The English Exorcist: John Darrell and the Shaping of Early Modern English Protestant Demonology

Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Contents
Stylistic Elements
Acknowledgements
Introduction
	The John Darrell Controversy in Scholarship
	The Reformed English Protestant Church
	The Devil as Divine Instrument
	Primary Sources
	Interpreting the Darrell Controversy
	Notes
1 Katherine Wright and the Birth of an Exorcist
	The Possession of Katherine Wright
	Cunning Folk
	Puritans and Exorcists
	Spiritual Remedies
	Prayer and Fasting
	Ungodly Behaviour
	Battling the Devil
	Spiritual Reflection
	Conclusion
	Notes
2 Thomas Darling, the “Boy of Burton”
	The Bewitchment of Thomas Darling
	Burton­upon­Trent
	Witch­Hunting
	Demonic Possession in Godly Spirituality
	The Dispossession
	Possession as Theatre
	Performative Inspiration
	Repossessed
	The Most Wonderfull and True Storie
	Conclusion
	Notes
3 “The Lancashire Seven” and the Periphery of Early Modern English Protestantism
	Lancashire
	The Possession of the Starkie Household
	Magic Fair and Foul
	Edmund Hartley’s Downfall
	The Cleworth Devils
	Mass Possession
	The Lancashire Seven in Print
	Conclusion
	Notes
4 William Sommers and Godly Reformation in Nottingham
	The Possession of William Sommers
	The Dispossession
	Scriptural Precedents and Early Modern Conceptions of Demonic Possession
	Darrell at the Pulpit
	Revolution in Nottingham
	Fall from Grace
	The Commission
	The Second Commission
	Conclusion
	Notes
5 The High Commission
	Charges Laid
	Constructing the Case
	Taking the Stand
	The Ecclesiastical Court
	The Puritan Print Campaign
	Delivering the Verdict
	The Church’s Print Campaign
	Demonological Debate
	Conclusion
	Notes
6 The “Sceptic” and the “Exorcist”
	Harsnett the Theologian
	Spiritual Conflict
	Rhetorical Strategies
	Miranda, et non Miracula
	Exorcism as Confessional Propaganda
	The Denham Exorcisms
	Harsnett and Early Modern Drama
	Witchcraft, Melancholy, and Possession
	Conclusion
	Notes
7 Godly Conferences and Demonological Discourse
	Deacon and Walker
	Polemical Objectives
	Godly Brotherhood
	Dialogicall Discourses and A Summarie Ansvvere
	Scriptural Interpretation and the Cessation of Miracles
	A Metaphysical Attack on Demonic Possession
	Demonic Obsession
	Spiritual Jurisdiction
	Conclusion
	Notes
8 Ecclesiastical Reform and the Shaping of English Protestant Demonology
	The Possession of Mary Glover
	The Church’s Counterattack
	King James and the Hampton Court Conference
	Ecclesiastical Reform
	Demonological Scrutiny
	The Afterlives of the Darrell Controversy
	Conclusion
	Notes
Conclusion
	Reinterpreting John Darrell
	The Impact of the Darrell Controversy
	Notes
Appendix A: The Witchcraft Act of 1604
	Notes
Appendix B: Canon 72 of the Church of England
Bibliography
	Primary Sources
	Secondary Sources
Index