with Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrooke
“This week, we’re dipping into the strange, the enchanted, and the eerily familiar with a sampling of the rich world of 16th-century folklore during Shakespeare’s lifetime. From medieval hares and charmed pilgrim tokens to tales of mermaids, dragons, and accidental witchcraft, the folklore of this era reveals a world both magical and deeply human.
To help us explore the kinds of beliefs that shaped everyday life—and occasionally show up in Shakespeare’s plays—we’re joined by two leading voices in folklore studies: Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook, co-authors of the new book Folklore.
Rather than a deep dive into any one custom, today’s conversation offers glimpses into a few of the many fascinating traditions and superstitions that colored Shakespeare’s world.
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Summary
This episode explores the fascinating folklore and superstitions that shaped everyday life in Shakespeare’s England. From cunning folk and “accidental witches,” to mermaids on maps, sacred wells, crooked coins, and even shoes hidden in fireplaces, we uncover the beliefs that blurred the line between magic and reality in the 16th century. Our guests guide us through traditions Shakespeare and his audiences would have known well—rituals tied to Christmas, All Souls’ Day, and Hocktide—along with protective charms that defended against witchcraft. This conversation is a window into the enchanted worldview of Shakespeare’s time and how these beliefs echo through his plays.
Key Takeaways
- Accidental Witches: Following the advice of cunning folk could inadvertently cause someone—often a friend or neighbor—to be accused of witchcraft.
- Giants, Dragons, and Mermaids: Mapmakers filled their charts with mythical beings; these reflected both artistic flair and lingering beliefs in giants, sea monsters, and strange creatures.
- Rabbits vs. Hares: While rabbits were raised in warrens, folklore centered on hares, whose speed and mystery gave rise to centuries of superstition. The “lucky rabbit’s foot” charm came much later, in America.
- St. Winefride’s Well: This healing spring in Wales was so famous that Elizabeth I ordered a test of its waters in 1579, highlighting the tension between Reformation politics and enduring pilgrimage traditions.
- Coins and Crooked Charms: Coins were bent in prayer rituals, offered to saints, or given as alms. Royal “touch pieces” were believed to cure illness, and Shakespeare references them in Macbeth.
- Holiday Traditions: Shakespeare’s Christmas would have included plays, masques, kissing balls of evergreens, and even turkey dinners. Halloween (All Hallows’ Eve) saw “guising” and door-to-door food requests, early precursors to trick-or-treating.
- Hidden Shoes & Horseshoes: Shoes concealed in walls or fireplaces were thought to protect homes, while horseshoes were serious anti-witch devices during trials and folk rituals.
About Today’s Guests
Owen Davies is Professor of History at the University of Hertfordshire and a world authority on witchcraft, magic, and folklore.
Ceri Houlbrook is a scholar of folklore, ritual, and cultural practices, with expertise in how belief shaped everyday life in the early modern world.
Together, they co-authored Folklore (Manchester University Press, 2025), a book that journeys through the past and present of magical beliefs, uncovering the rich traditions that informed Shakespeare’s England.
Resources Our Guest Recommends
Note from Cassidy: Several of the books listed below are academically published, meaning they cost at least 100 USD each. The history they contain are well worth reading, but I recommend you get them from a library as it doesn’t seem practical to purchase thousands of dollars in books every time you want to research a single part of history. Consider this my passive protest of academic publishing prices. The book “Folklore” that Owen and Ceri talk with us about in this episode is available on Amazon for $17 USD (At the time of publication.) In our recommended resources section, books that cost over $50 each are marked with an asterisk.
- Katharine Briggs, The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature (1967)*
Owen Davies & Ceri Houlbrook, Building Magic: Ritual and Re-enchantment in Postmedieval Structures (2021)*
Owen Davies & Ceri Houlbrook, Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and Present (2025)
Lizanne Henderson (ed.), Fantastical Imaginations: The Supernatural in Scottish History and Culture (2009)*
Ronald Hutton, The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (1996)
Jacqueline Simpson & Stephen Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore (2000)
Francis Young, Twilight of the Godlings: The Shadowy Beginnings of Britain’s Supernatural Beings (2023)
Relevant Links
Folklore by Owen Davies & Ceri Houlbrook – Manchester University Press
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Bravo! Very entertaining! Great episode and hats off to your guests. My only complaint is the program didn’t go on much longer. We all need a bit of mystery in our life. I will definitely go hide a shoe in the wall of my house….
I agree! I’m glad they put their research into publication so we can explore more. Hopefully they’ll be able to come back to visit again in the future!