Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance

Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance
Author: Corinne J. Saunders
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2010
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1843842211

"This study looks at a wide range of medieval Englisih romance texts, including the works of Chaucer and Malory, from a broad cultural perspective, to show that while they employ magic in order to create exotic, escapist worlds, they are also grounded in a sense of possibility, and reflect a complex web of inherited and current ideas." --Book Jacket.

Christianity and Romance in Medieval England

Christianity and Romance in Medieval England
Author: Rosalind Field
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2010
Genre: Education
ISBN: 184384219X

The essays collected here show how the romances of medieval England engaged with contemporary Christian culture, and demonstrate the importance of reading them with an awareness of that culture.

Nine Medieval Romances of Magic

Nine Medieval Romances of Magic
Author: Marijane Osborn
Publisher: Broadview Press
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2010-03-05
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1551119978

In this book, Marijane Osborn translates into modern English nine lively medieval verse romances, in a form that both reflects the original and makes the romances inviting to a modern audience. All nine tales contain elements of magic: shapeshifters, powerful fairies, trees that are portals to another world, and enchanted clothing and armor. Many of the tales also feature powerful women characters, while others include representations of “Saracens.” The tales address issues of enduring interest and concern, and also address sexuality, agency, and identity formation in unexpected ways.

Middle English Marvels

Middle English Marvels
Author: Tara Williams
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2018-03-14
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0271081783

This multidisciplinary volume illustrates how representations of magic in fourteenth-century romances link the supernatural, spectacle, and morality in distinctive ways. Supernatural marvels represented in vivid visual detail are foundational to the characteristic Middle English genres of romance and hagiography. In Middle English Marvels, Tara Williams explores the didactic and affective potential of secular representations of magic and shows how fourteenth-century English writers tested the limits of that potential. Drawing on works by Augustine, Gervase of Tilbury, Chaucer, and the anonymous poets of Sir Orfeo and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, among others, Williams examines how such marvels might convey moral messages within and beyond the narrative. She analyzes examples from both highly canonical and more esoteric texts and examines marvels that involve magic and transformation, invoke visual spectacle, and invite moral reflection on how one should relate to others. Within this shared framework, Williams finds distinct concerns—chivalry, identity, agency, and language—that intersect with the marvelous in significant ways. Integrating literary and historical approaches to the study of magic, this volume convincingly shows how certain fourteenth-century texts eschewed the predominant trends and developed a new theory of the marvelous. Williams’s engaging, erudite study will be of special interest to scholars of the occult, the medieval and early modern eras, and literature.

Medieval Romance, Arthurian Literature

Medieval Romance, Arthurian Literature
Author: Venetia Bridges
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2021
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1843846160

Essays; medieval romance; Arthurian Iiterature; Elizabeth Archibald.

Annotated Chaucer bibliography

Annotated Chaucer bibliography
Author: Mark Allen
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 886
Release: 2015-11-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1784996459

An extremely thorough, expertly compiled and crisply annotated comprehensive bibliography of Chaucer scholarship between 1997 and 2010

Love Magic and Control in Premodern Iberian Literature

Love Magic and Control in Premodern Iberian Literature
Author: Veronica Menaldi
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2021-07-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1000422518

This book explores the complexity of Iberian identity and multicultural/multi-religious interactions in the Peninsula through the lens of spells, talismans, and imaginative fiction in medieval and early modern Iberia. Focusing particularly on love magic—which manipulates objects, celestial spheres, and demonic conjurings to facilitate sexual encounters—Menaldi examines how practitioners and victims of such magic as represented in major works produced in Castile. Magic, and love magic in particular, is an exchange of knowledge, a claim to power and a deviation from or subversion of the licit practices permitted by authoritative decrees. As such, magic serves as a metaphorical tool for understanding the complex relationships of the Christian with the non-Christian. In seeking to understand and incorporate hidden secrets that presumably reveal how one can manipulate their environment, occult knowledge became one of the funnels through which cultures and practices mixed and adapted throughout the centuries.

Love Spells and Lost Treasure

Love Spells and Lost Treasure
Author: Tabitha Stanmore
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2022-12-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1009286706

A ground-breaking book which introduces the concept of 'service magic' while re-evaluating magic in medieval and early modern English society.

Middle English Romance and the Craft of Memory

Middle English Romance and the Craft of Memory
Author: Jamie McKinstry
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2015
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1843844176

An examination of the depiction and function of memory in a variety of romances, including Troilus and Criseyde and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

The Routledge History of Medieval Magic

The Routledge History of Medieval Magic
Author: Sophie Page
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 550
Release: 2019-01-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317042751

The 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 this subject could develop in the future, highlighting under-explored subjects, unpublished sources, and new approaches to the topic. It is the ideal book for both established scholars and students of medieval magic.