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IMC 2015: Sessions

Session 1105: Transitions of Magic in the Middle Ages

Wednesday 8 July 2015, 11.15-12.45

Organisers:Martha Baldon, School of English, Communication & Philosophy, Cardiff University
Alison Harthill, School of English, Communication & Philosophy, Cardiff University
Moderator/Chair:James Antonio Paz, School of Arts, Languages & Cultures, University of Manchester
Paper 1105-aTo Protect from the Outside and from the Within?: Magic, Identity, and the Other in the Old English Lacnunga
(Language: English)
Stefan Schustereder, Institut für Anglistik, Amerikanistik und Keltologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Ninja Schulz, Lehrstuhl für Englische Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Würzburg
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Medicine, Religious Life
Paper 1105-bJanus Faced?: Theurgy and Necromancy in the Liber Juratus
(Language: English)
Alison Harthill, School of English, Communication & Philosophy, Cardiff University
Martha Baldon, School of English, Communication & Philosophy, Cardiff University
Index terms: Language and Literature - Comparative, Religious Life, Social History
Paper 1105-c'Bear wise Bacon's and Albertus' works': Medieval Texts on Magic on the Early Modern Stage
(Language: English)
Gudrun Tockner, Institut für Anglistik, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz
Index terms: Performance Arts - Drama, Social History
Abstract

This panel focuses on moments of transition in 'magical' practices over three different time periods in order to examine the way in which 'magic' was celebrated, condemned and reformed throughout the Middle Ages and into the Early Modern period. In many cases pagan and classical practices were adjusted and Christianised throughout the medieval era in accordance with what was defined as 'acceptable' at a given time. The session shows specific moments of change in various medieval 'magical' practices, but also illustrates the transformation of medieval views on 'magic' and its uneasy position between religious and scientific developments.