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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... medicine; he takes pills to keep his stomach free from infection and is vaccinated against smallpox, and inoculated against typhus, plague or yellow fever. No such immunity was available to the inhabitants of Tudor and Stuart England ...
... medicine; he takes pills to keep his stomach free from infection and is vaccinated against smallpox, and inoculated against typhus, plague or yellow fever. No such immunity was available to the inhabitants of Tudor and Stuart England ...
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... medicine at cost price. This step angered the apothecaries (grocers-cum-drug-sellers) and did not solve the problem.27 Parishes were expected to pay medical fees for their paupers and some municipalities appointed town doctors,28 but ...
... medicine at cost price. This step angered the apothecaries (grocers-cum-drug-sellers) and did not solve the problem.27 Parishes were expected to pay medical fees for their paupers and some municipalities appointed town doctors,28 but ...
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... medicine began at home. Every housewife had her repertoire of private remedies. 'All the nation are already physicians,' remarked Nicholas Culpepper in 1649. 'If you ail anything, every one you meet, whether a man or woman, will ...
... medicine began at home. Every housewife had her repertoire of private remedies. 'All the nation are already physicians,' remarked Nicholas Culpepper in 1649. 'If you ail anything, every one you meet, whether a man or woman, will ...
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... medicine; and the unorthodox empirics hounded by the Royal College of Physicians often turned out to have influential champions.43 King James I regarded academic medicine as mere conjecture and therefore useless. Francis Bacon thought ...
... medicine; and the unorthodox empirics hounded by the Royal College of Physicians often turned out to have influential champions.43 King James I regarded academic medicine as mere conjecture and therefore useless. Francis Bacon thought ...
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... Sundays in lieu of the eucharist, called on God to bless the bread, 'so that all who consume it shall receive health of body as well as of soul'.14 It was regarded as a medicine for the sick and a preservative against the plague. As for.
... Sundays in lieu of the eucharist, called on God to bless the bread, 'so that all who consume it shall receive health of body as well as of soul'.14 It was regarded as a medicine for the sick and a preservative against the plague. As for.
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