London Sessions Records 1605 1685

Witchcraft, Witch-hunting, and Politics in Early Modern England constitutes a wide-ranging and original overview of the place of witchcraft and witch-hunting in the broader culture of early modern England. Based on a mass of new evidence extracted from a range of archives, both local and national, it seeks to relate the rise and decline of belief in witchcraft, alongside the legal prosecution of witches, to the wider political culture of the period. Building on the seminal work of scholars such as Stuart Clark, Ian Bostridge, and Jonathan Barry, Peter Elmer demonstrates how learned discussion of witchcraft, as well as the trials of those suspected of the crime, were shaped by religious and political imperatives in the period from the passage of the witchcraft statute of 1563 to the repeal of the various laws on witchcraft. In the process, Elmer sheds new light upon various issues relating to the role of witchcraft in English society, including the problematic relationship between puritanism and witchcraft as well as the process of decline.

Drawing on a vast range of archival material from six countries, the contributors show the diversity in midwives' practices, competence, socio-economic background and education, as well as their public function and image.

Annotation A study of the political activities, attitudes and motives of ordinary London people in an era of public confusion and anxiety. The author analyzes both the tumulus in the streets of Charles II's capital and the war of words between loyal and factious Londoners that filled the air.

The royalists of the puritan revolution. although amply noticed in martyrologies and other forms of contemporary writing. have since been largely neglected. and no comprehensive modem account has previously been published. The late Sir Charles Firth's paper. "The Royalists under the Protectorate. " 1 was originally intended as a lecture. was necessarily rather brief. and covers only part of the period examined in this study. However. I am under heavy obligations to it as will appear. Dr. Keith Feiling's study of the Tory party. while touching upon the civil war years. is naturally primarily concerned with the period after 1660. 2 A need exists. therefore. for a fresh examination of the history of the royalists. based not only on their own accounts of their hardships. but on other material as well. Such an inquiry should elucidate the development of the royalists as a party and the history of the various revolutionary governments of the times. It should furnish as well an essential introduction to the history of the restoration settlement and to the later history of parties. To supply such an investigation is the purpose of this study. Emphasis throughout has been on the economic and social conditions of the royalists. as the story of their military contributions to the king and of their plots against the revolution ary governments has been adequately treated in the standard historical accounts. No attempt has been made to discuss the royalists' place in the intellectual history of the age.