The Magical Universe; Everyday Ritual and Magic in Pre-Modern Europe

by Stephen Wilson

• ISBN13: 9781852852511
• ISBN10: 1852852518
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2003-02-05
• Publisher: Hambledon & London

Summary

The universality of the magical beliefs which have existed throughout Europe from the time of the Romans to the present has been hidden by a focus on the sensational aspects of magic, and on witch trials in particular. The Magical Universe shows how magical beliefs and practices permeated all aspects of work and of family life, and profoundly influenced the approach of men and women to health and healing, birth, marriage and death. Magic offered the hope of protection in a dangerous and uncertain world, if the correct rituals were observed. Magical beliefs borrowed from and were incorporated in church rites. Such beliefs, shared by the powerful as well as the poor, lasted remarkably late in many rural areas and have still not completely vanished.

Author Biography

Stephen Wilson is Reader in European History at the University of East Anglia. His Feuding, Conflict and Banditry in Nineteenth-Century Corsica was awarded the Prix du Livre Corse.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	vii
Preface	ix
Acknowledgements	xiii
Notes on Officers, Guns and the Rating of Ships	xv
I NAVAL LIVES AND THE AUSTEN FAMILY
The Novelist and the Navy	3	(14)
Naval Education and the Sailor Brothers	17	(18)
Francis at Sea	35	(12)
Lives in the Service	47	(22)
Patronage and Interest	69	(38)
The Rewards of Success: Prize Money, Honours and Promotion	107	(24)
Politics and the Navy: The Popham Poem	131	(42)
II NAVAL FACT AND NAVAL FICTION	173	(142)
Mansfield Park: The Young Lieutenant	181	(38)
Nelson-Heroism, Honour and Dishonour	219	(20)
Emma: England, Peace and Patriotism	239	(20)
Persuasion: The Righting and Re-Writing of History	259	(40)
The Aftermath of Persuasion	299	(16)
Appendices	315	(12)
Notes	327	(28)
Bibliography	355	(13)
Index	368