Cunning Folk

This is a brilliant book, written with wit and vigour, in which Tabitha Stanmore explores the pre-modern places where magic was real, offering not only practical solutions for ordinary problems but a way of feeling about the world, an emotional relationship between anxious humans, cosmic forces, and the mundane mysteries of their lives * Malcolm Gaskill, author of The Ruin of All Witches *
Absolutely fascinating. Cunning Folk is a much-needed book that draws attention to a little-known but important aspect of daily life. Like all good history books, it tells us about ourselves as well as the past. It will both inform and inspire readers * Ian Mortimer, author of Medieval Horizons *
Eye-opening ...[Cunning Folk]gives a human face to magic in medieval and early modern England, bringing us closer than ever to the hopes, dream and aspirations of both clients and practitioners * History Today *
Tabitha Stanmore’s engaging new social history of magic . . . full of such magical tips and colourful vignettes . . . She’s clearly a sharp reader of social realities, and sometimes offers clear-eyed social assessments of why magical rituals had real-world consequences . . . the result is this cheerful, colourful compendium of stories, which crackles with incident -- Kate Maltby * Financial Times *
Illuminating… Cunning Folk shows us that our forebears were seeking answers through the tools they had * Spectator *
Spirited and richly detailed … With hundreds of colourful incidents drawn from legal records, court chronicles and contemporary accounts, Stanmore hopscotches through history, exploring the uses to which cunning folk were put * New York Times *
This is a fascinating book, clearly written and illuminating about the psychological necessity of magical thought * Literary Review *
A fascinating and intricately researched book that opens a window into another world * Tracy Borman, author of Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I *
The best introduction to late medieval and early modern popular magic yet written ... Comprehensive, humane, lively, and a great read * Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch *
This isn't just a book: it's a window on the hopes, passions and lives of Europe five centuries ago. We know the horror film version of magic. Tabitha Stanmore - uncovering a whole treasure house of long-lost private lives - adds the rich, fresh, human version * Michael Pye, author of The Edge of the World *
I adore Cunning Folk. A truly fascinating and human book * Ruth Goodman, author of The Domestic Revolution *
An entertaining history of everyday magic in the Middle Ages … charming … packed with anecdotes … Stanmore takes pains to correct many misperceptions about the period [and] persuasively argues that their stories provide a window on the everyday life of premodern Europeans that proves more intimate than other forms of history * Slate *
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 *
Rich and lively * New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice *