Cunning Folk transports us to a time when magic was used to solve life’s day-to-day problems – as well as some of deadly importance.
It’s 1600 and you’ve lost your precious silver spoons, or maybe they’ve been stolen. Perhaps your child has a fever. Or you’re facing trial. Maybe you’re looking for love or escaping a husband. What do you do? In medieval and early modern Europe, your first port of call might well have been cunning folk: practitioners of magic who were a common, even essential part of daily life, at a time when the supernatural was surprisingly mundane.
Charming, thought-provoking and based on original research, Cunning Folk is an immersive reconstruction of a bygone world by an expert historian, as well as a commentary on the beauty and bafflement of being human.
Stanmore is a postdoctoral researcher at Exeter University, specialising in the history of magic and witchcraft. I've appeared on BBC radio and TV, and most recently gave a talk at Chalke History Festival about Cunning Folk. She will be in conversation with Henry Marsh, who has a PhD in medieval manuscripts and has worked on miraculous and supernatural experiences in medieval Britain.