Michael D. Bailey

Magic and Superstition in Europe (eBook, ePUB)

A Concise History from Antiquity to the Present

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

The only comprehensive, single-volume survey of magic available, this compelling book traces the history of magic, witchcraft, and superstitious practices such as popular spells or charms from antiquity to the present day. Focusing especially on Europe in the medieval and early modern eras, Michael Bailey also explores the ancient Near East, classical Greece and Rome, and the spread of magical systems_particularly modern witchcraft or Wicca_from Europe to the United States. He examines how magic and superstition have been defined in various historical eras and how these constructions have changed over time. He considers the ways in which specific categories of magic have been condemned, and how those identified as magicians or witches have been persecuted and prosecuted in various societies. Although conceptions of magic have changed over time, the author shows how magic has almost always served as a boundary marker separating socially acceptable actions from illicit ones, and more generally the known and understood from the unknown and occult.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury eBooks US
• Seitenzahl: 288
• Erscheinungstermin: 28. Dezember 2006
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781461639886
• Artikelnr.: 39271930

Autorenporträt

Michael D. Bailey is Professor of History at Iowa State University, USA. He is the founding co-editor of the journal Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft and is the author of several books, including Magic: The Basics (2017), Magic and Superstition in Europe: A Concise History from Antiquity to the Present (2006) and Fearful Spirits, Reasoned Follies: The Boundaries of Superstition in Late Medieval Europe (2017). He is also the editor of the multi-volume collection, Magic and Witchcraft: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies (2014).

Inhaltsangabe

Chapter 1 Introduction: Roots in the Ancient World
Chapter 2 The Rise of Christianity and Early Medieval Europe to the Year
1000
Chapter 3 Varieties of Magic in the High and Late Middle Ages, 1000-1500
Chapter 4 The Medieval Condemnation of Magic, 1000-1500
Chapter 5 Witchcraft and Witch-Hunting in the Early Modern Period,
1500-1800
Chapter 6 From Renaissance to Enlightenment, 1450-1800
Chapter 7 Magic in the Modern West from 1800