Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.5325/preternature.11.1.0151
Nicky Garland
abstract:Past research has highlighted how the definition of ancient magic is situationally specific, both in terms of its social and cultural context and between diff erent time periods. However, there have been few attempts to understand how the meaning of magic in the past transformed over time. This article argues that the concept of “place,” defined as a focus for past social action, can form a useful linchpin onto which our interpretation of magic can be situated and explored. In Britain, the Late Iron Age to Early Roman transition was a period of dramatic sociopolitical change. Using archaeological evidence from the burial site at Stanway, Colchester (200 BC– AD 75), the article demonstrates how the exploration of this place can reveal the evolution of magical practices over time. This approach uncovers the time depth of magic across this transition period and explores how “magical places” came into being.
{"title":"Magical Places: An Archaeological Exploration of Magic and Time at Stanway, Essex","authors":"Nicky Garland","doi":"10.5325/preternature.11.1.0151","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.11.1.0151","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:Past research has highlighted how the definition of ancient magic is situationally specific, both in terms of its social and cultural context and between diff erent time periods. However, there have been few attempts to understand how the meaning of magic in the past transformed over time. This article argues that the concept of “place,” defined as a focus for past social action, can form a useful linchpin onto which our interpretation of magic can be situated and explored. In Britain, the Late Iron Age to Early Roman transition was a period of dramatic sociopolitical change. Using archaeological evidence from the burial site at Stanway, Colchester (200 BC– AD 75), the article demonstrates how the exploration of this place can reveal the evolution of magical practices over time. This approach uncovers the time depth of magic across this transition period and explores how “magical places” came into being.","PeriodicalId":41216,"journal":{"name":"Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural","volume":"54 1","pages":"151 - 177"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86920075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.5325/preternature.11.1.0131
B. Hoggard
abstract:Objects such as concealed shoes, dried cats, horse skulls, written charms, and witch bottles have been found in thousands of buildings in Britain and elsewhere in the world with the clear aim of protecting the occupants of the building from sources of supernatural evil. There are also an array of marks that have been made on surfaces designed to ward off evil influences. Generally speaking, these objects contain an element of breakage or death before they can be used to protect against magical forces, arguably this is also true where the surface structure is broken to make a mark. Despite the large numbers of these objects and marks that exist, there is rarely any inclusion of them in works about the history of witchcraft. This paper is an exploration of the different objects and marks that were used for this purpose.
{"title":"Supernatural Defenses Activated through Death","authors":"B. Hoggard","doi":"10.5325/preternature.11.1.0131","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.11.1.0131","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:Objects such as concealed shoes, dried cats, horse skulls, written charms, and witch bottles have been found in thousands of buildings in Britain and elsewhere in the world with the clear aim of protecting the occupants of the building from sources of supernatural evil. There are also an array of marks that have been made on surfaces designed to ward off evil influences. Generally speaking, these objects contain an element of breakage or death before they can be used to protect against magical forces, arguably this is also true where the surface structure is broken to make a mark. Despite the large numbers of these objects and marks that exist, there is rarely any inclusion of them in works about the history of witchcraft. This paper is an exploration of the different objects and marks that were used for this purpose.","PeriodicalId":41216,"journal":{"name":"Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural","volume":"29 1","pages":"131 - 150"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79111167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.5325/preternature.11.1.0189
Richard Raiswell
{"title":"A Defence of Witchcraft Belief: A Sixteenth-Century Response to Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft ed. by Eric Pudney (review)","authors":"Richard Raiswell","doi":"10.5325/preternature.11.1.0189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.11.1.0189","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41216,"journal":{"name":"Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural","volume":"28 1","pages":"189 - 193"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73085464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.5325/preternature.11.1.0183
G. Knight
{"title":"Geheimnis und Verborgenes im Mittelalter: Funktion, Wirkung, und Spannungsfelder von okkultem Wissen, verborgenen Räumen und magischen Gegenständen ed. by Stephan Conermann, Harald Wolter-Von Dem Knesebeck and Miriam Quiering (review)","authors":"G. Knight","doi":"10.5325/preternature.11.1.0183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.11.1.0183","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41216,"journal":{"name":"Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural","volume":"3 1","pages":"183 - 188"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75053058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.5325/preternature.11.1.0043
L. Tallis
abstract:The supernatural in Wales, as in many places across the British Isles, is very topographical. Much of its landscape, features, sites, and buildings inspires and attracts the supernatural in equal measure. This article considers this relationship and the issues surrounding the historical and cultural interpretation of the supernatural in Wales through a close examination of a small, ruined cottage in the village of Pennant in Ceredigion, or Cardiganshire. It was the home of Mary Davies (ca.1817–1898), or Mari Berllan Biter – a reputed witch. This article will reveal how the intricacies of witchcraft beliefs in Wales are revealed through a close analysis of not only the historical evidence surrounding Mari, but also the physical remnants of her ruined cottage, thus highlighting the potential for collaboration between the spheres of history, heritage, and archaeology in understanding the key role of supernatural beliefs on our landscape.
