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When Elizabeth I has to set the date of her coronation, she asks 'her noble intelligencier', the astrologer John Dee. After casting a horoscope, Dee comes up with 15 January 1559. He is a mathematical whiz kid, who also studies astronomy, cartography and medicine. But his belief in the spirit world leads him to have conversations with angels, search for the fabled philosopher's stone. For much of the 16th century, despite the technical achievements of the master craftsmen who build the ships that take on the Spanish Armada, modern science is in its infancy. For example, it is thought that toothache is caused by tiny worms. In the place of science, old-fashioned beliefs try to explain the nature of the world and our place in it. Religion goes hand in hand with a belief in a spirit world and only the strictest Puritans make a clear distinction between the two. For most of the population, the use of charms, potions and horoscopes is an effective answer to the ills of the world. Wise men and cunning women Adam Squire, the master of Balliol College in Oxford between 1571 and 1580, nearly loses his job when he's accused of selling gamblers a 'fly', or familiar spirit, which he claims will guarantee them success at dice. Tudor England is full of so-called 'wise men' and 'cunning women', white magicians who sell charms to help people overcome their problems or soothe their troubles. Typical are charms to ward off evil, stave off ruin or make money. Rings are sold to bring immunity in battle, keep off vermin and even make the wearer invisible. Magic is used to put out fires, make the kids sleep and avoid drunkenness. In 1583, the churchwardens of Thatcham in Berkshire send for a cunning woman to find out who's stolen the church's communion cloth. Some white magicians were even more ambitious. In his Natural and Artificial Conclusions, a 1567 book that was so popular that no copies of the first two editions survive, Thomas Ross gave instructions for walking on water. While the seventh son of a seventh son is usually recognised as a white witch who can bring good magic and help people, in reality anyone can become a wise woman or man. Magical activities are a sideline and the job is not hereditary. Having a prominent birthmark or other physical blemish can help – but most white witches just need confidence and luck. Before the Reformation, saints are believed to have the power to protect you. St Sebastian, because of his many wounds, protects against the plague; St Barbara, killed by her angry father, protects against thunder and sudden death (she's a favourite with soldiers and gunpowder makers); the Virgin Mary protects everyone. The visionary nun, Elizabeth Barton, the Holy Maid of Kent, claims to have been visited by the Virgin Mary – and foresees disaster if Henry VIII divorces his first wife. For her pains, she is charged with treason and hanged at Tyburn. In July 1507, a girl run over by a cart in Cheapside, London is lifeless, but revives and says she saw Our Lady of Barking lifting up the cart. Such 'miracles' are attacked by Protestants who say they are mere superstitions. Witchcraft George Gifford, an Essex preacher, writes that the common people think 'if there were no witches, there should be no plagues'. By blaming natural calamities, whose causes are not understood, on human beings, who are always suspected of evil, Tudor communities try to eradicate natural disasters by exterminating witches. This century is not the first to believe in witches, but it is the first to try and wipe them out by judicial persecution. Acts of 1542 and 1563 make witchcraft a crime and lead to witch hunts. Hundreds of prosecutions follow, especially in Essex. In the 1580s, 13% of assize trials in that county are for witchcraft. Of 64 accused, 53 are found guilty. Poor, old and/or unprotected women are the main victims. What seems to happen is that they ask for help from their neighbours, are refused and respond by cursing them. When any misfortune then befalls the neighbour, such as an accident or inexplicable crop failure, the curse is remembered and the poor woman is accused of witchcraft. She is tried for maleficium, the use of diabolical power to cause harm, not for heresy. Often, the accused confesses. For example, in 1566, Elizabeth Francis confesses that every time her cat (called Satan) performs a sinister service for her, she rewards him with a drop of her blood. The execution of a witch is a ritual that has the approval of the whole village community. At a time when the old charitable institutions of the Roman Catholic Church have been destroyed and the new institutions of the Poor Law are not yet set up, witchcraft accusations are one way of dealing with guilt about not giving poor people charity – a new individualistic spirit is replacing traditional community care. Astrology On the eve of the Spanish Armada, England experiences strange eclipses and conjunctions of the planets. Astrologers expect something dramatic to happen. Astrology is the most intellectually demanding of the many magical beliefs circulating in Tudor England. Based on ancient Babylonian, Greek and Roman learning, astrology tries to predict events on Earth from a study of the movements of celestial bodies such as planets and stars. There's a magnificent astrological clock in Hampton Court. Since different signs of the zodiac are thought to rule different parts of the body, most astrologers have some medical knowledge as well as an awareness of astronomy. For most of the Tudor era, English astrology is moribund – the predictions of court astrologers that Henry VIII will have a son are proved so often wrong that patrons lose faith in them. But astrology is revived in Elizabeth's reign by John Dee. By then, even the earl of Essex possesses a treatise on astrology. Infant science Although it is underdeveloped, the beginnings of modern science are in the air. On the roof of Sir Walter Ralegh's Durham House in London, Thomas Harriot points his telescope – the first in England – at the skies and finds, as Galileo did, that the moon is cratered. Abroad, science is helped by the discoveries of Nicholas Copernicus in astronomy and the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. They embody the new growing spirit of research and experiment. European sailors make great progress in shipbuilding, navigation and map-making. And the first fireworks display in England is held in 1572.
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