M. Carolina Escobar Vargas

This chapter investigates the medieval belief in weather control through magic, examining a wide range of sources and perspectives from the period. It explores theological, literary, and legal texts to understand how medieval people perceived the possibility of manipulating the weather through magical means. By analyzing key texts, the chapter uncovers the nuanced and evolving attitudes towards weather magic. Additionally, it considers the roles of magicians, demons, and other actors in shaping these beliefs, highlighting the complex and often contradictory nature of medieval thought on the supernatural control of the elements.

This article examines the nature and significance of holographic manuscripts in the context of twelfth-century chronicle writing, focusing on Leiden University Library's MS BPL 20. It challenges the established notion of holographs by exploring how these manuscripts, although ostensibly collections of factual historical information, were influenced by multi-layered institutional and political agendas. The study delves into the complexity of authorship and the distinction between holographs and other copies, using the case of Robert of Torigni’s Gesta Normannorum Ducum. By analyzing the manuscript's codicological details, provenance, and the collaborative efforts in its production, this article highlights the intricate relationship between historical writing, authorial authority, and the evolving nature of medieval historiography. The findings raise pertinent questions about the status and authenticity of holographs and their role in the transmission of historical narratives.

The occurrence of magical phenomena, practices, and individuals in medieval Latin texts has been understood frequently as the product of colourful fancies targeted more at entertaining audiences than at illustrating any given point or elaborating any given position held by a medieval author. Through the textual analysis of Latin narratives such as the twelfth-century Historia Regum Brtianniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth and twelfth-century renditions of the Res Gestae Alexandri Macedonis attributed to Julius Valerius <Alexander Polemius>, this paper will argue that contrary to this common perception, magic can serve an instrumental role in the development of historical events in these texts. This can be evinced both through the actions of famous figures such as Merlin or Nectanebus or via the occurrence of other supernatural instances and characters. This paper will build upon the suggestion that further from being a mere narrative device, magic is used as a structural element capable of not only altering but of propitiating key historical developments in fabulated histories. Thus, this paper will address the question of what the exact relationship between medieval perceptions of ‘fiction’ and ‘reality’ is, bearing in mind that these texts were written in Latin and presented as Histories. Such readings will be paired with evidence coming from the codicological analysis of twelfth-century manuscripts holding copies of both texts to assess questions related to the status and the readerships of these narratives. Thus, this proposal will address issues relating to the liminal relationship between fiction and reality in the Middle Ages, using History and purported historical narratives as a case study.

This chapter explores how textual analysis of manuscript sources from the 12th and 13th centuries can reveal medieval attitudes towards reality and fiction. Focusing on the Historia Regum Britannie by Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Epítome a la Res Gestae Alexandri Macedonis, attributed to the Roman writer Julius Valerius, the chapter argues that magical and supernatural elements in these texts play a crucial role in structuring historical narratives. These elements, far from being mere entertainment, were integral to the development of historical events and reflected the medieval perception of history, where reality and fiction were not clearly distinguished. By examining the codicological evidence and the medieval reception of these narratives, the chapter highlights the need to redefine our understanding of medieval history and its narrative traditions.

The discussion of ‘what is magic’ in the Middle Ages and the question of how it can be differentiated from the religious and the scientific in the period has puzzled specialists in the subject for various generations.1 The debate is evidence of the problems involved in applying modern categorisations to the distant past. Medieval sources do not necessarily comply with our need to classify them in our own familiar ways. We are baffled by the presence of ritualistic and religious elements in medical and pseudo-scientific texts, for example, and are similarly taken aback by the inclusion of scientific considerations in material that we would rather dismiss as fictional or superstitious. This article proposes to discuss the extent to which medieval sources differentiate between an idea of applied technological knowledge, which could be close to our modern notion of science, and magic. Both instances find an expression through the marvellous and the wondrous, and they are both linked to the agency of human beings. The paper will closely examine examples coming from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum britanniae and John of Salisbury’s Policratricus in order to achieve some insights into this particular issue.

