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Cunning folk : life in the era of practical magic / Tabitha Stanmore.
Van Pelt Library BF1584.E9 S73 2024
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Stanmore, Tabitha, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Witchcraft--Europe--History.
- Witchcraft.
- Magic--Europe--History.
- Magic.
- Europe--History--1492-.
- Europe.
- Physical Description:
- 255 pages : black and white illustration ; 25 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024.
- Summary:
- This history of practitioners of "service magic" in medieval and early modern Europe reveals the central place they occupied in everyday life and how they helped soothe the anxieties of both commoners and nobles.
- "Imagine: it's the year 1600 and you've lost your precious silver spoons, or maybe they've been stolen. Perhaps your child has a fever. Or you're facing a trial. Maybe you're looking for love or escaping a husband. What do you do? In medieval and early modern Europe, your first port of call might have been cunning folk: practitioners of "service magic." Neither feared (like witches), nor venerated (like saints), they were essential to daily life. For people across ages, genders, and social ranks, practical magic was a cherished resource for navigating life's many challenges. In historian Tabitha Stanmore's beguiling account, we meet lovelorn widows, dissolute nobles, selfless healers, and renegade monks. We listen in on Queen Elizabeth I's astrology readings and track treasure hunters trying to unearth buried gold without upsetting the fairies that guard it. Much like us, premodern people lived in a bewildering world, buffeted by forces beyond their control. As Stanmore reveals, their faith in magic has much to teach about how to accommodate the irrational in our allegedly enlightened lives today." -- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- Introduction
- How to find thieves and lost goods
- How to find love
- How to win at trial
- How to get revenge
- How to save lives
- How to get rich quick
- How to gain a kingdom
- How to tell the future
- How to stage magic
- Conclusion. Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-238) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9781639730537
- 1639730532
- OCLC:
- 1434588419
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