Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in popular beliefs in sixteenth and seventeenth century England
by Keith Thomas
- Used
- good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Good/None
- ISBN 10
- 0297002201
- ISBN 13
- 9780297002208
- Seller
-
Fitzroy North, Victoria, Australia
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Brown cloth boards with light fading at top. Spine ends bumped, otherwise sound. No DJ. Some pencil marking throughout text.
Astrology, witchcraft, magical healing, divination, ancient prophecies, ghosts, and fairies were taken very seriously by people at all social and economic levels in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Helplessness in the face of disease and human disaster helped to perpetuate this belief in magic and the supernatural. As Keith Thomas shows, England during these years resembled in many ways today's "underdeveloped areas."
Synopsis
Witchcraft, 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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Details
- Bookseller
- Bob's Books (AU)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 127
- Title
- Religion and the Decline of Magic
- Author
- Keith Thomas
- Format/Binding
- Tight
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Jacket Condition
- None
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Second Impression, September 1971, of First Edition, January 197
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0297002201
- ISBN 13
- 9780297002208
- Publisher
- Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1971
- Pages
- 716
- Keywords
- English History, Magic, religion
- Bookseller catalogs
- Hotham Books;
Terms of Sale
Bob's Books
About the Seller
Glossary
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