UID:
almahu_9949098307502882
Format:
1 online resource (xi, 265 pages) :
,
digital, PDF file(s).
ISBN:
9781782045106 (ebook)
Series Statement:
Royal Historical Society Studies in History New Series,
Content:
The royal touch was the religious healing ceremony at which the monarch stroked the sores on the face and necks of people who had scrofula in order to heal them in imitation of Christ. The rite was practised by all the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns apart from William III, reaching its zenith during the Restoration when some 100,000 people were touched by Charles II and James II.〈BR〉 This ground-breaking book, the first devoted to the royal touch for almost a century, integrates political, religious, medical and intellectual history. The custom is analysed from above and below: the royal touch projected monarchical authority, but at the same time the great demand for it created numerous problems for those organising the ceremony. The healing rite is situated in the context of a number ofearly modern debates, including the cessation of miracles and the nature of the body politic. The book also assesses contemporary attitudes towards the royal touch, from belief through ambivalence toscepticism. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources including images, coins, medals, and playing cards, as well as manuscripts and printed texts, it provides an important new perspective on the evolving relationship between politics, medicine and sin in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England.
Note:
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 18 Jun 2021).
,
The origins and medieval history of the royal touch, 1000-1485 -- The Tudors : revival and reform of royal therapeutics, 1485-1603 -- The royal touch and the Stuart monarchy, 1603-1688 -- The ritual process of the royal touch, 1660-1688 -- The Restoration debate : the rise of ambivalence and scepticism, 1660-1688 -- The royal touch and the early English Enlightenment, 1689-1750.
Additional Edition:
Print version: ISBN 9780861933372
Language:
English
URL:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781782045106/type/BOOK
