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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 1521: Meteorology, Miracles, and Medicine: Traversing the Borders of Magic in Medieval Europe

Thursday 9 July 2020, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Reading
Organiser:Rebecca A. C. Rist, Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Reading
Moderator/Chair:Anne Lawrence-Mathers, Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Reading
Paper 1521-a'In the scholarly no man's land?': The Popularity of Late Medieval Weather Prognostics
(Language: English)
Janet Walls, Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Reading
Index terms: Manuscripts and Palaeography, Medicine, Science
Paper 1521-bCharms, Amulets, and Ligatures: The Boundaries of Magic, Medicine, and Religion in the Middle Ages
(Language: English)
Victoria Page, Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies University of Reading
Index terms: Medicine, Religious Life, Science
Paper 1521-c'And sche shall be delyveryd a-non with-owȝt perell': Medicinal, Magical, and Miraculous Treatments for Childbirth in Late Medieval England
(Language: English)
Claire Collins, Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Reading
Index terms: Medicine, Social History, Women's Studies
Abstract

This panel will explore the boundaries of magic in the Middle Ages and the inherent tensions between belief and science. The first paper will analyse the ways in which late medieval weather prognostic texts were defined and used in comparison to early medieval ones. The second paper will examine the connections, but also blurred boundaries, between miracles, medicine, and magic and examine what was considered a miracle or medical cure, and what magic or demonic. The final paper will discuss treatments for pregnant women in late medieval England which aided childbirth and often traversed the boundaries of our modern concepts of medicine, magic, and religion.