Biomaterial Database

Stars, demons and the body in fifteenth-century England. 2010

Robert Ralley

Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3RH, UK. jean-patrice.boudet@univ-orleans.fr

In 1441, Eleanor Cobham, duchess of Gloucester, was arrested, together with three associates: Margery Jourdemayne, the 'Witch of Eye', Roger Bolingbroke, Oxford cleric and astrologer, and Thomas Southwell, MB, canon of St. Stephen's, Westminster. They were accused of plotting to kill King Henry VI by necromancy, but contemporary chronicles differed on the precise nature of their crime: had they summoned demons or cast an astrological chart? This paper explores the relationship between astrology and demonic magic, focusing on feelings, rites and apparatus, and perceptions that the more the practitioner's body was implicated in the divinatory procedure, the more likely it was to be illicit.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008273	Magic	Beliefs and practices concerned with producing desired results through supernatural forces or agents as with the manipulation of fetishes or rituals.	Magics
D002977	Clergy	Persons ordained for religious duties, who serve as leaders and perform religious services.	Chaplains,Clerics,Deacons,Imams,Ministers,Pastors,Priests,Rabbis,Chaplain,Cleric,Deacon,Imam,Minister,Pastor,Priest,Rabbi
D004739	England	A part of Great Britain within the United Kingdom.
D005197	Famous Persons	Individuals widely known or recognized.	Famous Person,Persons, Famous
D006708	Homicide	The killing of one person by another.	Murder,Killing,Wrongful Death,Death, Wrongful,Deaths, Wrongful,Homicides,Killings,Murders,Wrongful Deaths
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001255	Astrology	System of thought regarding forecasting of earthly and human events through the observation and interpretation of the fixed stars and planetary bodies.
D049668	History, 15th Century	Time period from 1401 through 1500 of the common era.	15th Century History,15th Cent. History (Medicine),15th Cent. History of Medicine,15th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 15th Century,History of Medicine, 15th Cent.,History, Fifteenth Century,Medical History, 15th Cent.,Medicine, 15th Cent.,15th Cent. Histories (Medicine),15th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 15th (Medicine),Cent. History, 15th (Medicine),Century Histories, 15th,Century Histories, Fifteenth,Century History, 15th,Century History, Fifteenth,Fifteenth Century Histories,Fifteenth Century History,Histories, 15th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 15th Century,Histories, Fifteenth Century,History, 15th Cent. (Medicine)