About the Book
An earl's son, plotting murder by witchcraft; conjuring spirits to find buried treasure; a stolen coat embroidered with pure silver; crooked gaming-houses and brothels; a terrifying new disease, and the self-trained surgeon who claims he can treat it. This is the world of Gregory Wisdom, a physician, magician, and consummate con-man in sixteenth-century London. Drawing on previously unknown documents to reconstruct this extraordinary man's career, Alec Ryrie takes us through the cut-throat business of early modern medicine, down to Tudor London's gangland of fraud and organized crime; from the world of Renaissance magi and Kabbalistic conjurers to street-corner wizards; and into the chaotic, exhilarating religious upheavals of the Reformation. On the way, we learn how Tudor England's dignified public face and its rapacious underworld were intimately connected to each other. Gregory Wisdom's career is an object lesson in how to conjure up wealth and respectability from nothing in a turbulent age. Praised as "an excellent snapshot of a time intrigued by the spiritual realm" (Los Angeles Times), this is a unique glimpse into a world intoxicated by new ideas.
About the Author :
Alec Ryrie is Professor of Theology and Religion at Durham University.
Review :
"Ryrie's book is an excellent snapshot of a time intrigued by the spiritual realm that seemed...distant from our own."--Los Angeles Times
"Ryrie...discovered a fascinating way to introduce readers to the deeply entangled worlds of Tudor-era magic, medicine, and religion. Ryrie's book skillfully illuminates an age when political upheaval and the turmoil of belief that accompanied the Reformation could make the magical claims of a fraud like Wisdom seem plausible."--Library Journal
"Ryrie takes us on a journey into areas of Tudor England which rarely make it into the popular history books. Starting from what can be pieced together about one obscure figure, he opens up a world of con-men, magicians, prostitutes, astrolgers, dubious doctors and aristocrats down on their luck. His subject matter combines with a deft writing style which carries his readers down a variety of gloriously unexpected by-ways, and leaves them wanting to know more about the Tudor underworld he evokes so vividly. "--James Sharpe, author of The Bewitching of Anne Gunter
"Ryrie displays his customary elegant wit in illuminating Tudor England from unexpected angles, not least in revealing that piety and Protestantism, thuggery and fraud, can be entertainingly close in their kinship. This is religion without any decline in magic."--Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of Reformation: Europe's House Divided
"This is a treat. It's a great story, an exciting piece of detective work, a portrait of some delectably appalling characters, and tells us much that is new about the Tudor underworld of crime and magic. "--Ronald Hutton, author of The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Pagan Witchcraft
"Ryrie...discovered a fascinating way to introduce readers to the deeply entangled worlds of Tudor-era magic, medicine, and religion. Ryrie's book skillfully illuminates an age when political upheaval and the turmoil of belief that accompanied the Reformation could make the magical claims of a fraud like Wisdom seem plausible."--Library Journal
"Ryrie takes us on a journey into areas of Tudor England which rarely make it into the popular history books. Starting from what can be pieced together about one obscure figure, he opens up a world of con-men, magicians, prostitutes, astrolgers, dubious doctors and aristocrats down on their luck. His subject matter combines with a deft writing style which carries his readers down a variety of gloriously unexpected by-ways, and leaves them wanting to know more about the Tudor underworld he evokes so vividly. "--James Sharpe, author of The Bewitching of Anne Gunter
"Ryrie displays his customary elegant wit in illuminating Tudor England from unexpected angles, not least in revealing that piety and Protestantism, thuggery and fraud, can be entertainingly close in their kinship. This is religion without any decline in magic."--Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of Reformation: Europe's House Divided
"This is a treat. It's a great story, an exciting piece of detective work, a portrait of some delectably appalling characters, and tells us much that is new about the Tudor underworld of crime and magic. "--Ronald Hutton, author of The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Pagan Witchcraft
"Ryrie takes us on a journey into areas of Tudor England which rarely make it into the popular history books. Starting from what can be pieced together about one obscure figure, he opens up a world of con-men, magicians, prostitutes, astrolgers, dubious doctors and aristocrats down on their luck. His subject matter combines with a deft writing style which carries his readers down a variety of gloriously unexpected by-ways, and leaves them wanting to know more about the Tudor underworld he evokes so vividly. "--James Sharpe, author of The Bewitching of Anne Gunter
"Ryrie displays his customary elegant wit in illuminating Tudor England from unexpected angles, not least in revealing that piety and Protestantism, thuggery and fraud, can be entertainingly close in their kinship. This is religion without any decline in magic."--Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of Reformation: Europe's House Divided
"This is a treat. It's a great story, an exciting piece of detective work, a portrait of some delectably appalling characters, and tells us much that is new about the Tudor underworld of crime and magic. "--Ronald Hutton, author of The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Pagan Witchcraft
"Ryrie takes us on a journey into areas of Tudor England which rarely make it into the popular history books. Starting from what can be pieced together about one obscure figure, he opens up a world of con-men, magicians, prostitutes, astrolgers, dubious doctors and aristocrats down on their luck.
His subject matter combines with a deft writing style which carries his readers down a variety of gloriously unexpected by-ways, and leaves them wanting to know more about the Tudor underworld he evokes so vividly. "--James Sharpe, author of The Bewitching of Anne Gunter
"Ryrie displays his customary elegant wit in illuminating Tudor England from unexpected angles, not least in revealing that piety and Protestantism, thuggery and fraud, can be entertainingly close in their kinship. This is religion without any decline in magic."--Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of
Reformation: Europe's House Divided
"This is a treat. It's a great story, an exciting piece of detective work, a portrait of some delectably appalling characters, and tells us much that is new about the Tudor underworld of crime and magic. "--Ronald Hutton, author of The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Pagan Witchcraft
