Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, From the Most Authentic Sources (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Wright, Thomas

9781332586608: Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, From the Most Authentic Sources (Classic Reprint)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1332586600 ISBN 13: 9781332586608

Verlag: Forgotten Books, 2018

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This book takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the history of sorcery and magic in Europe, exploring its evolution from ancient pagan beliefs to the witch hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The author delves into the various forms that superstition took, from the almost unobserved fables of the vulgar to the powerful tool used by the Church to crush dissent and consolidate its power. The author explores the darker side of history, examining how superstition affected the lives of ordinary people, and how the belief in witchcraft was used to justify persecution and violence. The book explores the role of women as witches and their alleged powers, and the influence of the Church in promoting and exploiting the fear of witchcraft. Through a series of captivating narratives drawn from historical records, the book reveals the complex interplay between superstition, religious belief, and social order. The book offers a unique insight into the dark corners of medieval and early modern Europe and highlights the enduring power of fear and prejudice in shaping human history.

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Rese�a del editor

Excerpt from Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, From the Most Authentic Sources

It has been an article of popular belief, from the earliest pe riod of the history of the nations of western Europe, that women were more easily brought into connection with the spiritual world than men: priestesses were the favorite agents of the deities of the ages of paganism, and the natural weakness and vengeful feelings of the sex made their power an object of fear. To them especially were known the herbs, or animals, or other articles which were noxious to mankind, and the ceremonies and charms whereby the influence of the gods might be obtained to preserve or to injure. After the introduction of Christianity, it was the de mons who weresupposed to listen to these incantations, and they are strictly forbidden in the early ecclesiastical laws, which alone appear at first to have taken cognizance of them. We learn from these laws that witches were believed to destroy people's cattle and goods, to strike people with diseases, and even to cause their death. It does not appear, however, that previous to the twelfth century, at least, their power was believed to arise from any di4 rect compact with the devil. In the adventures of Hereward, a witch is introduced to enchant a whole army, but she appears to derive her power fiom a spirit which presided over a fountain. The anglo-saxon women seem, from allusions met with here and there in old writers, to have been much addicted to these superstitious practices, but unfortunately we have very little in formation as to their particular form or description. The char acter of Hilda, in Bulwer's noble romance of King Harold, is a faithful picture of the Saxon sorceress of a higher class. Du ring the period subsequent to the Norman conquest, we are bet ter acquainted with the general character of witchcraft in Eng land, and amongour neighbors on the continent, because more of the historical monuments of that period have been preserved.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Rese�a del editor

Excerpt from Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, From the Most Authentic Sources

Of the first half of the twelfth century, relates from the informa tion of one of hie own acquaintances, who assured him that he was an eye-witness, and whom William would have been ashamed to disbelieve. No sooner had her unearthly master given the miserable woman warning that the hour had approached when he should take final possession, than she called to her death-bed her children and the monks of a neighboring monas MIX, confessed her evil courses and her subjection to the devil, an be that they would at least secure her body from the hands 0 the fiends. F Sew me, she said, in the hide of a stag, then place me in a stone coffin, and fasten in the covering lead and tron. Upon this place another stone, and chain the whole down with three heavy chains of iron. Let fifty psalms be sung each ni ht, and fifty masses be said by day, to break the power of the omens. If you can thus keep my body three nights, on the fourth day you may securely bury it in the ground. These directions were executed to the letter; but psalms and masses were equally unavailable. The first night the priests withstood the efforts of the fiends; the second they became more clamo rous, the gates of the monastery were burst open in s ite of the strength of the bolts, and two of the chains which hol down the coffin were broken, though the middle one held firm. On the third night the clamor of the fiends increased till the monastery trembled from its foundations; and the priests, stiff with terror, were unable to proceed with their service. The doom at length burst open of their own accord, and a demon larger and more terrible than any of the others, stalked into the church. He stopped at the coffin, and with a fearful voice ordered the woman to arise. She answered that she was held down by the chain; the demon ut his foot to the coffin, the last chain broke asunder like a bit ofthread, and the covering of the coffin flew off. The body of the witch then arose, and her persecutor took her by the hand, and led her to the door, where a black horse of gigantic stature, its back covered with iron s ikes, awaited them, and, seating her beside him on its back, he isappearod from the sight of the terrified monks. But the horrible screams of his victttn were heard through the country for miles as they passed along. At this period the witches met together by night, in solitary places, to worship their master, who appeared to them in the shape of a cat, or a goat, or sometimes in that of a man. At these meetings, as we are informed by John of Salisbtltnry, they had feasts and some were appointed to serve at table, w e.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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