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- Medieval Perceptions of Magic, Science, and the Natural World
Medieval Perceptions of Magic, Science, and the Natural World
Edited by Carolina Escobar-Vargas and Anne Lawrence-Mathers
Series: Borderlines
252 Pages, Trim size: 6 x 9 in
- Hardcover
- 9781802700411
- Published: July 2024
This volume presents new research in medieval conceptions of magic, science, and the natural world, bringing not only medicine but also meteorology and navigation into the discussion. Ground-breaking theoretical chapters on theology, natural sciences, and the writing of history are presented by established experts in their fields. These are accompanied by case studies of interactions between magic, science, and natural philosophy. Each chapter offers new findings while contributing to a comprehensive survey of the shifting boundaries between natural and supernatural across both space and time. Emerging areas, such as the study of prognostics, are represented by challenging new work. This collection will prove fascinating to everyone engaging with this expanding field.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
“Introduction,” by Carolina Escobar-Vargas
Chapter 1: “Rhythms of the (Super)Natural World: Timing Instructions in Early Medieval Medical Recipes,” by Claire Burridge
Chapter 2: “Time and Tide: The Creation of a Sea Travel Network in the Severn Region in the Early Middle Ages,” by Caroline Bourne
Chapter 3: “Astral Forces and Arthurian Dragons in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae,” by Humma Mouzam
Chapter 4: “Natural and Non-Natural: Weather, Seasons, and Place in the Medicine of Constantine of Africa,” by Anne Jeavons
Chapter 5: “Matthew Paris, William of Conches, and the Use of Diagrams to Observe the World,” by Judith Collard
Chapter 6: “Astrology: Science or Divination? The Example of Astro-Meteorology,” by Anne Lawrence-Mathers
Chapter 7: “Magic and Science in the Middle Ages: The Building of the Boundaries between Natural Magic and Necromancy, ca. 1230–ca. 1310,” by Sebastià Giralt
Chapter 8: “Witchcraft and Weather: The Problem of Magical Control of the Weather,” by Carolina Escobar-Vargas
Chapter 9: “The Boundaries of Magic and Medicine in Medieval Theology,” by Victoria Burns-Price
Chapter 10: “Between Natural and Demonic? Onomantic Divination in the Later Middle Ages,” by Joanne Edge
Chapter 11: “Late-Medieval Brontologies: Popular Superstition or Astrological Medical Guide?,” by Janet Walls
Chapter 12: “Wonder and Wonder Working in Middle English Romance: The Prose Merlin,” by Victoria Flood
Chapter 13: “Alchemical Poetry, Alchemical Practice,” by Zachary Matus
Chapter 14: “Encountering the Wonder in Nature: The Science of the Sacred in the Early-Modern Construction of the Natural World,” by Helen Parish
Index
Carolina Escobar-Vargas is the current Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs at the Facultad de Ciencias Humanas y Económicas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Medellin) and former head of the Department of History in the above faculty.
Anne Lawrence-Mathers is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading, and the author of The True History of Merlin the Magician and Medieval Meteorology.
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