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
Results 6-10 of 88
Page
... evil spirits which infected the air, Taverner explained that for this cause be certain gospels read in the wide field amongst the corn and grass, that by the virtue and operation of God's word, the power of the wicked spirits which keep ...
... evil spirits which infected the air, Taverner explained that for this cause be certain gospels read in the wide field amongst the corn and grass, that by the virtue and operation of God's word, the power of the wicked spirits which keep ...
Page
... evil spirits or adverse forces of nature. It never aimed to make human industry and self-help superfluous but it did seek to give them ecclesiastical reinforcement. At first sight the Reformation appeared to have dispensed with this ...
... evil spirits or adverse forces of nature. It never aimed to make human industry and self-help superfluous but it did seek to give them ecclesiastical reinforcement. At first sight the Reformation appeared to have dispensed with this ...
Page
... evil spirits, and all the uncertainties of daily life. How was it that men were able to renounce the magical solutions offered by the medieval Church before they had devised any technical remedies to put in their place? Were they now ...
... evil spirits, and all the uncertainties of daily life. How was it that men were able to renounce the magical solutions offered by the medieval Church before they had devised any technical remedies to put in their place? Were they now ...
Page
... evil-doing, but had been inserted by him in the original scheme of creation because he had foreseen the moral choices which men would make and the occasions when they would need to be tried or punished. In this way fluctuations in human ...
... evil-doing, but had been inserted by him in the original scheme of creation because he had foreseen the moral choices which men would make and the occasions when they would need to be tried or punished. In this way fluctuations in human ...
Page
... evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nighthy dwelling.' This was not a promise of total immunity, thought William Bridge, 'but the drift and scope of the Psalm is to hold forth a speciality of protection for believers in the ...
... evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nighthy dwelling.' This was not a promise of total immunity, thought William Bridge, 'but the drift and scope of the Psalm is to hold forth a speciality of protection for believers in the ...
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 | |
Other editions - View all
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