DOCSLIB.ORG

Pope John XXII Michael D

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Pope John XXII Michael D History Publications History 2006 Pope John XXII Michael D. Bailey Iowa State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/history_pubs Part of the European History Commons, History of Religion Commons, Other History Commons, and the Political History Commons The ompc lete bibliographic information for this item can be found at http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ history_pubs/56. For information on how to cite this item, please visit http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ howtocite.html. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the History at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Publications by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Pope John XXII Abstract Throughout his pontificate, John XXII exhibited a marked concern over matters of sorcery, divination, and demonic invocation. The pope feared magical assaults and assassination attempts on his own person, and he used charges of heresy, sorcery, and idolatry as political weapons against his enemies. He also promoted the more general persecution of sorcery by ordering papal inquisitors to take action against sorcerers and by issuing a sentence of automatic excommunication against all those who practiced any form of demonic invocation that entailed the supplication or worship of demons. His bull on this matter, Super illius specula (Upon His Watchtower), remained an important part of the legal apparatus against practitioners of sorcery for the remainder of the Middle Ages. Disciplines European History | History of Religion | Other History | Political History Comments Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The eW stern Tradition edited by Richard M. Golden. Copyright 2006 by ABC- CLIO. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission of ABC-CLIO, LLC, Santa Barbara, CA. This book chapter is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/history_pubs/56 Book I, chapter 9, John turned to magic, omens, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. dreams, divination, and other forms of vice touching Pike, Joseph B. 1938. Frivolities ofCourtiers and Footprints of on the preternatural that courtiers must avoid, conclud­ Philosophers: Being a Translation ofthe First, Second, and Third ing his discussion at the end of Book II. Thus John's Books and Selections from the Seventh and Eighth Books ofthe Policraticus ofjohn ofSalisbury. Minneapolis and London: work provided not only a window on the newly emerg­ University of Minnesota Press (the only English translation of ing life of the court but also an analysis of the insecuri­ the key texts in Books I and II). ties of that world, based on many years of shrewd obser­ Wilks, Michael J., ed. 1994. The World ofjohn ofSalisbury: vation and a profound moral concern. Oxford: Boydell and Brewer. In his discussion of the magical arts, John drew wide­ ly on his extensive reading of classical Latin literature, JOHN XXII, POPE (RULED 1316-1334) the Bible, the encyclopedic work of Isidore of Seville, Throughout his pontificate, John XXII exhibited a and the Church Fathers, particularly St. Augustine. John marked concern over matters of sorcery, divination, and considered all of his sources and authorities to be dis­ demonic invocation. The pope feared magical assaults cussing the same phenomenon, and some scholars have and assassination attempts on his own person, and he dismissed these sections of the Policraticus as simply a used charges of heresy, sorcery, and idolatry as political parade of recondite learning. But John was genuinely weapons against his enemies. He also promoted the alarmed at the prevalence of magic, particularly in the more general persecution of sorcery by ordering papal form of fortunetelling, divination, and forbidden forms inquisitors to take action against sorcerers and by issu­ of astrology. He had firsthand experience of its appeal to ing a sentence of automatic excommunication against many courtiers (including Becket), and he possessed a all those who practiced any form of demonic invocation profound awareness of the dangers it posed to unwit­ that entailed the supplication or worship of demons. ting, ambitious, unlearned courtiers who needed both His bull on this matter, Super illius specula (Upon His instruction about its true nature and a body of authori­ Watchtower), remained an important part of the legal tative evidence to justify John's warnings. apparatus against practitioners of sorcery for the John even included some autobiographical details in remainder of the Middle Ages. Book II, 28, telling of his own youthful experience in John XXII was born Jacques Duese in Cahors, France, which a priest tried to use him as a medium in a proce­ in 1244. He was educated by the Dominican Order, and dure of crystal gazing. At the end of Book II, 17, John studied theology and law at Montpellier and Paris. He refers to the general belief