{"title":"Welsh Witchcraft Revelations and Ruins: The Example of Mari Berllan Biter","authors":"L. Tallis","doi":"10.5325/preternature.11.1.0043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.11.1.0043","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:The supernatural in Wales, as in many places across the British Isles, is very topographical. Much of its landscape, features, sites, and buildings inspires and attracts the supernatural in equal measure. This article considers this relationship and the issues surrounding the historical and cultural interpretation of the supernatural in Wales through a close examination of a small, ruined cottage in the village of Pennant in Ceredigion, or Cardiganshire. It was the home of Mary Davies (ca.1817–1898), or Mari Berllan Biter – a reputed witch. This article will reveal how the intricacies of witchcraft beliefs in Wales are revealed through a close analysis of not only the historical evidence surrounding Mari, but also the physical remnants of her ruined cottage, thus highlighting the potential for collaboration between the spheres of history, heritage, and archaeology in understanding the key role of supernatural beliefs on our landscape.","PeriodicalId":41216,"journal":{"name":"Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural","volume":"1 1","pages":"43 - 62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88767638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.5325/preternature.11.1.0082
Kate Armstrong, Hannah Keddie
abstract:In 2019, the charity English Heritage adopted an organization-wide theme, “Telling Tales: The Myths, Legends and Folklore of England,” which sought to highlight the wealth of stories associated with the historic places in its care. In conjunction with this theme, the charity launched a two-stranded Education Beacon Project, which consisted of a national writing competition and regional activity opportunities for schools at English Heritage sites across England. Both strands inspired and enthused teachers and students with stories from England’s past, serving to highlight how heritage sites can be used to stimulate learning across the curriculum. This article reviews this specific Education Beacon Project, offering insight into learning outcomes of the project both for participants and for English Heritage staff.
{"title":"Telling Tales: Inspiring Creativity through the Myths, Legends, and Folklore of England","authors":"Kate Armstrong, Hannah Keddie","doi":"10.5325/preternature.11.1.0082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.11.1.0082","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:In 2019, the charity English Heritage adopted an organization-wide theme, “Telling Tales: The Myths, Legends and Folklore of England,” which sought to highlight the wealth of stories associated with the historic places in its care. In conjunction with this theme, the charity launched a two-stranded Education Beacon Project, which consisted of a national writing competition and regional activity opportunities for schools at English Heritage sites across England. Both strands inspired and enthused teachers and students with stories from England’s past, serving to highlight how heritage sites can be used to stimulate learning across the curriculum. This article reviews this specific Education Beacon Project, offering insight into learning outcomes of the project both for participants and for English Heritage staff.","PeriodicalId":41216,"journal":{"name":"Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural","volume":"60 1","pages":"108 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91123209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.5325/preternature.11.1.0008
M. Carter
abstract:The twelve ghost stories written by a monk at Byland Abbey, North Yorkshire, around 1400 CE have received extensive comment by scholars of medieval ghost stories and the supernatural. Public interpretation of the site, which has been in State care since 1921, has largely focused on the acknowledged importance of Byland’s buildings in the development of Cistercian architecture in the British Isles in the late twelfth century. With a strong architectural focus, Byland’s English Heritage guidebook makes no mention of the stories or indeed medieval beliefs about death, the afterlife, and the supernatural. This article aims to demonstrate that the ghost stories, together with the architectural, artifactual, and documentary evidence pertaining to monastic beliefs and observance about death, burial, and spiritual salvation, are in fact key to the interpretation of Byland—indeed, to all medieval monasteries—for twenty-first-century visitors.
{"title":"Byland Abbey: Using the Dead to Bring a Medieval Monastery to Life","authors":"M. Carter","doi":"10.5325/preternature.11.1.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.11.1.0008","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:The twelve ghost stories written by a monk at Byland Abbey, North Yorkshire, around 1400 CE have received extensive comment by scholars of medieval ghost stories and the supernatural. Public interpretation of the site, which has been in State care since 1921, has largely focused on the acknowledged importance of Byland’s buildings in the development of Cistercian architecture in the British Isles in the late twelfth century. With a strong architectural focus, Byland’s English Heritage guidebook makes no mention of the stories or indeed medieval beliefs about death, the afterlife, and the supernatural. This article aims to demonstrate that the ghost stories, together with the architectural, artifactual, and documentary evidence pertaining to monastic beliefs and observance about death, burial, and spiritual salvation, are in fact key to the interpretation of Byland—indeed, to all medieval monasteries—for twenty-first-century visitors.","PeriodicalId":41216,"journal":{"name":"Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural","volume":"271 1","pages":"24 - 8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73652566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.5325/preternature.11.1.0178
S. Berkowitz
{"title":"The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender from Genesis to the Renaissance","authors":"S. Berkowitz","doi":"10.5325/preternature.11.1.0178","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.11.1.0178","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41216,"journal":{"name":"Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73726230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.5325/preternature.11.1.0063
R. Hutton
abstract:Britain has one of the richest collections of evidence for pre-Christian religions to be found anywhere in Europe. During the twentieth century it developed a body of historians and archaeologists to interpret that evidence and heritage managers to present it. During the same century Britain was also the birthplace of a revived Paganism, consisting of a complex of modern religions inspired by the pre-Christian past, which has spread across much of the Western world. Towards the end of the twentieth century, the two bodies of people increasingly interacted with each other, in contexts of both co-operation and confrontation, complicated in each case by the range of attitudes found within each group as well as those distinguishing them. The purpose of this study is to examine these interactions in the specific context of use of and attitudes to ancient ceremonial sites, and to ask what lessons can be drawn from them.
{"title":"When Is an Ancient Site a Sacred Site (and Who Makes It One)?","authors":"R. Hutton","doi":"10.5325/preternature.11.1.0063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.11.1.0063","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:Britain has one of the richest collections of evidence for pre-Christian religions to be found anywhere in Europe. During the twentieth century it developed a body of historians and archaeologists to interpret that evidence and heritage managers to present it. During the same century Britain was also the birthplace of a revived Paganism, consisting of a complex of modern religions inspired by the pre-Christian past, which has spread across much of the Western world. Towards the end of the twentieth century, the two bodies of people increasingly interacted with each other, in contexts of both co-operation and confrontation, complicated in each case by the range of attitudes found within each group as well as those distinguishing them. The purpose of this study is to examine these interactions in the specific context of use of and attitudes to ancient ceremonial sites, and to ask what lessons can be drawn from them.","PeriodicalId":41216,"journal":{"name":"Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural","volume":"21 1","pages":"63 - 81"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84391855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.5325/preternature.11.1.0194
Darryl Jones
{"title":"How Sherlock Pulled the Trick: Spiritualism and the Pseudoscientific Method","authors":"Darryl Jones","doi":"10.5325/preternature.11.1.0194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.11.1.0194","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41216,"journal":{"name":"Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82083753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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