Magic as a political crime in medieval and early modern England : a history of sorcery and treason / Francis Young.

By:

Young, Francis (Francis Kendrick) [author.]

Material type: Text

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9781786722911
1786722917
9781350987067
1350987069
9781786732910
1786732912

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Magic as a political crime in medieval and early modern England.DDC classification:

133.4/30941 23

LOC classification:

DA44 .Y68 2018eb

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Contents:

1. 'Compassing and imagining': magic as a political crime in Medieval England -- 2. Treason, sorcery and prophecy in the early English Reformation, 1534-58 -- 3. Elizabeth versus the 'Popish Conjurers', 1558-77 -- 4. 'A traitorous heart to the queen': effigies and witch-hunts, 1578-1603 -- 5. 'A breach in nature': magic as a political crime in early Stuart England, 1603-42 -- 6. The decline of magic as a political crime, 1642-1700.

Summary: Treason and magic were first linked together during the reign of Edward II. Theories of occult conspiracy then regularly led to major political scandals, such as the trial of Eleanor Cobham Duchess of Gloucester in 1441. While accusations of magical treason against high-ranking figures were indeed a staple of late medieval English power politics, they acquired new significance at the Reformation when the 'superstition' embodied by magic came to be associated with proscribed Catholic belief. Francis Young here offers the first concerted historical analysis of allegations of the use of magic either to harm or kill the monarch, or else manipulate the course of political events in England, between the fourteenth century and the dawn of the Enlightenment. His book addresses a subject usually either passed over or elided with witchcraft: a quite different historical phenomenon. He argues that while charges of treasonable magic certainly were used to destroy reputations or to ensure the convictions of undesirables, magic was also perceived as a genuine threat by English governments into the Civil War era and beyond.

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Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-242) and index.

Treason and magic were first linked together during the reign of Edward II. Theories of occult conspiracy then regularly led to major political scandals, such as the trial of Eleanor Cobham Duchess of Gloucester in 1441. While accusations of magical treason against high-ranking figures were indeed a staple of late medieval English power politics, they acquired new significance at the Reformation when the 'superstition' embodied by magic came to be associated with proscribed Catholic belief. Francis Young here offers the first concerted historical analysis of allegations of the use of magic either to harm or kill the monarch, or else manipulate the course of political events in England, between the fourteenth century and the dawn of the Enlightenment. His book addresses a subject usually either passed over or elided with witchcraft: a quite different historical phenomenon. He argues that while charges of treasonable magic certainly were used to destroy reputations or to ensure the convictions of undesirables, magic was also perceived as a genuine threat by English governments into the Civil War era and beyond.

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