in night-riding women and became a very prominent canon lawyer, a professor of infant cannibalism that was found in the Canon both civil and canon law, and rose through the ranks of Episcopi, as well as in the work of Burchard of Worms. the Church to become bishop ofFrejus, then ofAvignon, John stated that, with divine permission because of and then cardinal-bishop ofPorto. He came to the papal human sin, demons may cause humans to suffer only in throne as the final choice in a long and hotly contested the spirit things that they believed happen in the flesh. election (the papacy had been vacant for nearly two John brusquely dismissed the idea that such assemblies years). John's reign was eventful to say the least. He actually occurred, and insisted that the entire belief was worked diligently to reassert papal power, especially the result of the illusions created by sporting demons, financial power, in the wake of the recent move of the affecting only poor old women and simpleminded papal curia from Rome to Avignon; he involved himself men. In this regard, John firmly asserted the power of in the dispute over the proper nature of religious poverty proper religious and moral instruction as the only legit­ taking place within the Franciscan Order, fiercely oppos­ imate means of combating the powers of demons, ing the so-called Spiritual Franciscans and their position which operated only on the spirit and not in the mater­ of absolute poverty; he took issue with leading theolo­ ial world. John's work was an impo'rtant example of gians such as William of Ockham and Marsilius of twelfth-century humanist moral skepticism. Padua; and he enmeshed himself in a protracted political EDWARD PETERS contest with the Holy Roman emperor Louis IY. John's involvement with matters of sorcery began See also: ASTROLOGY; AUGUSTINE ST.; BURCHARD OF WORMS; almost as soon as he assumed the papacy. In 1317, he CANON EPISCOPI; DIVINATION; FLIGHT OF WITCHES; HOLDA; had Hugues Geraud, bishop of Cahors, arrested on ISIDORE OF SEVILLE, ST.; LAMIA; SABBAT; SKEPTICISM; charges of attempting to kill him through sorcery. SORCERY. Further charges of sorcery, demonic invocation, poison­ References and further reading: John of Salisbury. 1990. Policraticus: Ofthe Frivolities ofCourtiers ing, and attempted assassination soon followed, leveled and the Footprints ofPhilosophers. Edited and translated by Cary at various members of the papal court, prelates of the J. Nederman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Church, and political enemies of the pope. In 1318, for Liebeschiitz, Hans. 1950. Mediaeval Humanism in the Life and example, the archbishop of Aix, Robert Mauvoisin, was Writings ofjohn ofSalisbury. London: The Warburg Institute. charged with performing certain illicit magical Peters, Edward. 1978. The Magician, the Witch, and the Law. practices, although he escaped condemnation. In 1319, JOHN XXIL POPE 597 the Franciscan Bernard Delicieux was tried at Toulouse Translated by Janet Love. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson. for possession of books of sorcery. In 1320, Matteo Peters, Edward. 1978. The Magician, the Witch, and the Law. Visconti, the ruler of Milan, and his son Galeazzo, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. powerful opponents of John in Italy, were accused of plotting to murder the pope with sorcery, and from JONCTYS, DANIEL (1611-1654) 1320 to 1325, numerous charges of heresy and demon A physician, Jonctys offers a good example of the dra­ worship were brought against John's political enemies matic turnabout some academically trained people in the Mark of Ancona. made in their views regarding witchcraft. Born in In using accusations of heresy, sorcery, and demonic Dordrecht, he began his medical studies in Leiden in invocation for clear political purposes, Pope John was 1630, graduating five years later, followed by a Grand hardly alone in the early fourteenth century. Many Tour during which he visited France, Germany, and individuals during this period found they could use Italy. In 1638, he published Verhandelingh der Toover­ such charges to eliminate or at least discredit rivals at sieckten (Treatise on Witchcraft Diseases), a translation court, or to augment or secure their own positions. of De morbis a fascino et incantatione ac veneficiis indue­ Famously, servants of the French King Philip IV tis, a 1633 work by the German physician and brought numerous charges of heresy and idolatry Wittenberg professor Daniel Sennert (1572-1637). In against the Knights Templar, undermining the order, opposition to Johann Weyer, this moderate Paracelsian leading to its dissolution in 1314, and allowing the claimed that witches concluded pacts with the Devil French crown to seize much of the Templar property with the deliberate aim of harming other people. This and wealth. Philip had also used charges of heresy and alone was sufficient to sentence them to death, even sorcery in his political struggle with Pope Boniface though the pact could not have given them the power VIII. Yet, just because such charges were politically to realize their nefarious aims.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pagan Survivals, Superstitions and Popular Cultures in Early Medieval Pastoral Literature
