Diana Dmitrievna Krylova,
Master of History, National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia, e‑mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Power Over Demons as Political Authority: the Popular Pamphlet of Exorcism in a Ideological Discourse in Jacobean England
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2021-6-5
The article analyzes the role of the printed word and the image of exorcism, presented in the pages of popular pamphlets, in the ideological struggle of early Modern Age England. The author identifies the reasons for the use of the theme of possession and the ritual of exorcism in the confrontation between Catholics and Protestants, moderate Protestants and Puritans in England of the 16th–17th centuries. There are three main themes that form the image of the ritual in English popular pamphlets: 1) exorcism as a demonstration of power of a religious cult, 2) exorcism as an attempt to spread influence and new religious experience, 3) exorcism as a form of disobedience to official authorities. Puritan and anti-Puritan view on the question of the usefulness and harmfulness of the use of the Protestant exoretum technique are analyzed. The degree of influence the Protestant method of exorcising demons by prayer and fasting on the domestic policy of James I Stuart is determined. A pamphlet about Mary Glover’s possession is considered as a catalyst for major changes in the religious and social life of England. The activity of Anglican church officials in the process of discrediting the ritual is reconstructed. Prohibition of the use of Protestant practice of exorcism is determined as a response of the state system to a potential threat to the state of religious compromise in society. Skepticism and exposure of Puritan exorcists and possessions is described. The strengthening of the role of the episcopate and the disappearance of exorcism from the information field of the time is analized.
Publishing: 28/12/2021
The article has been received by the editor on 01/06/2021
How to cite: Krylova D.D. The Power Over Demons as Political Authority: the Popular Pamphlet of Exorcism in a Ideological Discourse in Jacobean England // Historical Courier, 2021, No. 6 (20), pp. 74–87. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2021/ISTKURIER-2021-6-05.pdf]
Links: Issue 6 2021
Keywords: politics; authority; England; exorcism; possession; pamphlet