The Witchcraft and Magic in England (ca. 1400 - 1920) archive brings together more than 57,000 images with source documents spanning over 500 years, drawn from collections held by the National Archives, the British Library, UCL, and the Folklore Society, tracing the development of magical thought and witchcraft in Britain. The fully searchable collection presents a broad range of records and texts, exploring themes from belief, religion and politics to gender, medicine and science.
Primary source materials and compelling essays illustrate and examine the competition between magical beliefs, astrology, superstition, religion, and natural philosophy in the early Middle Ages, the shift to increasing persecution of those accused of witchcraft from around 1450 onwards, a time paralleling our own, when one of the first techno-social revolutions created by the arrival of the printing press following a time of war, religious and social upheaval gave rise to the earliest forms of mass media, with pamphlets polarising opinion and leading to women and social groups on the fringes of society being demonised and persecuted as deviants who threatened the common good, while the social elite and medical practitioners continued unchallenged in their pursuit of "respectable magic".
The collection goes on to illustrate the development of alchemy, astrology, herbalism, occultism, and esotericism into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including such diverse historical texts as Joseph Ennemoser’s "History of Magic" and Stanley Redgrove’s "Bygone Beliefs", alongside serious magical cyclopedias as works by the founding members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, such as William Wynn Westcott's "Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah", and works by co-creator of the famous Rider–Waite Tarot deck.
Whether your interest lies in Anthropology, social, cultural, or political History, the History of Science, History of Ideas, Literature, Philosophy, Sociology, Religion, or Women’s Studies, there is so much rich research material and scholarly opinion here to support and inform your studies and research. Don't miss out on this rare opportunity to explore the beliefs and societies of the past.
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Visit the collection all through June
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