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Magic in Early Modern England

Literature, Politics, and Supernatural Power

Andrew Moore

This book reconsiders the place of magic at the foundations of modernity. Through careful close reading of plays, spell books, philosophical treatises, and witch trial narratives, Andrew Moore shows us that magic was ubiquitous in early modern England. Rather than a “decline of magic,” this study traces a broad cultural fascination with supernatural power. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, poets, philosophers, jurists, and monarchs debated the reality and the morality of magic, and, by extension, the limits of human power. In this way, early modern English writing about magic was closely related to the scientific and political philosophical writing from the period, which was likewise reimagining humanity’s relationship to nature. Moore reads Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan alongside contemporary writing by the notorious witch hunters Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne. He reminds us that Francis Bacon’s scientific works were addressed to King James I, whose own Dæmonologie insists on the reality of witchcraft. The fantastical science fiction of Margaret Cavendish, he argues, must be understood within a tradition that includes works like Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and the peculiar autobiography of criminal astrologer Simon Forman. By considering these disparate works together Moore reveals the centrality of magic to the early modern project.

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Lexington Books
Pages: 192 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-4985-7551-5 • Hardback • May 2023 • $95.00 • (£73.00)
978-1-4985-7552-2 • eBook • May 2023 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Series: Politics, Literature, & Film
Subjects: Political Science / World / European, Political Science / History & Theory, Political Science / Political Process / General

Andrew Moore is associate professor at St. Thomas University in Canada.

Chapter 1: The Ubiquity of Magic in Early Modern England

Chapter 2: Towards a Definition of Early Modern Magic: Four Conceptual Problems

Chapter 3: Magic and Materialism: Niccolò Machiavelli, Francis Bacon, and Abraham Cowley

Chapter 4: Magical Overreach in Robert Greene and Simon Forman

Chapter 5: Illusions of Power in Doctor Faustus and Francis Bacon

Chapter 6: Witch Trials and Thomas Hobbes

Chapter 7: Margaret Cavendish and the Conquest of the Blazing World

Conclusion

Magic in Early Modern England

Literature, Politics, and Supernatural Power

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • This book reconsiders the place of magic at the foundations of modernity. Through careful close reading of plays, spell books, philosophical treatises, and witch trial narratives, Andrew Moore shows us that magic was ubiquitous in early modern England. Rather than a “decline of magic,” this study traces a broad cultural fascination with supernatural power. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, poets, philosophers, jurists, and monarchs debated the reality and the morality of magic, and, by extension, the limits of human power. In this way, early modern English writing about magic was closely related to the scientific and political philosophical writing from the period, which was likewise reimagining humanity’s relationship to nature. Moore reads Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan alongside contemporary writing by the notorious witch hunters Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne. He reminds us that Francis Bacon’s scientific works were addressed to King James I, whose own Dæmonologie insists on the reality of witchcraft. The fantastical science fiction of Margaret Cavendish, he argues, must be understood within a tradition that includes works like Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and the peculiar autobiography of criminal astrologer Simon Forman. By considering these disparate works together Moore reveals the centrality of magic to the early modern project.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 192 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
    978-1-4985-7551-5 • Hardback • May 2023 • $95.00 • (£73.00)
    978-1-4985-7552-2 • eBook • May 2023 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
    Series: Politics, Literature, & Film
    Subjects: Political Science / World / European, Political Science / History & Theory, Political Science / Political Process / General
Author
Author
  • Andrew Moore is associate professor at St. Thomas University in Canada.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Chapter 1: The Ubiquity of Magic in Early Modern England

    Chapter 2: Towards a Definition of Early Modern Magic: Four Conceptual Problems

    Chapter 3: Magic and Materialism: Niccolò Machiavelli, Francis Bacon, and Abraham Cowley

    Chapter 4: Magical Overreach in Robert Greene and Simon Forman

    Chapter 5: Illusions of Power in Doctor Faustus and Francis Bacon

    Chapter 6: Witch Trials and Thomas Hobbes

    Chapter 7: Margaret Cavendish and the Conquest of the Blazing World

    Conclusion

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