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Title details for Cunning Folk by Tabitha Stanmore - Available

Cunning Folk

Life in the Era of Practical Magic

by Tabitha Stanmore
ebook
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"Rich and lively."—New York Times Book Review

A vibrant look at an unsettled and strangely familiar time that overturns our assumptions about the history of magic.
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.

Charming in every sense, Cunning Folk is at once an immersive reconstruction of a bygone era and a thought-provoking commentary on the beauty and bafflement of being human.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 28, 2024

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781639730544

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781639730544
      • File size: 8939 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      December 1, 2023

      Reading Queen Elizabeth I's astrological chart and taking care not to upset a fairy guard were accepted applications of magic as medieval and early modern Europe navigated bewildering and anxious times. Historian Stanmore charmingly explores such incantations, detailing the daily use of common magic then and exploring its meaning today. With an 80K-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      May 1, 2024
      In medieval and early modern England, cunning folk were practitioners of useful magic. Social historian Stanmore delves into archival legal documents and ecclesiastical records to illuminate this era from the perspective of both supplicants and practitioners. With empathy, she explains why, for example, the loss of a shirt could be so disastrous that a poor person would ask for divination to gain its return. Some practitioners were truly well meaning, helping locate lost objects, heal unexplained illnesses, or with matters of the heart. Others leveraged knowledge, like the ability to read, to take advantage of na�vet� for their own gain. Upper social classes, including English royalty, also consulted cunning folk. Unlike the vindictive curses of witches, the spells, herbals, and charms used by soothsayers generally helped make everyday life easier, although the boundaries between cunning folk, witches, and the church were often blurred. Interesting parallels between cunning folk, nineteenth-century spiritualists, the popular book, The Secret, and TikTokers espousing the 369 Manifestation Technique round out an insightful book about medieval life and the power of belief.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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