Magic in Medieval Manuscripts

Magic in Medieval Manuscripts
Author: Sophie Page
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 70
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780802037978

Magic in Medieval Manuscripts explores the place of magic in the medieval world and the contradictory responses it evoked, through an exploration of images and texts in British Library manuscripts.

Magic in the Margins

Magic in the Margins
Author: W. Nikola-Lisa
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2007
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780618496426

A young apprentice learns to tap his own wellspring of creativity with the help of the magical margins of an illuminated manuscript in this story about patience, talent, and imagination. Full color.

Magic in the Cloister

Magic in the Cloister
Author: Sophie Page
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2013-10-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0271062975

During the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries a group of monks with occult interests donated what became a remarkable collection of more than thirty magic texts to the library of the Benedictine abbey of St. Augustine’s in Canterbury. The monks collected texts that provided positive justifications for the practice of magic and books in which works of magic were copied side by side with works of more licit genres. In Magic in the Cloister, Sophie Page uses this collection to explore the gradual shift toward more positive attitudes to magical texts and ideas in medieval Europe. She examines what attracted monks to magic texts, in spite of the dangers involved in studying condemned works, and how the monks combined magic with their intellectual interests and monastic life. By showing how it was possible for religious insiders to integrate magical studies with their orthodox worldview, Magic in the Cloister contributes to a broader understanding of the role of magical texts and ideas and their acceptance in the late Middle Ages.

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.

The Transformations of Magic

The Transformations of Magic
Author: Frank Klaassen
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2013
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0271056266

"Explores two principal genres of illicit learned magic in late Medieval manuscripts: image magic, which could be interpreted and justified in scholastic terms, and ritual magic, which could not"--Provided by publisher.

Astrology in Medieval Manuscripts

Astrology in Medieval Manuscripts
Author: Sophie Page
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2002-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780802085115

"Astrology in Medieval Manuscripts describes the complexity of western medieval astrology and its place in society, as revealed by a wealth of illustrated manuscripts and historical background."--BOOK JACKET.

Unlocked Books

Unlocked Books
Author: Benedek Lang
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0271033789

During the Middle Ages, the Western world translated the incredible Arabic scientific corpus and imported it into Western culture: Arabic philosophy, optics, and physics, as well as alchemy, astrology, and talismanic magic. The line between the scientific and the magical was blurred. According to popular lore, magicians of the Middle Ages were trained in the art of magic in &“magician schools&” located in various metropolitan areas, such as Naples, Athens, and Toledo. It was common knowledge that magic was learned and that cities had schools designed to teach the dark arts. The Spanish city of Toledo, for example, was so renowned for its magic training schools that &“the art of Toledo&” was synonymous with &“the art of magic.&” Until Benedek L&áng&’s work on Unlocked Books, little had been known about the place of magic outside these major cities. A principal aim of Unlocked Books is to situate the role of central Europe as a center for the study of magic. L&áng helps chart for us how the thinkers of that day&—clerics, courtiers, and university masters&—included in their libraries not only scientific and religious treatises but also texts related to the field of learned magic. These texts were all enlisted to solve life&’s questions, whether they related to the outcome of an illness or the meaning of lines on one&’s palm. Texts summoned angels or transmitted the recipe for a magic potion. L&áng gathers magical texts that could have been used by practitioners in late fifteenth-century central Europe.

Making Magic in Elizabethan England

Making Magic in Elizabethan England
Author: Frank Klaassen
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2019-12-11
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0271085177

This volume presents editions of two fascinating anonymous and untitled manuscripts of magic produced in Elizabethan England: the Antiphoner Notebook and the Boxgrove Manual. Frank Klaassen uses these texts, which he argues are representative of the overwhelming majority of magical practitioners, to explain how magic changed during this period and why these developments were crucial to the formation of modern magic. The Boxgrove Manual is a work of learned ritual magic that synthesizes material from Henry Cornelius Agrippa, the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, Heptameron, and various medieval conjuring works. The Antiphoner Notebook concerns the common magic of treasure hunting, healing, and protection, blending medieval conjuring and charm literature with materials drawn from Reginald Scot’s famous anti-magic work, Discoverie of Witchcraft. Klaassen painstakingly traces how the scribes who created these two manuscripts adapted and transformed their original sources. In so doing, he demonstrates the varied and subtle ways in which the Renaissance, the Reformation, new currents in science, the birth of printing, and vernacularization changed the practice of magic. Illuminating the processes by which two sixteenth-century English scribes went about making a book of magic, this volume provides insight into the wider intellectual culture surrounding the practice of magic in the early modern period.

Book of Beasts

Book of Beasts
Author: Elizabeth Morrison
Publisher: Getty Publications
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2019
Genre: ART
ISBN: 1606065904

A celebration of the visual contributions of the bestiary--one of the most popular types of illuminated books during the Middle Ages--and an exploration of its lasting legacy. Brimming with lively animals both real and fantastic, the bestiary was one of the great illuminated manuscript traditions of the Middle Ages. Encompassing imaginary creatures such as the unicorn, siren, and griffin; exotic beasts including the tiger, elephant, and ape; as well as animals native to Europe like the beaver, dog, and hedgehog, the bestiary is a vibrant testimony to the medieval understanding of animals and their role in the world. So iconic were the stories and images of the bestiary that its beasts essentially escaped from the pages, appearing in a wide variety of manuscripts and other objects, including tapestries, ivories, metalwork, and sculpture. With over 270 color illustrations and contributions by twenty-five leading scholars, this gorgeous volume explores the bestiary and its widespread influence on medieval art and culture as well as on modern and contemporary artists like Pablo Picasso and Damien Hirst. Published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center May 14 to August 18, 2019.