The Hobbit and History by Nancy R. Reagin;Janice Liedl;

Author:Nancy R. Reagin;Janice Liedl;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 1)
Published: 2014-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Magic of Medieval Europe

In medieval Europe, as in Middle-earth, there were many different kinds of magic. Medieval magic was divided into folk and learned magic.4 Folk magic consisted of charms, amulets, and natural magic. Learned magic was made up of the complex ritual magic of necromancy, image magic, and other magical rituals. Learned magic was more difficult and theoretical than folk magic and it was written in Latin, which meant that it was performed only by educated Europeans, such as monks and clerics. Folk magic, on the other hand, was found at all levels of society, from the lowliest peasant to members of the nobility. In the next few pages, we will look at each of these branches of medieval magic and explain their different categories in order to set the stage for the magic of Middle-earth.

One of the most common types of folk magic was charms. Charms were spoken or written formulas that were transmitted through oral and written traditions. Their guiding principle was the use of holy words and phrases and Biblical stories to impart the desired effect, whatever that may be.5 Charms were used for a wide variety of purposes, including in medicine, against thieves, for love, and for protection. Amulets were similar to charms in that they also often relied on special letters, words, or phrases in order to work. Amulets could be pieces of parchment, brooches, rings, or almost any object that could be carried or worn against the body.6 The physical aspect was required for amulets to work, which was not necessarily true of charms, most of which could simply be read or recited to produce the desired effect. Amulets were inscribed with images, such as crosses, or words and phrases taken from charms; consequently, amulets were inexorably linked with charms. An excellent example of this link is a ring that survives from fifteenth-century Coventry, England. The Coventry ring, made to protect the wearer from danger and illness, is inscribed on the outside with a figure of Christ and a description of the five wounds of Christ on the cross (which was a common late medieval devotional text), and the inner band is inscribed with the words of a charm against epilepsy.7 Like charms, amulets could be used for many different purposes, but most of the surviving examples were for protection, like the Coventry ring.8

Natural magic was based on the belief that all natural objects, like metals, stones, animals, and plants, possessed special properties, which people could tap into and use for various endeavors, from love magic to medicine. These properties could often be controlled by using sympathetic associations thought to exist between certain objects. Sympathetic associations could be based on appearance, such as using a liver-shaped plant to treat diseases of the liver, or they could be based on other associations, which are not immediately obvious to us in our modern world, but for which a medieval audience hardly needed explanation. Carrying betony (a flowering herb), for example, was widely believed to ward off demons as long as it was picked before dawn in the month of August.

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