Merlin, the prophet and magician of medieval history and legend, is presented as a complex figure in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae . This Latin chronicle, written in the 1130s, introduces Merlin as a remarkable, and highly unusual figure, who is brought to the court of King Vortigern as a boy whose special qualities are meant to save the king from a ruin of his own making. Further on in the narrative, following the revelation of his powers, he provides invaluable advice first to king Aurelius and then to his brother and successor, Uther Pendragon. Merlin is portrayed as a kingmaker with unexplained but effective knowledge, whose abilities serve the court, but are not under the control of the kings. Some of his actions are of questionable morality, particularly those involving his support for Uther’s adulterous relationship with Igerna and the consequent betrayal of Uther’s liegeman Gorlois. These are no simple issues, they relate directly to the weaving of a complex text, where shades of grey accompanied by an almost playful level of uncertainty nudge the reader towards multiple layers of consideration and understanding. Hence, it is important to observe how these forms of ambiguity were dealt with when the narrative was first translated into the vernacular by Wace in the 1150s. Wace’s version made the newly-discovered British history accessible to new audiences, whose sensibilities were not the same as those of the highly-educated clerics who were the first readers of the Historia . This paper will explore the manner in which Merlin’s unusual traits, as portrayed in the Historia, were ‘translated’ into the French vernacular and into the medium of verse. It will further seek to establish the extent to which the depiction of Merlin
was modified to suit a new audience.

This article will use close textual analysis in order to examine the role played by prophecy and the supernatural in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. This immensely popular and influential work includes three instances of prophetic vision: the first comes early in the narrative in a pagan setting when Bruto, the mythical founder of Britain, receives a message from the goddess Diana, in a dream; the last vision is a divine revelation from an angel to the last Cristian king of Britain, Cadwallader; during the peak of the narrative, king Arthur also experiences a dream-vision. This article shows that these three instances of prophecy frame the narrative around the ‘passage of dominion’, acting as its structural points. In Geoffrey’s text, dream-visions and prophecies frame the narrative, and therefore they also frame History.
Keywords: Geoffrey of Monmouth; medieval chronicles; medieval prophecy, medieval dreamvisions;
close textual analysis.

Understanding the place of astrology in the intellectual world of the central middle ages poses interesting challenges for the historian. Its practice was sometimes encouraged and sometimes frowned upon by medieval writers, who were not always consistent in their attitudes. Insofar as medieval scholars saw astrology as part of the arts of the quadrivium, it was regarded as a legitimate practice.1 As such, its learning was encouraged as part of the study of disciplines such as medicine, weather-forecasting and the computus. However, if astrology was used for the prognostication of political or private events, its practice was not as easily justified for it raised complex theological questions.2 This whole situation gave rise to a complex scenario in which astrologers were not always seen purely as men of learning by medieval writers. Twelfth-century chroniclers in particular, present an image of the astrologer that is dangerously close to that of the necromancer – thus reinforcing the perception that this was a problematic and potentially hazardous discipline. As an example of the various and complex attitudes of non-expert well-educated churchmen towards astrology, and its relationship to necromancy, this article will examine the Black Legend of Gerbert of Aurillac and its evolution through the eleventh and twelfth centuries, particularly in the work of the English historian William of Malmesbury (c.1090-c.1142). Exploring the posthumous reputation of Gerbert of Aurillac (c.946-1003), the future pope Sylvester II, presents a unique opportunity to evaluate what medieval writers thought of the relationship between occult knowledge and science at the time. Accused of necromancy shortly after his death, Gerbert’s reputation as a magician grew parallel
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to his standing as a scholar of the quadrivium. However, despite being widely acknowledged, these two aspects of Gerbert’s posthumous career were not systematically associated until William of Malmesbury’s account of the legend in his Gesta regum anglorum (c.1125-6). William wrote his chronicle at a key time, when England was a pioneering centre for the reception of newly available Latin translations of Greek and Arabic astrological material. Thus, it is relevant that William is the first to establish a clear connection between Gerbert’s astrological expertise, purportedly acquired under suspect circumstances in Muslim Spain, and necromancy.

Evidence of weather forecasting in Anglo-Saxon England – in works such as Bede’s De natura rerum – attests to the continuity of interest in meteorological phenomena in the early Middle Ages – as Anne has now explained in such minute detail. This may come as a surprise to some modern scholars interested in the history of science and meteorology, for standard works in these areas tend to bypass the medieval period altogether. Such works tend to focus on the better-known developments of the classical period and the Renaissance. But interest in meteorology was not only limited to the Anglo-Saxon period during the Middle Ages. Works of thirteenth-century English scholars, such as Roger Bacon, also deal with meteorological questions; Grosseteste even wrote a treatise on weather forecasting (De prognostication temporum) – which Anne might discuss in a bit more detail after this paper. A growing interest in natural philosophy has been recognised by scholars as the logical consequence of developments in the twelfth-century, when a large number of hitherto unknown texts of Greek and Arabic origin reached the shores of Northern Europe. Thus, it is worth asking if developments by the likes of Grosseteste are the product of a renewed interest in long-lost meteorological lore, or if we can find evidence of a continued interest in weather-forecasting linking the Anglo-Saxon period to the developments of the twelfth-century and beyond. By examining the work of the English philosopher Adelard of Bath as a case-study, this paper will attempt to provide some answers to this broad question.