    Bernadette Filotas PAGAN SURVIVALS, SUPERSTITIONS AND POPULAR CULTURES IN EARLY MEDIEVAL PASTORAL LITERATURE Is medieval pastoral literature an accurate reflection of actual beliefs and practices in the early medieval West or simply of literary conventions in- herited by clerical writers? How and to what extent did Christianity and traditional pre-Christian beliefs and practices come into conflict, influence each other, and merge in popular culture? This comprehensive study examines early medieval popular culture as it appears in ecclesiastical and secular law, sermons, penitentials and other pastoral works – a selective, skewed, but still illuminating record of the be- liefs and practices of ordinary Christians. Concentrating on the five cen- turies from c. 500 to c. 1000, Pagan Survivals, Superstitions and Popular Cultures in Early Medieval Pastoral Literature presents the evidence for folk religious beliefs and piety, attitudes to nature and death, festivals, magic, drinking and alimentary customs. As such it provides a precious glimpse of the mu- tual adaptation of Christianity and traditional cultures at an important period of cultural and religious transition. Studies and Texts 151 Pagan Survivals, Superstitions and Popular Cultures in Early Medieval Pastoral Literature by Bernadette Filotas Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION Filotas, Bernadette, 1941- Pagan survivals, superstitions and popular cultures in early medieval pastoral literature / by Bernadette Filotas.
    [Show full text]
  • Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: an Authoritative Edition
    Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 1-12-2005 Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: An Authoritative Edition Paul Melvin Wise Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation Wise, Paul Melvin, "Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: An Authoritative Edition." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2005. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/5 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COTTON MATHER’S WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD: AN AUTHORITATIVE EDITION by PAUL M. WISE Under the direction of Reiner Smolinski ABSTRACT In Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather applies both his views on witchcraft and his millennial calculations to events at Salem in 1692. Although this infamous treatise served as the official chronicle and apologia of the 1692 witch trials, and excerpts from Wonders of the Invisible World are widely anthologized, no annotated critical edition of the entire work has appeared since the nineteenth century. This present edition seeks to remedy this lacuna in modern scholarship, presenting Mather’s seventeenth-century text next to an integrated theory of the natural causes of the Salem witch panic. The likely causes of Salem’s bewitchment, viewed alongside Mather’s implausible explanations, expose his disingenuousness in writing about Salem. Chapter one of my introduction posits the probability that a group of conspirators, led by the Rev.
    [Show full text]
  • The Great Witch Craze
    THE GREAT WITCH CRAZE he common misconception about witch hunts is that they were mass T executions that occurred in the Middle Ages spurred on by the Medieval Catholic church. The truth is: During the Middle Ages charges of witchcraft were brought against individuals, but less than half of them ended in any punishment for the accused. Those convicted of witchcraft typically suffered penalties no harsher than public penances such as a day in the stocks. Magic, sorcery, and witchcraft had long been condemned by the Church, whose attitude towards witchcraft was explained in the Canon Episcopi written in about 900 AD. It stated that witchcraft and magic did not really exist, and that those who believed in such things "had been seduced by the Devil in dreams and visions into old pagan errors". It was not until 1400’s, after the end of the Middle Ages, that witch hunt hysteria began. The persecution of witches became more brutal following the publication of a book called The Malleus Maleficarum, which was a direct reason for witchcraft to become increasingly accepted as a real and dangerous phenomenon. The Malleus Maleficarum (Latin for "The Hammer of Witches", or "Der Hexenhammer" in German) is a famous treatise on witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, an Inquisitor of the Catholic Church, and was first published in Germany in 1487. As mentioned before, prior to the publication of this book, witchcraft was considered largely imaginary. Kramer wrote the Malleus shortly after being expelled from Innsbruck by the local bishop after a failed attempt to conduct his own witchcraft prosecution.
