IMC 2024: Sessions
Session 1046: Bodies and the Supernatural: Magic, Medicine, and Religion, I - Magic and Medicine
Wednesday 3 July 2024, 09:00-10:30
| Sponsor: | Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Exeter |
|---|---|
| Organisers: | Jo Edge, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh Catherine Rider, Department of Archaeology & History, University of Exeter |
| Moderator/Chair: | Wendy J. Turner, Department of History, Anthropology & Philosophy, Augusta University, Georgia |
| Paper 1046-a | Medicine, Magic, and Necessity in the Early Middle Ages (Language: English) Index terms: Medicine, Religious Life and Science |
| Paper 1046-b | Divination in the Books of High Status Physicians, 1200-1500 (Language: English) Index terms: Manuscripts and Palaeography, Medicine and Science |
| Paper 1046-c | Saints in Charms in Medieval England (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Medicine and Religious Life |
| Abstract | Recently there has been a growing body of work that looks at the relationship between medicine and the body on the one hand, and magic and religion on the other in the Middle Ages. It includes new work on medical texts (e.g. recipes, charms, prognostics) as well as on non-medical sources such as hagiography. Much of this work has shown that although in some contexts medieval sources drew clear distinctions between medicine, magic and religion and between natural and supernatural, in other types of source material these categories were often blurred. Sometimes, authors of hagiographical and other texts sought to use these distinctions to make particular points: contrasting saintly or human bodies with demonic ones, for example. These sessions will draw together speakers from different career stages working on different types of source material across the Middle Ages to explore how medicine, magic, the body, and religion interacted, and highlight future directions for research. |