Description
Book SynopsisThe Routledge History of Medieval Magic brings together the work of scholars from across Europe and North America to provide extensive insights into recent developments in the study of medieval magic between c.1100 and c.1500.
This book covers a wide range of topics, including the magical texts which circulated in medieval Europe, the attitudes of intellectuals and churchmen to magic, the ways in which magic intersected with other aspects of medieval culture, and the early witch trials of the fifteenth century. In doing so, it offers the reader a detailed look at the impact that magic had within medieval society, such as its relationship to gender roles, natural philosophy, and courtly culture. This is furthered by the book's interdisciplinary approach, containing chapters dedicated to archaeology, literature, music, and visual culture, as well as texts and manuscripts.
The Routledge History of Medieval Magic also outlines how research on
Trade Review
"The breadth of this volume – geographical, linguistic, chronological and disciplinary – is a
huge feat, and The Routledge History of Medieval Magic is an important addition to existing
scholarship. The sections entitled ‘Future directions’ are perhaps the book’s most important
component, providing a way forward for future research in a field that offers so much, standing as
it does, in the words of Kieckhefer, at a ‘kind of crossroads where different pathways in medieval
culture converge’." Joanne Edge Ceræ: An Australasian Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Sophie Page and Catherine Rider
Part I: Conceptualizing magic
1 Rethinking how to define magic
Richard Kieckhefer
2 For magic: Against method
Claire Fanger
3 A discourse historical approach towards medieval
learned magic
Bernd-Christian Otto
4 The concept of magic
David. L. d’Avray
5 Responses
Richard Kieckhefer, David. L. d’Avray, Bernd-Christian Ott o, and Claire Fanger
Part I I: Languages and dissemination
6 Arabic magic: The impetus for translating texts and their
reception
Charles Burnett
7 The Latin encounter with Hebrew magic: Problems
and approaches
Katelyn Mesler
8 Magic in Romance languages
Sebastia Giralt
9 Central and Eastern Europe
Benedek Lang
10 Magic in Celtic lands
Mark Williams
11 Scandinavia
Stephen A. Mitchell
Part I I I: Key genres and figures
12 From Hermetic magic to the magic of marvels
Antonella Sannino
13 The notion of properties: Tensions between
Scientia and Ars in medieval natural philosophy
and magic
Isabelle Draelants
14 Solomonic magic
Julien Veronese
15 Necromancy
Frank Klaassen
16 John of Morigny
Claire Fanger and Nicholas Watson
17 Cecco d’Ascoli and Antonio da Montolmo: The building
of a “nigromantical” cosmology and the birth of the
author-magician
Nicolas Weill-Parot
18 Beringarius Ganellus and the Summa sacre magice: Magic
as the promotion of God’s Kingship
Damaris Aschera Gehr
19 Jerome Torrella and “Astrological Images”
Nicolas Weill-Parot
20 Peter of Zealand
Jean-Marc Mandosio
Part IV: Themes (magic and…)
21 Magic and natural philosophy
St even P. Marrone
22 Medicine and magic
Peter Murray Jones and Lea T. Olsan
23 Illusion
Robert Goulding
24 Magic at court
Jean-Patrice Boudet
25 Magic and gender
Catherine Rider
26 Magic in literature: Romance transformations
Corinne Saunders
27 Music
John Haines
28 Magic and archaeology: Ritual residues and
“odd” deposits
Roberta Gilchrist
29 The visual culture of magic in the Middle Ages
Alejandro Garcia Aviles
30 Medieval magical figures: Between image and text
Sophie Page
Part V: Anti-magical discourse in the later Middle Ages
31 Scholasticism and high medieval opposition to magic
David J. Collins
32 Pastoral literature and preaching
Kathleen Kamerick
33 Superstition and sorcery
Michael D. Bailey
34 Witchcraft
Mart ine Ostorero
35 Epilogue: Cosmology and magic – The angel of Mars
in the Libro de astromagia
Alejandro Garcia Aviles
Further reading
Index
