"Fascinating and vivid." New Statesman "Thoroughly researched." The Spectator "Intriguing." BBC History Magazine "Vividly told." BBC History Revealed "A timely warning against persecution." Morning Star "Astute and thoughtful." History Today "An important work." All About History "Well-researched." The Tablet On the morning of Thursday 29 June 1682, a magpie came rasping, rapping and tapping at the window of a prosperous Devon merchant. Frightened by its appearance, his servants and members of his family had, within a matter of hours, convinced themselves that the bird was an emissary of the devil sent by witches to destroy the fabric of their lives. As the result of these allegations, three women of Bideford came to be forever defined as witches. A Secretary of State brushed aside their case and condemned them to the gallows; to hang as the last group of women to be executed in England for the crime. Yet, the hatred of their neighbours endured. For Bideford, it was said, was a place of witches. Though 'pretty much worn away' the belief in witchcraft still lingered on for more than a century after their deaths. In turn, ignored, reviled, and extinguished but never more than half-forgotten, it seems that the memory of these three women - and of their deeds and sufferings, both real and imagined – was transformed from canker to regret, and from regret into celebration in our own age. Indeed, their example was cited during the final Parliamentary debates, in 1951, that saw the last of the witchcraft acts repealed, and their names were chanted, as both inspiration and incantation, by the women beyond the wire at Greenham Common. In this book, John Callow explores this remarkable reversal of fate, and the remarkable tale of the Bideford Witches.

Scholarly investigation of English Puritanism has included descriptions of Puritan theology and preaching. The relationship between the two, however, has not been thoroughly investigated. This study focuses upon the relationship between the theology held by the puritan preacher and the content and delivery of his sermons.

This is a ten-year supplement to the six volumes already published in the series Index to British Literary Biography, fully indexed for consistency with earlier volumes. The series provides a comprehensive record of the writings that describe and study the history of the printed book in Britain, and works of bibliography and textual criticism from the earliest times. The period covered by this volume was bibliographically very active, witnessing a great renewal of interest in the history of the book. The volume has seven main sections: "General Bibliographies of and Guides to British Literature," "General and Period Bibliography," "Regional Bibliography," "Book Production and Distribution," "Forms, Genres, and Subjects," and "Authors". Complete information about each book or journal article is provided in standard form, and in many instances objective annotations are given, affording additional access to the items through a very detailed index.