Protection and Punishment: Beliefs About Angels in Tudor and Stuart England
In Tudor and Stuart England, angels were believed to deliver messages, protect the godly, carry souls to heaven, punish sinners, and carry out God’s will.
The Fortunes of Mother Shipton
The story of Mother Shipton, as well being a window on the past, is a mirror in which modern capitalism is reflected. It looks like one of the more solid of English legends: she has approximate dates; she is claimed by a definite place, Knaresborough; and she even has her own tourist attraction, in Mother Shipton’s Cave.
Hookland: Folklore, Landscape Punk and Psychogeography
While landscape changes and stories decay, the marriage of the two – folklore – remains the constant dance in our collective memory.
Fairies in a Flat Landscape: the Fairylore of Suffolk
Suffolk might seem the very last place to look for fairylore; after all, most of us have grown up with the idea that belief in the fairies flourishes in wild, untamed places, and specifically in the ‘Celtic’ areas of the British Isles – Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Ireland.
Frolicksome Women: The Folklore of Wife Selling
Wife selling is often claimed to be an ancient practice, carried out by brutish men to free themselves of unwanted wives, but the truth is far more varied and fascinating.