Where the Middle Ages Begin
It is this humanity in a monster that helps to show why these draugar fascinate us so much. The “others” that exist outside the boundaries of society: the weird old ladies that people label as evil witches, the misshapen, the “freaks” that Tod Browning made famous are funhouse mirror images of ourselves.
Within the orbit of witchcraft, what is the relationship between sexuality, heresy, and diabolism?
If we are to believe any number of histories, spiritual life in medieval Scandinavia, and especially the conversion to Christianity, is readily summarized: paganism collapsed against Christian conversion efforts in dramatic fashion at a meeting of the Alþing, or when a missionary bore hot iron, or an exiled king had a deep religious experience, or when a pagan revolt was finally overcome, and so on.
In Chaucer’s tales regarding magic and sorcery, three stand out in particular: The Franklin’s Tale, the Wife of Bath’s Tale and the Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale.
The aim of this research is to explore how pre-Christian beliefs, cults and popular traditions may have indirectly survived in early modern and medieval European witch-beliefs.
Did witches once soar through the night sky on broomsticks? Or were they hallucinating after eating or touching certain plants? Angelika Börsch-Haubold explains how modern pharmacology helps us to understand the action of many toxic plants – some of which are still used in medicine.
Although Joan’s trial took place in France and The Malleus Maleficarum was published in Germany, they are suitable for comparison because this text became the definitive manual for witchcraft inquisitors across Europe.
This paper will examine how the prominent image of the witch in Christian thought during the early modern period emerged from earlier images of the non-Christian Other, Jews and heretics for example.
One of the specific aspects of witchcraft that has seen considerable attention in recent years is its relationship to gender. Both Bailey and Broedel have made admirable contributions to uncovering the historical development of a feminine witch concept.
While all the separate components of witchcraft—harmful sorcery or maleficium, diabolism, heretical cultic activity, and elements drawn from common folklore, such as ideas of nocturnal flight—were widely believed to exist throughout much of the medieval period, only in the fifteenth century did these components merge into the single concept of satanic witchcraft.
This paper will elucidate the importance of the interdependency among maleficium, gender, heresy and church doctrine in the cauldron of witch fears which bubbled forth in the late middle ages and boiled over in the early modern world.
My purpose in writing this article is to expose a different view of romantic relationships that exist in medieval literature, a view that is in opposition to courtly love.
Central to the aims of this thesis is the question “how did Porete „fit‟ the religious landscape of her period?” A seeming obstacle to this pursuit are claims from within the scholarship that Porete did not „fit‟ at all, but was, rather, as an aberration amidst other female mystics of the period.
It will be seen below that many of the legendary happenings on which belief in the curative powers of saints was based were ridiculously improbable or impossible.
This thesis examines the questions raised by Darrell‘s exorcisms and the ways in which they were shaped by relations of power. I hope that it will shed new light on the ways in which people formed their religious and ideological identities in this pivotal period in English history.
The present paper surveys the medicinal applications of a number of fossils which were well known in classical, mediaeval and renaissance times….
Psychological and psychiatric ailments must have baffled early medical practitioners.
The Church Fathers and intellectuals made the distinction between the miracle of the relics and sacred words of the Bible, verba sacra….
Tony Robinson’s Gods and Monsters, a new five-part series, begins on British television on Saturday night with a look at a history of the undead in Britain over the last two thousand years.
Though not persuasive enough by itself to forge a decisive affinity, similarity of physiology and temperament between women and cats did not escape notice in the Middle Ages.
The Ghost in Early Modern Protestant Culture:Shifting perceptions of the afterlife, 1450-1700 McKeever, Amanda Jane PhD Thesis, Philosophy, University of Sussex, September 27, (2010) Abstract My thesis seeks to address the continuity, change and the syncreticism of ideas regarding post-mortem existence in the wake of the Reformation. Prior to reform, the late Medieval world view […]
Herbal healers and devil dealers: a study of healers and their gendered persecution in the medieval period McPhee, Meghan Thesis: M.A., (History), California State University, Sacramento (2009) Abstract Long before written record, men and women have known the healing properties of herbs and medicinal arts have been practiced even before the first civilizations emerged. This ancient […]
“…and he shall rule over thee” The malleus maleficarum and the politics of misogyny, medicine, and midwifery (1484-present): A feminist historical inquiry By Randeep Singh Chauhan Master’s Thesis, Simon Fraser University, 2005 Abstract: Despite shifts towards “secularism” in the Western world, women have consistently been the target of negative sentiment due to their historically and […]
”There be yer figure, but where might yer soul be?” Conceptions Concerning Witches and Blåkulla in Sweden and Finland Eilola, Jari MIRATOR ELOKUU/AUGUSTI/AUGUST (2002) Abstract Swedes of the Early Modern Period referred to the nightly meetings of witches, the so-called witches’ sabbat, as Blåkulla. This name was also known in the western parts of Finland, […]
How you can Follow Us!