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Chapter 3 - Magicians in Society

from Part I - Service Magic in Popular Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2023

Tabitha Stanmore
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
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Summary

Moving away from the quantitative approach of Chapters 1 and 2, Chapter 3 considers service magicians’ social position. The chapter begins by exploring the official stance towards magic and magicians over the period: what sort of archetypal image is painted by ecclesiastical and secular authorities, and how this changed over the centuries. This (overwhelmingly negative) characterisation acts as a point of comparison against popular attitudes towards service magic, and treatment of wizards in reality. The second section considers magicians living in London and uses their domiciliary location as a lens to look at how they lived and practised. Through this approach we see that most practitioners, though living on the edge of the city, were nevertheless carefully positioned to be as accessible to their client base as possible. Further investigation of court records and popular media (primarily plays) of the time demonstrates that service magicians were a recognised, even occasionally celebrated, part of London life. This leads to a conclusion that magic was broadly accepted in wider society, at least in an urban context.

Type
Chapter
Information
Love Spells and Lost Treasure
Service Magic in England from the Later Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era
, pp. 105 - 150
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Magicians in Society
  • Tabitha Stanmore, University of Exeter
  • Book: Love Spells and Lost Treasure
  • Online publication: 06 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009286695.005
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  • Magicians in Society
  • Tabitha Stanmore, University of Exeter
  • Book: Love Spells and Lost Treasure
  • Online publication: 06 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009286695.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Magicians in Society
  • Tabitha Stanmore, University of Exeter
  • Book: Love Spells and Lost Treasure
  • Online publication: 06 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009286695.005
Available formats
×