    [Show full text]
  • Feminine Witchcraft in the Analysis of the Potentiales in Medieval Europe
    JI einuniine chc]r&fr in the Analysis of the foententiates in Medieval Europe, 800-1200 C. E. Giov&nni& palombo itchcraft was a reality throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, and the Church maintained a hostile position towards witches, whose practices were utterly condemned especially in the so-called Poenüenliales, or handbooks of penance.’ Although witchcraft traces its roots back to pre-Christian times, to both the Graeco-Roman2 and Germanic3 worlds, it became an even greater phenomenon during the Middle Ages. Instead of abandoning witchcraft practices due to the strong opposition of the Church, medieval Europeans must have engaged in an increasing number and variety of magic rituals, compelling the Church to censure such practices repeatedly and severely in its official documents. This study will focus on the witchcraft practices listed in the medieval peni tentials compiled in Anglo-Saxon and Frankish Europe (England, France and Germany) from about 800 to 1200 C.E. In analyzing books of pen ance, I will identify those magic rituals that were pertinent only to women, for example, the sphere of love magic, weaving and binding, and the night rides with the goddess Diana. Specitic magic practices were strictly the domain of the feminine witch, or singa. This essay will look into the reasons why the Church felt a strong need to persecute witches and how magic rituals were connected to the roles that women were assigned in the contemporary social context. On one hand, some witchcraft practices are indicative of the bias against women in medieval society: women were per ceived as sexual temptresses (they occupied themselves with love magic), as demonic creatures (when casting the evil eye or weaving a curse into a garment), or as caregivers (practitioners of healing magic).
    [Show full text]
  • Crushing the Canon: Nicolas Jacquier’S Response to the Canon Episcopi in the Flagellum Haereticorum Fascinariorum
    Crushing the Canon: Nicolas Jacquier’s Response to the Canon Episcopi in the Flagellum haereticorum fascinariorum MATTHEW CHAMPION Queen Mary, University of London The Flagellum haereticorum fascinariorum (The Scourge of Heretical Bewitch- ers) is a significant text for the formation of witchcraft theory that has until very recently received little attention. Written by the Burgundian Dominican Inquisitor Nicolas Jacquier in 1458, the Flagellum forms part of a ‘‘second generation’’ of antiwitchcraft treatises written in the period between the early treatises of the 1430s and 40s and the Malleus Maleficarum. Recently, Martine Ostorero’s important study, Le diable au sabbat. Litte´rature de´monologique et sor- cellerie (1440–1460),1 has cast new light on the Flagellum and its author. This work on Jacquier’s biography and the role of the Flagellum in the history of demonological discourse means that it is now possible to undertake a broader and more detailed analysis of the Flagellum’s argument and its situation within the wider cultural history of late-medieval Europe. This article addresses those sections of Jacquier’s text that form one of the most important and extensive fifteenth-century attacks on the famous canon Episcopi.2 My aims are twofold. First, I closely follow Jacquier’s argument to 1. Originally a doctoral dissertation (Lausanne 2008), Ostorero’s work has now been published in the Micrologus library (Florence: Sismel, editioni del galluzo, 2011). 2. On the canon, see Werner Tschacher, ‘‘Der Flug durch die Luft zwischen Illu- sionstheorie und Realita¨tsbeweis: Studien zum sog. Kanon Episcopi und zum Hexen- flug,’’ Zeitschrift des Savigny-Stiftung fu¨r Rechtsgeschichte 85 (1999); Alan Charles Kors and Edward Peters, Witchcraft in Europe, 400–1700: A Documentary History, 2nd ed.
