Magic as a Political Crime in Medieval and Early Modern England
A History of Sorcery and Treason
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:23rd Jan '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
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.
Young thus offers a well-documented, engagingly written, and persuasive survey of the links between magic and politics in this period, which extends our knowledge of both areas and will be welcomed by scholars in a range of fields ... [A] rich, interesting, and thought-provoking book. * Speculum *
ISBN: 9780755602759
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 322g
272 pages