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Catherine
Rider.
Magic
and Impotence in the Middle Ages.
Oxford
U.P., Jan 2006.
216mm x
138mm.
272pp.
Publisher's
recommended price
Hardback
ISBN
0199282226, £50.00
Magic and Impotence in the Middle Ages
investigates the common medieval belief that magic could cause
impotence, focusing particularly on the period 1150-1450. The subject
has never been studied in detail before, but there is a surprisingly
large amount of information about it in four kinds of source:
confessors' manuals; medical compendia that discussed many illnesses;
commentaries on canon law; and theological commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard.
Although most historians of medieval culture focus on only one or two
of these kinds of source, a broader comparison reveals that medieval
writers held surprisingly diverse opinions about what magic was, how it
worked, and whether it was ever legitimate to use it.
Medieval
discussions of magically caused impotence also include a great deal of
information about magical practices, most of which have not been
studied before. In particular, these sources say a great deal about
popular magic, a subject which has been particularly neglected by
historians because the evidence is scanty and difficult to
interpret. Magic and Impotence makes new information about
popular magic available for the first time.
Magic and Impotence also examines
why the authors of legal, medical, and theological texts were so
interested in popular magical practices relating to impotence. It
therefore uses magically caused impotence as a case-study to explore
the relationship between elite and popular culture. In particular, this
study emphasizes the importance of the thirteenth-century pastoral
reform movement, which sought to enforce more orthodox religious
practices. Historians have often noted that this movement brought
churchmen into contact with popular beliefs, but this is the first
study to demonstrate the profound effect it had on theological and
legal ideas about magic.
Readership:
Scholars and students of medieval history, especially historians of
religion and magic.
Contents
1 Introduction
2 'My Lady Knows Impious Things': Impotence Magic in the Ancient World
3 'What Adulterous Women Do': The Early Middle Ages, c.800-c.1100
4 Impotence Magic Enters the Academic World 1100-1190
5 How to Bind a Man or Woman: Impotence in the Magical Texts
6 'Everywhere on Earth, Certain Idolatries Reign': Pastoral Literature
1200-1400
7 Annulment Procedures and Frivolous Cures: Canon Law 1190-1400
8 Necromancers, Confessions, and the Power of Demons: Theology 1220-1400
9 Herbs and Magic: Medicine 1240-1400
10 Impotence Magic and the Rise of Witchcraft
Conclusion, Appendixes, Bibliography, Index.
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