Cunning Folk<\/i><\/b> transports us to a time when magic was used to solve life’s day-to-day problems – as well as some of deadly importance.<\/b><\/p>\n
‘A brilliant book, written with wit and vigour’ MALCOLM GASKILL, <\/b>author of The Ruin of All Witches<\/i><\/p>\n
‘Absolutely fascinating’ IAN MORTIMER, <\/b>author of The Time-Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England<\/i><\/p>\n
It’s 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 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 well have been cunning folk: practitioners of magic who were a common, even essential part of daily life, at a time when the supernatural was surprisingly mundane.<\/p>\n
Charming, thought-provoking and based on original research, Cunning Folk<\/i> is an immersive reconstruction of a bygone world by an expert historian, as well as a commentary on the beauty and bafflement of being human.<\/p>\n
‘I adore Cunning Folk<\/i>. A truly fascinating and human book’ <\/b>Ruth Goodman, author of How To Be a Tudor<\/i><\/p>\n
‘Packed with vivid historical anecdotes, this is an intriguing insight into the magical lives of past people and the history of our own superstitions today’<\/b> Marion Gibson, author of Witchcraft<\/i><\/p>\n
‘Fascinating . . . opens a window into another world’<\/b> Tracy Borman, author of Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I<\/i><\/p>\n
‘Full of such magical tips and colourful vignettes . . . crackles with incident’<\/b> Kate Maltby, Financial Times<\/i><\/p>\n
‘Spirited and richly detailed’<\/b> New York Times<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imagine it’s the year 1500 and you’ve lost your precious silver spoons – or perhaps your neighbour has stolen them. Or maybe your child has a fever. Or you’re facing trial. Or you’re looking for a lover. Or you’re hoping to escape a husband. At a time when nature’s inner workings were largely a mystery, people from every walk of life – kings, clergy and commonfolk – who faced problems or circumstances they were powerless to control sought the help of ‘cunning folk’. These wise women and men were often renowned for their skill at healing the sick or predicting the future, fortune-telling and divination, and for their knowledge of spells and potions. Occasionally and tragically, some were condemned as witches for using their powers for ill. In Stanmore’s richly peopled and highly entertaining history, we see how this practical or ‘service’ magic was used and why people put their faith in it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[75],"product_tag":[26988,1511,23984,349],"class_list":["post-107999","product","type-product","status-publish","product_cat-history","product_tag-european-history-medieval-period-middle-ages","product_tag-folklore-myths-legends","product_tag-magic-alchemy-hermetic-thought","product_tag-social-cultural-history","pa_book_author-stanmore-tabitha","pa_cover-paperback","pa_dewey-133-43094-edition23","pa_imprint-vintage","pa_language-english","pa_pages-8341","pa_publisher-vintage","pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","first","instock","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n