10/31/2025
In 1552, the Protestant divine Hugh Latimer preached a sermon in Lincolnshire, England. “When we be in trouble,” he said, “or sickness, or lose any thing, we run hither and thither to wizards or sorcerers, whom we call wise men… seeking aid and comfort at their hands.” Latimer saw this reliance on magic as a problem because it caused supposedly good Christians to turn their backs on God. The preacher had a point: in his day, there was a spell to solve nearly every problem, and a whole army of cunning folk willing to sell said spells to desperate clients. But Latimer was fighting a losing battle.
No matter how many sermons he, and others like him, dedicated to stamping such practices out, magic and mysticism would resurface in times of crisis. While Latimer despaired of Tudor people consulting cunning folk, the men and women themselves were using every method at their disposal to get through the day. One 16th century cunning woman, Joan Tyrry, consulted fairies to diagnose child illnesses. The 15th century vicar-cum-magician William Dardus [see below] found stolen goods by summoning spirits.
Medievalists.net: The Pagan and Christian Origins of Halloween
William Dardus, vicar of Patrixbourne, was investigated by the ecclesiastical authorities after he supposedly conjured a spirit to help find Mrs Byng’s missing washing. The linen was returned, and the vicar (who denied all wrongdoing other than allowing Mrs Byng to ‘handle his private parts’) was treated leniently by the authorities; a cynic might wonder if the whole charade was simply a way to put pressure on a suspected thief.
Such priest-magicians all but disappeared in the 16th century……
Engelsberg Ideas: The Golden Age of the Supernatural, Katherine Harvey
