Date of Award
Spring 2015
Project Type
Dissertation
Program or Major
History
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
First Advisor
Cynthia Van Zandt
Second Advisor
Jan Golinski
Third Advisor
Elizabeth Mellyn
Abstract
The preternatural—magic, witchcraft, wonders, apparitions, demons, and other unusual phenomena—was a powerful component of early modern culture. It functioned as a category of thought and as a set of interrelated beliefs. Preternature served an important ontological role in theology and natural philosophy as an intermediary category for phenomena that were not caused by direct divine agency but had no definitive natural cause. Attempts to mark the boundaries between the visible and invisible worlds were fraught with difficulty. Moreover, the social and political changes that took place during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries generated an influx of information that transformed the way early moderns understood their universe. By examining the literary debates and analyzing the impact of learned thought on popular experiences with unusual phenomena, this dissertation argues for the centrality of preternature to early modern ways of knowing. In addition, exploring how the boundaries of preternature were challenged by New World encounters, colonial witchcraft trials, and the dissemination of natural knowledge by institutions such as the Royal Society reveals the complex process by which the category of the preternatural ultimately disappeared from modern thought.
Recommended Citation
Peone, Tricia Rhiannon, ""'Strange shall be the wonders': Preternature in the Early Modern English Atlantic World"" (2015). Doctoral Dissertations. 2202.
https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2202