The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe
Valerie I. J. Flint
Price: £25.00 (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-820522-7
Publication date: 5 May 1994
Clarendon Press
466 pages, 234x156 mm
Series: Clarendon Paperbacks
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| Reviews |
| - 'Flint's thesis is both significant and provocative ... a big, beautifully written, and wonderfully learned book.' - The Higher
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| Description | This is a study of magic in western Europe in the early Middle Ages. Valerie Flint explores its practice and belief in Christian society, and examines the problems raised by so-called `pagan survivals' and superstition'. She unravels the complex processes at work in the early medieval Christian church to show how the rejection of non-Christian magic came to be tempered by a more accommodating
attitude: confrontation was replaced by negotiation, and certain practices previously condemned were not merely accepted, but actively encouraged. The forms of magic which were retained, as well as those the church set out to obliterate, are carefully analysed. The `superstitions' condemned at the Reformation are shown to be, in origin, rational and intelligent concessions intended to reconcile
coexisting cultures.
Dr Flint explores the sophisticated cultural and religious compromise achieved by the church in this period. This is a scholarly and challenging book, which makes a major contribution to the study of the Christianization of Europe. |
Readership: Scholars and students of medieval history; historians of religion and of magic.
| Contents |
List of abbreviations
Part I. Introduction: The scope of the study
1.
The legacy of attitudes
2.
The sources for the early Middle Ages
3.
The situation
Part II. The Magic of the Heavens
4.
The magic that persisted: condemned magical agencies
5.
The magic that was needed: rescued means of magical intervention
6.
The magic that was needed: the power of the Cross in the heavens
Part III. The Magic of the Earth
7.
Forbidden magic: the focal points of Christian disapproval
8.
Encouraged magic: the process of rehabilitation
Part IV. The Magus
9.
The discredited practitioner: charlatans
10.
The figure of esteem: Christian counterparts
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
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| Authors, editors,
and contributors |
Valerie I. J. Flint, Professor of History, University of Auckland
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