Bibliograph

Royal witches, witchcraft and the nobility in fifteenth-century England, Gemma Hollman

Type

Label

Royal witches, witchcraft and the nobility in fifteenth-century England, Gemma Hollman

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Royal witches

Medium

electronic resource eBook

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Responsibility statement

Gemma Hollman

Sub title

witchcraft and the nobility in fifteenth-century England

Summary

The stories of four royal women, their lives intertwined by family and bound by persecution, unravel the history of witchcraft in fifteenth-century England. Until the mass hysteria of the seventeenth century, accusations of witchcraft in England were rare. However, four royal women, related in family and in court ties-Joan of Navarre, Eleanor Cobham, Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Elizabeth Woodville-were accused of practicing witchcraft in order to kill or influence the king. Some of these women may have turned to the "dark arts" in order to divine the future or obtain healing potions, but the purpose of the accusations was purely political. Despite their status, these women were vulnerable because of their gender, as the men around them moved them like pawns for political gains. In Royal Witches, Gemma Hollman explores the lives and the cases of these so-called witches, placing them in the historical context of fifteenth-century England, a setting rife with political upheaval and war. In a time when the line between science and magic was blurred, these trials offer a tantalizing insight into how malicious magic would be used and would later cause such mass hysteria in centuries to come

Table Of Contents

Intro -- Title Page -- Dedication -- Epigraph -- Acknowledgements -- Author's Notes -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: Magic in the Late Medieval Period -- Part 1: Joan of Navarre -- Chapter 2: Duchess of Brittany -- Chapter 3: Our Most Dear Mother -- Chapter 4: In the Most Evil and Terrible Manner Imaginable -- Part 2: Eleanor Cobham -- Chapter 5: A Very Noble Lady -- Chapter 6: From Mistress to Princess -- Chapter 7: The Duchess and the Witch of Eye -- Chapter 8: Alle Women May Beware By Me -- Part 3: Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Elizabeth Woodville -- Chapter 9: Lively, Beautiful and GraciousChapter 10: From Woods to Rivers -- Chapter 11: A Common Noise of Witchcraft -- Chapter 12: The Mother, the Queen and the Mistress -- Chapter 13: A Royal Coven of Witches -- Genealogical Tables -- Photographs -- About the Author -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Copyright

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