Contesting Orthodoxy in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Heresy, Magic and Witchcraft (Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic)

This Book Breaks With Three Common Scholarly Barriers Of Periodization, Discipline And Geography In Its Exploration Of The Related Themes Of Heresy, Magic And Witchcraft. It Sets Aside Constructed Chronological Boundaries, And In Doing So Aims To Achieve A Clearer Picture Of What ?went Before?, As Well As What ?came After?. Thus The Volume Demonstrates Continuity As Well As Change In The Concepts And Understandings Of Magic, Heresy And Witchcraft. In Addition, The Geographical Pattern Of Similarities And Diversities Suggests A Comparative Approach, Transcending Confessional As Well As National Borders. Throughout The Medieval And Early Modern Period, The Orthodoxy Of The Christian Church Was Continuously Contested. The Challenge Of Heterodoxy, Especially As Expressed In Various Kinds Of Heresy, Magic And Witchcraft, Was Constantly Present During The Period 1200-1650. Neither Contesters Nor Followers Of Orthodoxy Were Homogeneous Groups Or Fractions. They Themselves And Their Ideas Changed From One Century To The Next, From Region To Region, Even From City To City, But Within A Common Framework Of Interpretation. This Collection Of Essays Focuses On This Complex. Approaches To Magic, Heresy And Witchcraft In Time, Space And Faith / Louise Nyholm Kallestrup And Raisa Maria Toivo -- Part I. Heresy -- 'night Is Conceded To The Dead': Revenant Congregations In The Middle Ages / Nancy Mandeville Caciola -- Heresy And Heterodoxy In Medieval Scandinavia / Stephen Mitchell -- Caught Between Unorthodox Medicine And Unorthodox Religion: Revisiting The Case Of Constantino Saccardini, Charlatan-heretic / David Gentilcore -- Part Ii. Magic -- Angel Magic And The Cult Of Angels In The Later Middle Ages / Richard Kieckhefer -- Polophony And Pragmatism In Scandinavian Spells C.1300-1600 / Leif Søndergaard -- The Divining Rod: Origins, Explanations, And Uses In The Thirteenth To Eighteenth Centuries / Johannes Dillinger -- Ignorant Superstition?: Popular Education On Magic In Early Seventeenth-century Confessionalist Finland: The Case Of Mary And The Rosaries / Raiso Maria Toivo -- Part Iii. Witchcraft -- The Witch Of Endor Before The Witch Trials / Charles Zika -- Preaching On Witchcraft?: The Sermons Of Johannes Geiler On Kayserberg (1445-1510) / Rita Voltmer -- Law, Nature, Theology And Witchcraft In Ponzinibio's De Lamiis (1511) / Matteo Duni -- The Infected And The Guilty: On Heresy And Witchcraft In Post-reformation Denmark / Louise Nyholm Kallestrup -- The Laughing Witch: Notes On The Relationship Between Literature And History In The Early Fifteenth Century / Willem De Blécourt -- Images, Representations And The Self-perception Of Magic Among The Sami Shamans Of Arctic Norway, 1592-1692 / Rune Blix Hagen. Louise Nyholm Kallestrup, Raisa Maria Toivo, Editors. Proceedings Of The Conference On Heresy Magic And Natural Philosophy, Held As The 33nd Annual Symposium Of The Centre For Medieval Studies, University Of Southern Denmark. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Acknowledgements 6 Contents 7 Notes on Contributors 10 List of Figures 13 List of Table 15 Approaches to Magic, Heresy and Witchcraft in Time, Space and Faith 16 Witchcraft 19 Magic 22 Heresy 24 Notes 27 Part I: Heresy 29 ‘Night is conceded to the dead’: Revenant Congregations in the Middle Ages 30 A Gathering of the Dead, or of Demons? 35 Marvelous, Ancient Sacrifices 38 Thinking with the Dead 42 Notes 43 Heresy and Heterodoxy in Medieval Scandinavia 47 Introduction 47 Terminology 50 Heresy in Medieval Scandinavia 52 Concluding Discussion 58 Notes 60 Caught Between Unorthodox Medicine and Unorthodox Religion: Revisiting the Case of Costantino Saccardini, Charlatan-Heretic 69 Notes 77 Part II: Magic 81 Angel Magic and the Cult of Angels in the Later Middle Ages 82 The Issues at Stake 83 Four Texts of Angel Magic from the Later Medieval West 86 Efforts to Regulate the Veneration of Angels 92 Devotion to Angels and Conceptions of Angels: The Scope of Toleration 96 The Hazards of Conjuration 103 Notes 108 Polyphony and Pragmatism in Scandinavian Spells c.1300–1600 122 Notes 137 The Divining Rod: Origins, Explanations and Uses in the Thirteenth to Eighteenth Centuries 138 Notes 151 Ignorant Superstition? Popular Education on Magic in Early Seventeenth-Century Confessionalist Finland: The Case of Mary and the Rosaries 155 Magic, Superstition and Witchcraft in Early Modern Finland 156 Idolatry and Lip Service vs Obedient Mary 158 Traces of the Cult of Mary in the Lutheran County of Satakunta 161 A Tradition of Catholic Reformation and Lutheran Superstition? 165 Early Seventeenth-Century Magic and Superstition as Ignorance 168 Notes 170 Part III: Witchcraft 174 The Witch of Endor Before the Witch Trials 175 Notes 194 Preaching on Witchcraft? The Sermons of Johannes Geiler of Kaysersberg (1445–1510) 200 Johannes Geiler of Kaysersberg (1445–1510): Some Introductory Remarks 200 No Place for Witches: Johannes Geiler of Kaysersberg and His Concept of Urban Reform 205 Superstition, Sorcery and Witchcraft in the Sermons of Johannes Geiler (Until 1509) 207 Johannes Geiler and His Concepts of Witchcraft (1509) 209 Conclusion 214 Notes 216 Law, Nature, Theology and Witchcraft in Ponzinibio’s De lamiis (1511) 223 Notes 234 The Infected and the Guilty: On Heresy and Witchcraft in Post-Reformation Denmark 239 The Concept of Heresy 240 First-Generation Reformers, Witchcraft and Heresy 242 The Admonitions of Niels Hemmingsen on Heresy and Witchcraft 245 Legislation on Witchcraft and Heresy 250 In Court 252 Conclusion 255 Notes 256 The Laughing Witch: Notes on the Relationship Between Literature and History in the Early Fifteenth Century 261 The centrepiece of this chapter is an early fifteenth-century play in the Dutch language, now known by the anachronistic name Die Hexe (The Witch), a name I will keep here for convenience sake. The main question I will pose here is how this play shou 261 A Farce 262 The Waning of the Middle Ages 264 Ascribed Witchcraft 268 Contemporary Concepts 270 A Popular Wizard 273 Fictional Witchcraft 276 Notes 278 Images, Representations and the Self-­Perception of Magic among the Sami Shamans of Arctic Norway, 1592–1692 284 ‘Nordmythos’ 285 The Septentrionale Region and the Big Dipper 289 Wind Knots and Weather Magic 291 The Sami and the Witch Trials 293 Sorcery Persecutions of the Sami 295 The Self-Perception of Magic among the Sami Shamans 298 Witchcraft Conspiracy at the Frontiers of European Civilization 299 Territorial Expansion, State-Building and Witchcraft 300 Notes 303 Bibliography 306 Archival (Unprinted) Sources 306 Sources and Bibliography Printed Before 1900 306 Sources and Bibliography Printed Since 1900 316 Index 350