Cunning Folk : Life in the Era of Practical Magic

Published 29/05/2025 | Paperback / softback,
Description:

Cunning Folk transports us to a time when magic was used to solve life’s day-to-day problems – as well as some of deadly importance.

‘A brilliant book, written with wit and vigour’ MALCOLM GASKILL, author of The Ruin of All Witches‘Absolutely fascinating’ IAN MORTIMER, author of The Time-Traveller’s Guide to Medieval EnglandIt’s 1600 and you’ve lost your precious silver spoons, or maybe they’ve been stolen. Perhaps your child has a fever. Or you’re facing trial. Maybe you’re looking for love or escaping a husband. What do you do? In medieval and early modern Europe, your first port of call might well have been cunning folk: practitioners of magic who were a common, even essential part of daily life, at a time when the supernatural was surprisingly mundane.

Charming, thought-provoking and based on original research, Cunning Folk is an immersive reconstruction of a bygone world by an expert historian, as well as a commentary on the beauty and bafflement of being human.

‘I adore Cunning Folk. A truly fascinating and human book’ Ruth Goodman, author of How To Be a Tudor‘Packed with vivid historical anecdotes, this is an intriguing insight into the magical lives of past people and the history of our own superstitions today’ Marion Gibson, author of Witchcraft‘Fascinating . . . opens a window into another world’ Tracy Borman, author of Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I‘Full of such magical tips and colourful vignettes . . . crackles with incident’ Kate Maltby, Financial Times‘Spirited and richly detailed’ New York Times