Staff profiles
Dr Tabitha Stanmore
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
01326 371897
01326 371897
I am a postdoctoral researcher on the Leverhulme-funded Seven County Witch Hunt Project, investigating the people affected by the 1640s witch trials in eastern England. The aim of this project is to return the identities and stories of the accused (and their accusers) to their communities.
I am a specialist in English magic and witchcraft between the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries, and particularly interested in the role that the supernatural played in everyday life, culture and politics. My doctoral research explored the use of ‘service’ magic - practical spells sold by professional magicians - in premodern England.
My first monograph, Love Spells and Lost Treasure: Service magic in England from the later Middle Ages to the early modern period, was published by Cambridge University Press in December 2022 and​ Cunning Folk: Life in the age of practical magic will be published in spring 2024 with The Bodley Head.
Please note that my email address is t.h.j.stanmore@exeter.ac.uk
Research interests
External impact and engagement
Public lectures
2023
- Fear in the Fens Festival: "Just some Nonsense from the Middle Ages": The history of magic circles, demons and spellbooks in England
- The Last Tuesday Society: Service Magic in the Age of the Witch Hunts
2020
- Winterbourne Medieval Barn Trust: Magic in Medieval Communities
- Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Lecture: There's Method in the Magic: the theory behind folk magic in pre-modern England
Museum collaboration
- Curation assistant on Bristol Museums and Galleries exhibition, 'Do you believe in magic?'
Media
Written media
2022
- Fifteen Eighty Four: Re-assessing Magic in Pre-Modern England
2021
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The Conversation: The Spellbinding History of Cheese and Witchcraft
2020
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The Conversation: Coronavirus, and rumours and remedies from Black Death and other plagues show how little people have changed
2019
- The Conversation: In medieval England magic was treated as a service by rich and poor alike (2019)
Podcasts, TV and radio
2022
- The Newcastle Witches Podcast: ‘Magicians and Wizards and Witches’
- BBC Ideas: Consulted on script for ‘The Truth about Witches and Witchfinders’
2021
- On the Nature of Things podcast: Episode 3, Magic
- BBC Radio 3 Free Thinkers: ‘Witchcraft, Werewolves and Writing the Devil’
2020
- BBC4: Plague Fiction
2019
- The Folklore Podcast: Cunning Folk with Tabitha Stanmore
- History Chat: Episode 2, Magic in Chronicles
2018
- BBC Radio London: 10 minute slot discussing magicians in medieval and early modern London
Teaching
I have taught at a number of universities across the south and west of England, in a range of subjets including History, English Literature, and Sustainable Development. I am a Fellow of Advance HE.
In 2023-24, I will be teaching on the following modules:
- HIH1412 Early Modern Magic and Witchcraft
- HIH3619 Sexualities
- HIH3005 History Dissertation