Reading List: Magic in Medieval Manuscripts

Sophie Page’s Magic in Medieval Manuscripts is part of a series celebrating the art of illuminated manuscripts held by the British Library, and it offers an interesting look at magical belief and practices in the Middle Ages. The opening chapter focuses on magicians in medieval literature, but the remainder of the book is grounded in reality, exploring how real magicians were believed to employ their craft. 

Details from the publisher as follows:



Magic in Medieval Manuscripts
http://www.utppublishing.com/Magic-in-Medieval-Manuscripts.html

By Sophie Page
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division © 2004
World Rights
65 Pages

Paper
ISBN 9780802037978
Published Sep 2004
$27.95

Magic existed in diverse forms in the Middle Ages, from simple charms to complex and subversive demonic magic. Its negative characteristics were defined by theologians who sought to isolate undesirable rituals and beliefs, but there were also many who believed that the condemned texts and practices were valuable and compatible with orthodox piety.

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. These range from representations of the magician, wise-woman and witch, to charms against lightning, wax images for inciting love, and diagrams to find treasure. Most elaborate of all the magical practices are rituals for communicating with and commanding spirits. Whether expressions of piety, ambition, or daring, these rituals reveal a medieval fascination with the points of contact between this world and the celestial and infernal realms.

Sophie Page is a lecturer in the Department of History at University College London.