Mother Leakey and the Bishop: A Ghost Story

Halloween 1636: sightings of the ghost of an old woman begin to be reported in the small English coastal town of Minehead, and a royal commission is sent to investigate. December 1640: a disgraced Protestant bishop is hanged in the Irish capital, Dublin, after being convicted of an 'unspeakable' crime. In this remarkable piece of historical detective work, Peter Marshall sets out to uncover the intriguing links between these two seemingly unconnected events.The result is a compelling tale of dark family secrets, of efforts to suppress them, and of the ways in which they finally come to light. It is also the story of a shocking seventeenth-century Church scandal which cast its shadow over religion and politics in Britain and Ireland for the best part of three centuries, drawing in a host of well known and not-so-well-known characters along the way, including Jonathan Swift, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Walter Scott.A fascinating story in its own right, Mother Leakey and the Bishop is also a sparkling demonstration of how the telling of stories is central to the way we remember the past, and can become part of the fabric of history itself.

Table of Contents:
Prologue: A Haunting in Minehead 1: The World of the Leakeys 2: The Leakeys' Other World Interlude: A Hanging in Dublin 3: The Devil Let Loose Off his Chain 4: The Shameful End of Bishop Atherton 5: The Penitent Death of a Woeful Sinner Interlude: In a London Coffee House 6: Athenianism 7: The Narratives of the Reverend John Quick 8: Atherton and Leakey; History and Folklore Epilogue: Mother Leakey's Parlour Cast of Characters Further Reading

About the Author :
Peter Marshall is Professor of History at the University of Warwick, with a particular interest in the study of religious belief and practice in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England and the cultural impact of the English Reformation. He has published widely in the field, including a survey of the period, Reformation England 1480-1642, and The Catholic Priesthood and the English Reformation, also published by Oxford University Press.

Review :
`This is as fine an example of microhistoy as is likely to be written. Marshall not only demonstrates convincingly the link between the stories of Mother Leakey and Bishop John Atherton, not only expertly and painstakingly unravels the strange world in which they occured, but does so in a highly readable and often entertaining fashion...Marshall expertly weaves disparate pieces into a compelling whole, and finds links which were by no means obvious...He displays a lovely style...But good as Marshall is at the genre, he goes beyond where most of its practitioners dare tread.' Craig Harlin Church History and Religious Culture, `More sheer entertainment value than any other history book you'll ever read...If you have the slightest inclination to find history interesting, you really can't help but love Peter Marshall's book.' Lucy Wooding, Literary Review `[A] beautifully intelligent book...It is an ugly story, of course, but Marshall's way of telling it makes it irresistible.' John Carey, Sunday Times (Culture) `Peter Marshall... is a beautiful writer and his book is a shining example of how narrative history can be used to illustrate a complicated subject such as 17th century religious belief...a remarkable piece of detective work.' John Coulter, Tribune `A marvelously fun work of historical detection... remarkably readable and enticing. Marshall excels in his transparent methodoloy and graceful story-telling... He has written a work appealing to the scholar, the student, and the everyday lover of history.' John Coulter, Tribune `Shrewdly calibrated, abundantly entertaining.' Jonathan Keates, Spectator `Marshall brings a formidable hinterland of learning to these stories, but he wears this lightly... A thought-provoking and enjoyable read. ' Jeremy Gregory, Church Times `A valuable contribution to the micro-histories of the early modern world. There is much for general readers to enjoy and scholars to admire...the details is so skilfully handled as to be unerringly involving and illuminating. ' Malcolm Gaskell, TLS `Marshall's way with witty modern parallels is just one of the delights of this book.' Jonathan Sale, The Independent `'Marshall's splendidly written book is a model of how history should be written and practiced.' William Gibson, Archives