THEY were everywhere. A horde of lurking ephemeral beings, some merely mischievous, but most of them malevolent, beset the quaking populace throughout this haunted nation. Enumerated by Elizabethan folklorist and Kent MP Reginald Scot in his 1584 book The Discoverie of Witchcraft, demons were a constant presence, especially in the countryside. Although his Christian intention was to expose superstition and trickery and protect the poor, aged and simple folk who were only too readily accused of witchcraft, Scot’s work became an influential ‘black bible’. It was consulted by Shakespeare to formulate Macbeth’s witches and inspired several other playwrights. His exposé of stage tricks went on to inform two centuries of professional magicians. It had a long life.
Further editions were published in 1651 and 1654, before an extended version was issued in 1665, which then reappeared two centuries later, when the Victorians were chilling to their own Gothic brand of horror and making the occult personal through spiritualism, seances, mediums and hypnotism. These antics were debunked by sceptics as ‘all smoke and mirrors’. Scot would have approved of that.
The battle between good and evil had ever been constant. Against the army of malignant forces, real or imagined, the Dark Ages and succeeding centuries had resulted in an equally impressive array of defences known to etymologists as apotropaic magic (from the Greek for turning away). Talismans, amulets, crucifixes, crossed fingers, incantations, fragments of the true Cross, fragments of saints’ bones (both plentifully on sale on pilgrimage routes and at sacred destinations ) and sundry other charms were carried in bag, pouch and satchel to counter unpropitious omens, turn away the evil eye and deny the witch’s curse.
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin October 28, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin October 28, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning