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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... explain misfortune and to mitigate its rigour. But we must not forget that some contemporaries preferred recourse to cruder and more immediate forms of escape. RELIGION 2. THE MAGIC OF THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH* Surely, if.
... explain misfortune and to mitigate its rigour. But we must not forget that some contemporaries preferred recourse to cruder and more immediate forms of escape. RELIGION 2. THE MAGIC OF THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH* Surely, if.
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... MEDIEVAL CHURCH* Surely, if a man will but take a view of all Popery, he shall easily see that a great part of it is mere magic. William Perkins, A Golden Chaine (1591) (in Workes [Cambridge, 1616–18], i, p.40) NEARLY every primitive ...
... MEDIEVAL CHURCH* Surely, if a man will but take a view of all Popery, he shall easily see that a great part of it is mere magic. William Perkins, A Golden Chaine (1591) (in Workes [Cambridge, 1616–18], i, p.40) NEARLY every primitive ...
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... medieval English Church showed a keen interest in enforcing this stipulation. As late as 1557, for example, Cardinal Pole, in his Injunctions for Cambridge University, insisted that the font should be locked up, so as to prevent the ...
... medieval English Church showed a keen interest in enforcing this stipulation. As late as 1557, for example, Cardinal Pole, in his Injunctions for Cambridge University, insisted that the font should be locked up, so as to prevent the ...
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... medieval precedents for the attitude of the Laudian Vicar of Great Totham, Essex, who refused communion to menstruating women and those who had had sexual intercourse on the previous night.55 Such prejudices may have been reinforced by ...
... medieval precedents for the attitude of the Laudian Vicar of Great Totham, Essex, who refused communion to menstruating women and those who had had sexual intercourse on the previous night.55 Such prejudices may have been reinforced by ...
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... medieval Church found it necessary to denounce the superstition that recipients of extreme unction who subsequently got better should refrain from eating meat, going barefoot, or having intercourse with their wives.60 It may have been ...
... medieval Church found it necessary to denounce the superstition that recipients of extreme unction who subsequently got better should refrain from eating meat, going barefoot, or having intercourse with their wives.60 It may have been ...
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