Angels in the Early Modern World

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.

Explores the role of belief in the existence of angels in the early modern world.

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).