    [Show full text]
  • Il Rogo Degli Eretici Nel Medioevo
    Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN FILOLOGIA ROMANZA E CULTURA MEDIEVALE Ciclo XXV Settore Concorsuale di afferenza: 11 A/1 Settore Scientifico disciplinare: M STO /01 IL ROGO DEGLI ERETICI NEL MEDIOEVO Presentata da: Samuel Sospetti Coordinatore Dottorato Relatore Renzo Tosi Lorenzo Paolini Esame finale anno 2013 IL ROGO DEGLI ERETICI NEL MEDIOEVO Introduzione...................................................................................................................................... p. 1 CAP. I: I FONDAMENTI NORMATIVI DELLA PENA DEL ROGO 1. La pena di morte nei confronti degli eretici nella legislazione tardo- antica……………………………………………………………….………………………..……… .p. 5 2. Il Decretum di Graziano e la riflessione dei giuristi sulla condanna a morte degli eretici...........................................................................................................................p. 10 3. La procedura penale nei confronti degli eretici prima dell’Inquisizione e la repressione dell'eresia nella legislazione pontificia (XII-XIII secc.)…………………………………………………………………............................................p. 25 4. La comparsa del rogo nella legislazione federiciana..........................................p. 39 5. L’introduzione della pena del rogo nella legislazione statutaria...............................................................................................................................p. 45 6. Il rogo nella procedura inquisitoriale e il processo post mortem.................p. 55 CAP. II:
    [Show full text]
  • Clerical Conceptions of Magic and the Stereotype of the Female Witch
    Clerical Conceptions of Magic and the Stereotype of the Female Witch Matthew Alexander Moebius, author Dr. Kimberly Rivers, History, faculty adviser Matthew Alexander Moebius graduated from UW Oshkosh in May 2011 with a degree in history. His interest in medieval Europe as a primary field of study emerged from a longstanding interest in European folklore and mythology, and was developed under the guidance of Dr. Kimberly Rivers. His research focus in the field of medieval magic and occultism began to take shape during his work for the European History Seminar in spring 2011. Dr. Kimberly Rivers is an associate professor and the department chair of history at UW Oshkosh. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1995, and her research interests are in late-medieval intellectual history, and memory and mnemonics in late-medieval preaching and religious devotion. Abstract Working from the foundation laid by leading historians of medieval witchcraft — most notably Richard Kieckhefer, Norman Cohn, Michael Bailey, and Hans Peter Broedel — this study examines the conceptual development of a predominantly feminine witchcraft stereotype as understood within the perceptions of the educated clerical elite. The theories of these historians, each approaching the study of witchcraft in different ways and addressing mostly separate aspects of the phenomenon, are reconciled with one another and tied together in hitherto unarticulated ways to form a single, cohesive narrative of the emergence of the idea of the exclusively female witch. The gradual evolution of clerical conceptions of magic shifted in the later Middle Ages from a masculine conception to a more gender-neutral one, opening the door to feminization.
    [Show full text]
  • Witchcraft and Demonology in the Middle Ages
    History Publications History 12-20-2019 Witchcraft and Demonology in the Middle Ages Michael D. Bailey Iowa State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/history_pubs Part of the Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Medieval History Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, and the Technical and Professional Writing Commons The complete bibliographic information for this item can be found at https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ history_pubs/120. For information on how to cite this item, please visit http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ howtocite.html. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the History at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Publications by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Witchcraft and Demonology in the Middle Ages Abstract Martin Le Franc gives voice to the ideas of his time through the characters of his poem and integrates into it the representations of traditional knowledge, discussions on heresy, magic and demonology as well as the popular beliefs concerning witchcraft and its practice. Savoy Amadeus VIII feels so strongly about the dangers of witchcraft that he enjoins both the secular and the ecclesiastical justice of his duchy to initiate the pursuit and judgment of heresy and witchcraft. From the 1440s, texts about witchcraft not only attempt to describe the Sabbath and the atrocities committed by sorcerers and witches but aim also at understanding the reality of the interactions between demons and witches, as well as their consequences.
