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I just finished reading “Magic in the Middle Ages” by Richard Kieckhefer. It was a good general introduction, nice and easy to read, with lots of actual examples from the time, and many beautiful illustrations from the period. He uses actual examples from factual accounts as well as a very interesting analysis of literature about magic, in particular the Arthurian myths. But he started by saying how magic, at that time, was the meeting of religion and science. He refers to two different states of magic, natural magic, which harnesses the occult powers of nature, and uses them mostly and medicine, and demonic magic, which invokes evil spirits and has many theological beliefs.
He gives a brief outline in the first few chapters of the rise in magical beliefs until the middle ages, the beliefs of the Romans and the early Christians. Then how the Christian beliefs were incorporated with pagan religions as Christianity spread into the Norse and Celtic areas. The book contains a lot of early examples of magic used by everyday people, blessings to help with crops, love and as protection from evil. Also magic that is used to heal people, herbs and amulets that bear more of a resemblance to folk medicine than magic, except for the incantations that frequently accompany the use of them. What I found most interesting about the spells and incantations used in this part of the book, were that they were predominantly Christian in nature, even the spells that had been a carry over from the pagan tradition. Everything was done in the name of God the father, son and Holy Ghost. Apocryphal stories were made up to say, during this time these people in the bible did this, and so now we make this thing happen as it did then. Many of the spells involved the actions of the local priest, and involved the consecrated host or saint’s relics, a very different view to the later idea that all magic had to be demonic in nature. Sorcery in these cases was viewed as the improper use of this magic. For example, when someone tried to heal someone and they died they were accused of using sorcery.
Later he goes on to look at the influence that Arabic learning had on the middle ages and it’s view of magic. The two biggest influences seemed to be on astrology and alchemy. Both were seen more as occult knowledge and natural magic, or very primitive science.
It was the chapter on necromancy that I enjoyed the most. In the past, and nowadays, people think of necromancy as dealing with the dead, citing the famous example from the Bible of the witch of Endor. However, as the church at the time did not believe people could actually be raised from the dead, as that was the prerogative of God alone, it was believed that who was actually being contacted was demons pretending to be the dead. Therefore necromancy changed to the willful contact and control of demons. Magic circles were used, though sometimes it was to trap the demons and sometimes it was to protect the necromancer. The book suggested that most necromancers came from the clerical class, (though they did not necessarily have to be priests).
Lastly the book looks at the rise of the persecution of magic in the Middle Ages leading to the witch trials. A brief outline is given for the rise in trials, changes in the laws that allowed trials by the legal courts, changes that made it so the accuser was no longer at risk of suffering the penalties of the defender if his case failed and the inquisitional approach. It also looked at how the focus of magic had changed, instead of seeing two different forms of magic, in a world filled with heresy, more and more natural magic was considered to be the work of demons. It was believed that it was the demons who distributed the knowledge of healing herbs; any spell that contained a nonsensical word was believed to contain the name of a demon that was being invoked. This made the accusations much broader.
This book gives a good background on medieval magic, which leads to a clearer understanding of the witch-hunts of later days. Definitely a good introductory read, though if you’re already familiar with the material there may not be all that much new information for you.
The same author has also published a 15th century manuscript on necromancy, which he refers to in the text. And thankfully he left the text in the original Latin, (with only a few translations into English of significant parts) so I think I shall have to get that as a present for Bill!
He gives a brief outline in the first few chapters of the rise in magical beliefs until the middle ages, the beliefs of the Romans and the early Christians. Then how the Christian beliefs were incorporated with pagan religions as Christianity spread into the Norse and Celtic areas. The book contains a lot of early examples of magic used by everyday people, blessings to help with crops, love and as protection from evil. Also magic that is used to heal people, herbs and amulets that bear more of a resemblance to folk medicine than magic, except for the incantations that frequently accompany the use of them. What I found most interesting about the spells and incantations used in this part of the book, were that they were predominantly Christian in nature, even the spells that had been a carry over from the pagan tradition. Everything was done in the name of God the father, son and Holy Ghost. Apocryphal stories were made up to say, during this time these people in the bible did this, and so now we make this thing happen as it did then. Many of the spells involved the actions of the local priest, and involved the consecrated host or saint’s relics, a very different view to the later idea that all magic had to be demonic in nature. Sorcery in these cases was viewed as the improper use of this magic. For example, when someone tried to heal someone and they died they were accused of using sorcery.
Later he goes on to look at the influence that Arabic learning had on the middle ages and it’s view of magic. The two biggest influences seemed to be on astrology and alchemy. Both were seen more as occult knowledge and natural magic, or very primitive science.
It was the chapter on necromancy that I enjoyed the most. In the past, and nowadays, people think of necromancy as dealing with the dead, citing the famous example from the Bible of the witch of Endor. However, as the church at the time did not believe people could actually be raised from the dead, as that was the prerogative of God alone, it was believed that who was actually being contacted was demons pretending to be the dead. Therefore necromancy changed to the willful contact and control of demons. Magic circles were used, though sometimes it was to trap the demons and sometimes it was to protect the necromancer. The book suggested that most necromancers came from the clerical class, (though they did not necessarily have to be priests).
Lastly the book looks at the rise of the persecution of magic in the Middle Ages leading to the witch trials. A brief outline is given for the rise in trials, changes in the laws that allowed trials by the legal courts, changes that made it so the accuser was no longer at risk of suffering the penalties of the defender if his case failed and the inquisitional approach. It also looked at how the focus of magic had changed, instead of seeing two different forms of magic, in a world filled with heresy, more and more natural magic was considered to be the work of demons. It was believed that it was the demons who distributed the knowledge of healing herbs; any spell that contained a nonsensical word was believed to contain the name of a demon that was being invoked. This made the accusations much broader.
This book gives a good background on medieval magic, which leads to a clearer understanding of the witch-hunts of later days. Definitely a good introductory read, though if you’re already familiar with the material there may not be all that much new information for you.
The same author has also published a 15th century manuscript on necromancy, which he refers to in the text. And thankfully he left the text in the original Latin, (with only a few translations into English of significant parts) so I think I shall have to get that as a present for Bill!