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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... Christian sacraments all generated a corpus of parasitic beliefs, which attributed to each ceremony a material significance which the leaders of the Church had never claimed. By the eve of the Reformation most of these rituals had ...
... Christian sacraments all generated a corpus of parasitic beliefs, which attributed to each ceremony a material significance which the leaders of the Church had never claimed. By the eve of the Reformation most of these rituals had ...
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... Christian burial.56 The idea of purification survived the Reformation; even at the end of the seventeenth century it was reported from parts of Wales that 'the ordinary women are hardly brought to look upon churching otherwise than as a ...
... Christian burial.56 The idea of purification survived the Reformation; even at the end of the seventeenth century it was reported from parts of Wales that 'the ordinary women are hardly brought to look upon churching otherwise than as a ...
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... Christian prayers. The Church's teaching was usually unambiguous on this point: prayers might bring practical results, but they could not be guaranteed to do so. In practice, however, the distinction was repeatedly blurred in the ...
... Christian prayers. The Church's teaching was usually unambiguous on this point: prayers might bring practical results, but they could not be guaranteed to do so. In practice, however, the distinction was repeatedly blurred in the ...
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... Christian charms which drew heavily on ecclesiastical formulae. The following extract from the commonplace-book of ... Christ upon him and worship them daily with five Paternosters and five Aves and a psalter, he shall have seven gifts ...
... Christian charms which drew heavily on ecclesiastical formulae. The following extract from the commonplace-book of ... Christ upon him and worship them daily with five Paternosters and five Aves and a psalter, he shall have seven gifts ...
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... Christian sacraments have been similarly employed as a poison ordeal by newly converted African peoples.81 In the Middle Ages holy relics were also used for this purpose. Bishop Latimer commented on how people flocked to see Christ's ...
... Christian sacraments have been similarly employed as a poison ordeal by newly converted African peoples.81 In the Middle Ages holy relics were also used for this purpose. Bishop Latimer commented on how people flocked to see Christ's ...
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