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Familiars
In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars (sometimes referred to as familiar spirits) were believed to be supernatural entities that would assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic. According to records of the time, those alleging to have had contact with familiar spirits reported that they could manifest as numerous forms, usually as an animal, but sometimes as a human or humanoid figure, and were described as "clearly defined, three-dimensional... forms, vivid with colour and animated with movement and sound", as opposed to descriptions of ghosts with their "smoky, undefined form . When they served witches, they were often thought to be malevolent, but when working for cunning folk they were often considered benevolent (although there was some ambiguity in both cases). The former were often categorized as demons, while the latter were more commonly thought of and described as fairies. The main purpose of familiars was to serve the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emma Wilby
Emma Wilby is a British historian and author specialising in the magical beliefs of Early Modern Britain. Work An honorary fellow in history at the University of Exeter, England, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, she has published three books examining witchcraft and the cunning folk of this period. In the first two, she has identified what she considers to be shamanic elements within the popular beliefs that were held in this place and time, which she believes influenced magical thought and the concept of the witch. In this manner, she has continued with the research and theories of such continental European historians as Carlo Ginzburg and Eva Pocs. Wilby's first published academic text, '' Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic'' (2005), was the first major examination of the role that familiar spirits played in Britain during the Early Modern period, and compared similarities between the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witches
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have used malevolent magic against their own community, and often to have communed with evil beings. It was thought witchcraft could be thwarted by protective magic or counter-magic, which could be provided by cunning folk or folk healers. Suspected witches were also intimidated, banished, attacked or killed. Often they would be formally prosecuted and punished, if found guilty or simply believed to be guilty. European witch-hunts and witch trials in the early modern period led to tens of thousands of executions. In some regions, many of those accused of witchcraft were folk healers or midwives. European belief in witchcraft gradually dwindled during and after the Age of Enlightenment. Contemporary cultures that believe in magic and the supernat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doppelgänger
A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelgänger is often portrayed as a ghostly or paranormal phenomenon and usually seen as a harbinger of bad luck. Other traditions and stories equate a doppelgänger with an evil twin. In modern times, the term twin stranger is occasionally used. Spelling The word ''doppelganger'' is a loanword from the German. The singular and plural forms are the same in German, but English writers usually prefer the plural "doppelgangers". The first known use, in the slightly different form ''Doppeltgänger'', occurs in the novel ''Siebenkäs'' (1796) by Jean Paul, in which he explains his newly coined word in a footnote; the word also appears in the novel, but with a different meaning. In German, the word is written (as is usual with German nouns) with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, Staffordshire to the west, and Derbyshire to the north-west. The border with most of Warwickshire is Watling Street, the modern A5 road (Great Britain), A5 road. Leicestershire takes its name from the city of Leicester located at its centre and unitary authority, administered separately from the rest of the county. The ceremonial county – the non-metropolitan county plus the city of Leicester – has a total population of just over 1 million (2016 estimate), more than half of which lives in the Leicester Urban Area. History Leicestershire was recorded in the Domesday Book in four wapentakes: Guthlaxton, Framland, Goscote, and Gartree (hundred), Gartree. These later became hundred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.24 million. On the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the county of Lancashire. It became a borough in 1207, a city in 1880, and a county borough independent of the newly-created Lancashire County Council in 1889. Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, and raw materials such as coal and cotton, merchants were involved in the slave trade. In the 19th century, Liverpool was a major port of departure for English and Irish emigrants to North America. It was also home to both the Cunard and White Star Lines, and was the port of registry of the ocean li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Greater London to the south and south-west. There are three cities in Essex: Southend, Colchester and Chelmsford, in order of population. For the purposes of government statistics, Essex is placed in the East of England region. There are four definitions of the extent of Essex, the widest being the ancient county. Next, the largest is the former postal county, followed by the ceremonial county, with the smallest being the administrative county—the area administered by the County Council, which excludes the two unitary authorities of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea. The ceremonial county occupies the eastern part of what was, during the Early Middle Ages, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Essex. As well as rural areas and urban areas, it forms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Prentice
Joan Prentice or Joan Prentis ( – 5 July 1589) was an Englishwoman executed after being accused of witchcraft with Joan Cunny and Joan Upney in Chelmsford in Essex in 1589. Life Prentice lived in an almshouse in Sible Hedingham. She told investigators about her familiar In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars (sometimes referred to as familiar spirits) were believed to be supernatural entities that would assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic. According to re ... who she said was a ferret named "Satan" or "Bid". The ferret she said had asked to be fed and this she had done on a number of occasions. The ferret was said to have fed by biting and sucking her blood from her left cheek. During her questioning she implicated two other women named Elizabeth Whale and Elizabeth Mott who she said had used her familiar, Bidd. The accusations did not result in any further action against them. She was charged in line with the 1563 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amulet
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects a person from trouble". Anything can function as an amulet; items commonly so used include statues, coins, drawings, plant parts, animal parts, and written words. Amulets which are said to derive their extraordinary properties and powers from magic or those which impart luck are typically part of folk religion or paganism, whereas amulets or sacred objects of formalised mainstream religion as in Christianity are believed to have no power of their own without faith in Jesus and being blessed by a clergyman, and they supposedly will also not provide any preternatural benefit to the bearer who does not have an appropriate disposition. Talisman and amulets have interchangeable meaning. Amulets refer to any object which has the power to av ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The population was 180,800 at the 2021 Census. History The area corresponding to modern Huntingdonshire was first delimited in Anglo-Saxon times. Its boundaries have remained largely unchanged since the 10th century, although it lost its historic county status in 1974. On his accession in 1154 Henry II declared all Huntingdonshire a forest.H. R. Loyn, ''Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest'' 2nd ed. 1991, pp. 378–382. Status In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888 Huntingdonshire became an administrative county, with the newly-formed Huntingdonshire County Council taking over administrative functions from the Quarter Sessions. The area in the north of the county forming part of the municipal borough of Peterborough became inst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bessie Dunlop
Bessie Dunlop, Elizabeth Dunlop or Elizabeth Jack (died 1576), was an Ayrshire farmer's wife who was 'burned at the stake' at Edinburgh for the crime of sorcery, witchcraft, incantations, etc. Her case was unusual in the amount of fine detail related in her testimony and the lack of anything but positive or neutral outcomes of her recorded ministrations and actions. Her admission to the use of a 'familiar spirit' and association with the fairies were the main cause of her conviction and her death sentence. For consistency the name 'Bessie Dunlop' is used throughout. Life and character Bessie was the wife of Andrew Jack of Lynn, Lyne, Lin, or Linn, a hamlet and the name of a glen through which the Caaf Water runs, lying in the Barony of Lynn, then owned by Robert, Master of Boyd, eldest son of Lord Boyd. It seems therefore that their farm lay near or at the bottom of the Lynn Glen on the Caaf Water, near Dalry in North Ayrshire, Scotland. She was married to Andrew Jack and her su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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