The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe

by Valerie I.J. Flint

Book Overview

"There are forces better recognized as belonging to human society than repressed or left to waste away or growl about upon its fringes." So writes Valerie Flint in this powerful work on magic in early medieval Europe. Flint shows how many of the more discerning leaders of the early medieval Church decided to promote non-Christian practices originally condemned as magical--rather than repressing them or leaving them to waste away or "growl." These...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691001103
• ISBN13: 9780691001104
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 472 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Overview of a Complex Subject

Valerie Flint, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) has written a strong and thought-provoking work on the possible origins of medieval magical practice.Drawing almost exclusively on early Church fathers and theologians from early medieval Europe (500-1000 CE), she sets out her theories on how many medieval magical practices arose, contrasting the Christian or Christianized forms of more acceptable magical practice with the pagan practices that she sees as their roots. Ms. Flint has made a strong effort to draw on or provide English translations of key texts, which makes it much easier for non-Latin speakers to follow the (often convoluted) theological arguments behind the subject matter at hand.While I feel that the author could have profited from more attention to primary sources from the other side of the fence (surviving works on magical praxis and leechcraft, especially the svartbokr and galdrabokr of the Northern traditions) this is an excellent introduction to this complex field.

Where did Medieval "Magic" come from?

One of the fairly resilient "myths" of the early Middle Ages is that of a young, weak Church with a largely ignorant leadership that was unable or unwilling to resist the influx of Pagan and other non-Christian superstitions and beliefs and was forced to absorb these into its structure. Church leaders were unable to recognize Pagan superstition for what it was as it exerted its influence on the Church. In addition, as weak as it was, the Church was simply unable to resist these ideas and the pressure to adopt them that was exerted by the masses in the early Medieval period.In this volume, Valerie Flint attempts to show that, for the most part, the Church's assimilation of Pagan elements was voluntary and only permitted after careful consideration by Church leadership. She argues that various Church fathers, including Augustine, Gregory the Great and even Hincmar of Rheims, consciously adopted certain superstitions into the early Medieval Church.Flint begins by describing the status of the Church during the later Roman Empire. She notes that there is considerable denunciation of magic by the Empire, most notably by Pliny in his _Natural History_ and that magic is characterized as unhealthy at best and maliciously evil at worst. Virgil, Lucan, Apuleius and others are enthusiastic in condemning magical practices and practitioners. This was the legacy that the Church inherited.But the Church, being an agent of the supernatural, is itself a magical organization. At the very least, Christ's conception and resurrection are outside the realm of natural events and the Eucharist with the transmutation of the host is a highly magical event. Augustine is the first to address this in any depth, most fully in _The City of God_. He allows for prophecy, and for magical properties inherent in certain forms of stone, wood, etc.Flint's thesis proceeds from this starting point rather logically. She discusses what magical beliefs and practices were prominent among the people of the 5th through 7th centuries and which of these the Church chose to condemn and, in many cases, the penalties for continued practice. She discusses the process by which Gregory the Great and others decide which beliefs should be allowed to become part of the fabric of the Church and which should not. Flint follows this with a discussion of what magical practices were actually encouraged and how both categories were justified through Biblical references, particularly to Ham. She also discusses the magical battle between Simon Magus and Peter and the ramifications this had on how magicians were viewed during the period.The substition of Christian icons, particularly crosses and churches at non-Christian magical places is discussed at some length. The eventual approval of the Church of various forms of divination, astrology, magical usage in medicine, relics, and "sanctioned" love magic all receive considerable attention.I found this book to be very informative. Flint's arguments are clear and s

Magic Alive during the "Dark Ages"

Taking a very close look at a wide variety of documents, the author demonstrates how magical practices - especially healing and divination techniques - were present all through the early middle ages. It is fascinating to see the constant attempts of Christian churchmen to appropriate part of these practices for their own purposes - so to say to "baptise" them by cutting them off from the roots of the pagan world views they were based on. One also comes to realize that the information that became available from Arab sources from the 11th century on met with a fertile ground - and with well-practised reception routines to adapt it to the Christian environment. These findings have nothing to do with the widespread legends about "surviving witch cults". Pointing to the contrasting frameworks into which identical practices - e.g. healing by laying on hands while saying an incantation / prayer and / or using specific herbs - could be put, one still gets an idea of what the traditions of modern-day esotericism (the antecedents of which usually only become visible centuries later) probably looked like. Hence the book would not only be of interest to historians, but also to anyone interested in magic / esotericism and its historical dimensions. Even though fairly technical at times, the book is never dull, and I'm glad to say I learned a lot from it.