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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... faith in the wonder-working power of holy candles and the sign of the cross. By the end of the sixteenth century there was substantial acceptance for the extreme Protestant view that no mere ceremony could have any material efficacy ...
... faith in the wonder-working power of holy candles and the sign of the cross. By the end of the sixteenth century there was substantial acceptance for the extreme Protestant view that no mere ceremony could have any material efficacy ...
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... faith in the local patron saint unimpaired: 'When the gad-fly had happened to sting his oxen, or cows, and made them run away in that champaign country, he would run after them, crying out, praying, “Good St Katharine of Winterbourne ...
... faith in the local patron saint unimpaired: 'When the gad-fly had happened to sting his oxen, or cows, and made them run away in that champaign country, he would run after them, crying out, praying, “Good St Katharine of Winterbourne ...
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... faith some of the recusant clergy did not fail to stress this aspect of their religion; and it is small wonder that those Englishmen who still trusted in the healing power of communion wine should have thought it particularly ...
... faith some of the recusant clergy did not fail to stress this aspect of their religion; and it is small wonder that those Englishmen who still trusted in the healing power of communion wine should have thought it particularly ...
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... faith in God, the Protestant Reformation helped to form a new concept of religion itself. Today we think of religion as a belief, rather than a practice, as definable in terms of creeds rather than in modes of behaviour.101 But such a ...
... faith in God, the Protestant Reformation helped to form a new concept of religion itself. Today we think of religion as a belief, rather than a practice, as definable in terms of creeds rather than in modes of behaviour.101 But such a ...
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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