Medievalists.net

Where the Middle Ages Begin

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Online Courses
  • Podcast
  • Patreon Login
  • About Us & More
    • About Us
    • Books
    • Videos
    • Films & TV
    • Medieval Studies Programs
    • Places To See
    • Teaching Resources
    • Articles

Medievalists.net

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Online Courses
  • Podcast
  • Patreon Login
  • About Us & More
    • About Us
    • Books
    • Videos
    • Films & TV
    • Medieval Studies Programs
    • Places To See
    • Teaching Resources
    • Articles
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Articles

Magic

by Sandra Alvarez
January 16, 2012

Magic

COPENHAVER, BRIAN P.

Cambridge History of Early Modern Science, (Camrbidge, 2006)

Abstract

The Middle Ages took magic seriously, though it was not a key issue for that period of European history, as it had been in late antiquity. Many medieval theologians treated magic with fear or loathing, in fact, and philosophers were often indifferent. But in the late fifteenth century, magic enjoyed a remarkable rebirth, acquiring the energy that kept it at the center of cultural attention for nearly two hundred years, as great philosophers and prominent naturalists tried to understand or confirm or reject it. After Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) took the first steps in the renaissance of magic, prominent figures from all over Europe followed his lead: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-94), Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1525), Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, c. 1493-1541), Girolamo Cardano (1501-76), John Dee (1527-1608), Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), Giambattista Della Porta (c. 1535-1615), Tomasso Campanella (1568-1639), Johann Baptista van Helmont (c. 1580-1648), Henry More (1614-1687) and others of equal stature. Eventually, however, as Europe’s most creative thinkers lost confidence in it, magic became even more disreputable than it had been before Ficino revived it. Around 1600, some reformers of natural knowledge had hoped that magic might yield a grand new system of learning, but within a century it became a synonym for the outdated remains of an obsolete world-view. Before examining its extraordinary rise and fall in post-medieval Europe, we can begin with magic as described by one of its most voluble advocates, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535), a German physician and philosopher.

Click here to read this article from Cambridge History of Early Modern Science

Subscribe to Medievalverse




Related Posts

  • The Unwritten Chapter: Notes towards a Social and Religious History of Geniza Magic
  • Martyrdom, Murder, and Magic: Child Saints and Their Cults in Medieval Europe
  • The Meanings of Magic
  • Religion, Science, and the Transformations of Magic: Manuscripts of Magic 1300-1600
  • Music and Magic in Le Bel Inconnu and Lybeaus Desconu
TagsAlchemy • Astrology in the Middle Ages • Astronomy in the Middle Ages • Dominican • Early Modern Period • Fifteenth Century • Folklore • Folklore in the Middle Ages • Magic in the Middle Ages • Medieval Italy • Medieval Medicine • Medieval Religious Life • Medieval Social History • Medieval Theology • Medieval Women • Mendicant Orders in the Middle Ages • Occult • Philosophy in the Middle Ages • Renaissance • Sixteenth Century • Witches in the Middle Ages

Post navigation

Previous Post Previous Post
Next Post Next Post

Medievalists Membership

Become a member to get ad-free access to our website and our articles. Thank you for supporting our website!

Sign Up Member Login

More from Medievalists.net

Become a Patron

We've created a Patreon for Medievalists.net as we want to transition to a more community-funded model.

 

We aim to be the leading content provider about all things medieval. Our website, podcast and Youtube page offers news and resources about the Middle Ages. We hope that are our audience wants to support us so that we can further develop our podcast, hire more writers, build more content, and remove the advertising on our platforms. This will also allow our fans to get more involved in what content we do produce.

Become a Patron Member Login

Medievalists.net

Footer Menu

  • Privacy Policy
  • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Copyright © 2025 Medievalists.net
  • Powered by WordPress
  • Theme: Uku by Elmastudio
Follow us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter