A further escape from reality was gambling. In modern times the prospect of winning a fortune on the football pools ...
... Holy Communion, thought Christopher Marlowe, would have been 'much better being administered in a tobacco pipe'.74 A further escape from reality was gambling. In modern times the prospect of winning a fortune on the football pools ...
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... holy men, and stressed how they could prophesy the future, control the weather, provide protection against fire and flood, magically transport heavy objects, and bring relief to the sick. Many The Magic of the Medieval Church.
... holy men, and stressed how they could prophesy the future, control the weather, provide protection against fire and flood, magically transport heavy objects, and bring relief to the sick. Many The Magic of the Medieval Church.
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... Holy Rood of Bromholm in Norfolk thirty-nine persons were said to have been raised from the dead and twelve cured of blindness. Holy relics became wonderworking fetishes, believed to have the power to cure illness and to protect against ...
... Holy Rood of Bromholm in Norfolk thirty-nine persons were said to have been raised from the dead and twelve cured of blindness. Holy relics became wonderworking fetishes, believed to have the power to cure illness and to protect against ...
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... holy day had strong occupational affiliations: Our painters had Luke, our weavers had Steven, our millers had Arnold, our tailors had Goodman, our sowters [cobblers] had Crispin, our potters had S. Gore with a devil on his shoulder and ...
... holy day had strong occupational affiliations: Our painters had Luke, our weavers had Steven, our millers had Arnold, our tailors had Goodman, our sowters [cobblers] had Crispin, our potters had S. Gore with a devil on his shoulder and ...
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... holy water and the sign of the cross. Basic to the whole procedure was the idea of exorcism, the formal conjuring of the devil out of some material object by the pronunciation of prayers and the invocation of God's name.13 Holy water ...
... holy water and the sign of the cross. Basic to the whole procedure was the idea of exorcism, the formal conjuring of the devil out of some material object by the pronunciation of prayers and the invocation of God's name.13 Holy water ...
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