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Not Just the Tudors

Supernatural Beings in Early Modern Britain

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.83K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the early modern period, it was patently clear to everyone that supernatural beings, foremost among them the devil, were at work in the world, intervening in human affairs.  Can we find the origins of beliefs in vampires, zombies and revenants in this age too?  How exactly did such beings manifest themselves?  And how do we make sense of this in an age in which people believed they were living under a providential God? 


Joining Professor Suzannah Lipscomb to kick off a month of special Not Just the Tudor podcasts on supernatural beings in the early modern world is Professor Darren Oldridge, author of The Supernatural in Tudor and Stuart England and The Devil: A Very Short Introduction. 


This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to not just the tutors from History Hit.

0:03.0

To listen to all of our episodes, add free,

0:06.0

and watch hundreds of history documentaries,

0:08.0

download the History Hit app,

0:11.0

or go to History Hit.com forward slash subscribe.

0:15.0

And if you're an app or listener, you can subscribe for new ad-free episodes within the app. In the early modern period it was patently clear to everyone that supernatural beings, foremost among them the devil,

0:35.4

were at work in the world, intervening in human affairs.

0:39.7

But how exactly did such beings manifest themselves? Were they visible or invisible?

0:45.6

And how do we make sense of this in an age in which people believed they were

0:49.4

living under a providential God? Was such belief in the supernatural confined to ordinary

0:54.7

folk or shared by the literate elites? And can we find the origins of beliefs in

0:59.8

vampires, zombies and revenants in this age too.

1:04.1

And finally, given such beliefs, what is the historically sensitive and appropriate method

1:09.2

by which to consider them, as they differ so very much from contemporary conviction.

1:14.0

Joining me to kick off our month of specials on

1:18.0

supernatural beings in the early modern world

1:20.0

is Professor Darren Aldridge,

1:22.0

a professor of early modern History at the University of Worcester.

1:26.0

Darren Aldridge's books include The Supernatural in Tudor and Stuart England,

1:31.0

and The Devil, a very short introduction.

1:34.4

Professor Oldridge welcome to not just the Tudors.

1:43.6

Hello, Suzano, it's good to be here.

...

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