Belief in the importance of angels was as widespread and intense in the early modern era as it had been in the middle ages. This volume is the first to consider how ideas about the nature, existence and activities of angels negotiated the religious, intellectual and cultural upheavals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The contributors explore the fate and fortunes of these heavenly protectors and messengers against the backdrop of the Renaissance and Reformation and in the context of scientific change. Ranging from the British Isles and continental Europe to New England and Latin America, they consider how angels were implicated in the processes of Protestant and Catholic renewal, their relationship with witchcraft and magic, and their representation in literature and art. Based on original research, the essays offer genuinely fresh insight into the moments and movements that defined the early modern world.

This volume explores the role of belief in the existence of angels in the early modern world.

About the Author
Peter Marshall is Reader in History at the University of Warwick. His recent publications include Reformation England, 1480-1642 (2003) and Religious Identities in Henry VIII's England (2005). Alexandra Walsham is Professor of Reformation History at the University of Exeter. Her previous publications include Providence in Early Modern England (1999) and Charitable Hatred: Tolerance and Intolerance in England 1500-1700 (2006).

Reviews
"...co-editors Peter Marshall and Alexandra Walsham provide a helpful overview of the place of angels in Christian history." -Timothy Masch, H-German
"Rarely does a collection of essays hold together so tightly as this one, which is likely to inspire a spate of studies of angels in the early modern world." Laura Smoller, Renaissance Quarterly
"The essays in this volume are cogent and painstakingly researched. They explore aspects of the early modern period that have not been widely examined...This volume will without a doubt appeal to scholars of early modern religious and cultural history a well as those of art history and literary studies." --Richard F. Johnson, Harper College: The Catholic Historical Review



Book Information
ISBN 9780521843324
Author Peter Marshall
Format Hardback
Page Count 342
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 830g
Dimensions(mm) 248mm * 181mm * 27mm