Cunning Folk

Life in the Era of Practical Magic

By: Tabitha Stanmore

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Paperback | 9 September 2025

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Paperback

Dimensions(cm)
19.7 x 12.8 x 1.7

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Opens a fascinating new window onto medieval and early modern life - a world where it's possible to meet the devil on the road, control the future through stars, and employ a fairy to help find gold

Cunning Folk transports us to a time when magic was used to solve life's day-to-day problems - as well as some of deadly importance.

'A brilliant book, written with wit and vigour' MALCOLM GASKILL, author of The Ruin of All Witches

'Absolutely fascinating' IAN MORTIMER, author of The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England

It's 1600 and you've lost your precious silver spoons, or maybe they've been stolen. Perhaps your child has a fever. Or you're facing trial. Maybe you're looking for love or escaping a husband. What do you do? In medieval and early modern Europe, your first port of call might well have been cunning folk- practitioners of magic who were a common, even essential part of daily life, at a time when the supernatural was surprisingly mundane.

Charming, thought-provoking and based on original research, Cunning Folk is an immersive reconstruction of a bygone world by an expert historian, as well as a commentary on the beauty and bafflement of being human.

'I adore Cunning Folk. A truly fascinating and human book' Ruth Goodman, author of How To Be a Tudor

'Packed with vivid historical anecdotes, this is an intriguing insight into the magical lives of past people and the history of our own superstitions today' Marion Gibson, author of Witchcraft

'Fascinating . . . opens a window into another world' Tracy Borman, author of Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I

'Full of such magical tips and colourful vignettes . . . crackles with incident' Kate Maltby, Financial Times

'Spirited and richly detailed' New York Times

About the Author

Tabitha Stanmore is a social historian of magic and witchcraft at the University of Exeter. She is part of the Leverhulme-funded Seven County Witch Hunt Project, and her AHRC-funded doctoral thesis led to the publication of her first book - Love Spells and Lost Treasure: Service Magic in England from the later Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period. She has featured on Radio 3's Free Thinking and BBC 4's Plague Fiction, and her writing has been published in The Conversation.

Industry Reviews

The best introduction to late medieval and early modern popular magic yet written ... Comprehensive, humane, lively, and a great read — Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch

A fascinating and intricately researched book that opens a window into another world — Tracy Borman, author of Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I

This isn't just a book: it's a window on the hopes, passions and lives of Europe five centuries ago. We know the horror film version of magic. Tabitha Stanmore - uncovering a whole treasure house of long-lost private lives - adds the rich, fresh, human version — Michael Pye, author of The Edge of the World

Absolutely fascinating. Cunning Folk is a much-needed book that draws attention to a little-known but important aspect of daily life. Like all good history books, it tells us about ourselves as well as the past. It will both inform and inspire readers — Ian Mortimer, author of Medieval Horizons

I adore Cunning Folk. A truly fascinating and human book — Ruth Goodman, author of The Domestic Revolution

Packed with vivid historical anecdotes, this is an intriguing insight into the magical lives of past people and the history of our own superstitions today — Marion Gibson, author of Witchcraft

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