Considering the wide-ranging attitudes to material on medicine, mathematics, astrology/astronomy recently translated from the Arabic or written under the influence of that tradition, it is important to examine the evidence that extant twelfth-century manuscripts can provide on the way in which this new knowledge was perceived by a wider audience. This audience might be led by non-specialist scholars, like William of Malmesbury and Geoffrey of Monmouth. It could also include individuals at court, who were either consuming or providing applications for it. Such ‘users’ could be doctors, or military leaders keen to know of fortunate and unfortunate times. The volumes that we will be discussing contain early copies of works attributed to Adelard of Bath, Petrus Alfonsi and Walcher of Malvern, or can be directly associated with their interests. Thus, it will be possible to see what other works appear together with theirs, and in what type of manuscript context. Examination of the other texts in the volumes, as well as of evidence such as shelf marks, will help to show how the new works were perceived and placed within the intellectual world of twelfth-century England. Surviving manuscripts of known provenance come from Benedictine centres: the abbey of Bury St Edmunds and the cathedral priories of Durham and Worcester. Additional evidence, which we will not be discussing today, can be found in other English religious centres in the twelfth century like Saint Peter and Etheldreda in Ely, Saint Augustine’s in Canterbury and Colchester Abbey.

The discussion of ‘what is magic’ in the Middle Ages and the question of how it can be differentiated from the religious and the scientific in the period has puzzled specialists in the subject for various generations.1 The debate is evidence of the problems involved in applying modern categorisations to the distant past. Medieval sources do not necessarily comply with our need to classify them in our own familiar ways. We are baffled by the presence of ritualistic and religious elements in medical and pseudo-scientific texts, for example, and are similarly taken aback by the inclusion of scientific considerations in material that we would rather dismiss as fictional or superstitious. This article proposes to discuss the extent to which medieval sources differentiate between an idea of applied technological knowledge, which could be close to our modern notion of science, and magic. Both instances find an expression through the marvellous and the wondrous, and they are both linked to the agency of human beings. The paper will closely examine examples coming from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum britanniae and John of Salisbury’s Policratricus in order to achieve some insights into this particular issue.

In the thirteenth-century Castilian Lapidario, produced for the future king Alfonso X (1221-1284), ‘the wise’, several entries listing the marvellous virtues and properties of stones make reference to an illness they refer to as ‘demonio’, and to whoever suffered it as ‘endemoniado’ or ‘demoniac’. As is traditional of medieval texts describing the virtues and occult properties of simples, the Alfonsine lapidary does not include details on the symptoms that characterise this particular illness. However, instructions on the particular course of action that must be followed to counteract the harmful effects of this disease are sometimes provided. More general references to demons are also present in the lapidary, even though they are scanter. This paper will examine the different instances in which such references are made throughout the text, indicating how they relate to one another. It will then try and establish possible connections between them and a well-known disease, epilepsy. Finally, it will assess whether or not parallel references to a ‘demonic’ affliction and its ‘demoniac’ sufferers appear in other European lapidaries of the Central Middle Ages.

Magic and Medieval Society presents a thematic approach to the topic of magic and sorcery in Western Europe between the eleventh and the fifteenth century. It aims to provide readers with the conceptual and documentary tools to reach informed conclusions as to the existence, nature, importance and uses of magic in medieval society.

Contrary to some previous approaches, the authors argue that magic is inextricably connected to other areas of cultural practice and was found across medieval society. Therefore, the book is arranged thematically, covering topics such as the use of magic at medieval courts, at universities and within the medieval Church itself.

Each chapter and theme is supported by additional documents, diagrams and images to allow readers to examine the evidence side-by-side with the discussions in the chapters and to come to informed conclusions on the issues.

This book puts forward the argument that the witch craze was not a medieval phenomenon but rather the product of the Renaissance and the Reformation, and demonstrates how the components for the early-modern prosecution of witches were put into place.

This new Seminar Study is supported by a comprehensive documents section, chronology, who’s who and black-and-white plate section. It offers a concise and thought-provoking introduction for students of medieval history.

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.