    [Show full text]
  • The Malleus Maleficarum
    broedel.cov 12/8/03 9:23 am Page 1 ‘Broedel has provided an excellent study, not only of the Malleus and its authors, and the construction of witchcraft The Malleus Maleficarum but just as importantly, of the intellectual context in which the Malleus must be set and the theological and folk traditions to which it is, in many ways, an heir.’ and the construction of witchcraft PETER MAXWELL-STUART, ST ANDREWS UNIVERSITY Theology and popular belief HAT WAS WITCHCRAFT? Were witches real? How should witches The HANS PETER BROEDEL be identified? How should they be judged? Towards the end of the middle ages these were serious and important questions – and completely W Malleus Maleficarum new ones. Between 1430 and 1500, a number of learned ‘witch-theorists’ attempted to answer such questions, and of these perhaps the most famous are the Dominican inquisitors Heinrich Institoris and Jacob Sprenger, the authors of the Malleus Maleficarum, or The Hammer of Witches. The Malleus is an important text and is frequently quoted by authors across a wide range of scholarly disciplines.Yet it also presents serious difficulties: it is difficult to understand out of context, and is not generally representative of late medieval learned thinking. This, the first book-length study of the original text in English, provides students and scholars with an introduction to this controversial work and to the conceptual world of its authors. Like all witch-theorists, Institoris and Sprenger constructed their witch out of a constellation of pre-existing popular beliefs and learned traditions. BROEDEL Therefore, to understand the Malleus, one must also understand the contemporary and subsequent debates over the reality and nature of witches.
    [Show full text]
  • 25 Pagan Ritual, Witchcraft, and Heresy: Transformation from The
    Pagan Ritual, Witchcraft, and Heresy: Transformation from the Early to High Middle Ages: ca. 500-ca. 1300 A.D. Katarina M. Rexing Witchcraft or such accusations are often associated with Christianity, bringing forth images of the Salem Witch Trials, innocent women being burned at the stake, cauldrons of potions, and naked dances under a full moon. Based on contemporary culture’s images of witchcraft, it would be easy to assume that magic was deeply ingrained in Christianity, especially its original form, Roman Catholicism. However, magic and sorcery existed well before Christ throughout all of human civilization, including Classical Greece and Rome.1 After Christianity’s legalization, the religion spread throughout Europe and was established as the dominant belief of the continent. Christianity taught its opinions on witchcraft to its converted peoples. Thus the spread of Christianity led to a denunciation of magic and pagan ritual present in the preexisting cultures of its new converts. Despite the adamance of the Church, pagan practices involving magic and sorcery died away slowly, even though Church theologians continued to condemn them for centuries. However, as much as Christians argued against pagan practices, they seem not to have been as concerned with witchcraft during the Early Middle Ages (ca. 476-1000 A.D.).2 With the rebirth of Europe in the High Middle Ages (ca. 1000-1300 A.D.), however, reportings of sorcery became more common, arguably due to an increase in learning and higher interest in recording and commenting on these occurrences. As a result, more texts were written by the Roman Catholic Church’s theologians condemning these people and their practices.
    [Show full text]
  • Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation
    Caliban and the Witch Silvia Federici A utonornedia Acknowledgements To the many witches I have met in the Women’s Movement, and to the other witches whose stories have accompanied me for more than twenty-five years, nevertheless leaving an inexhaustible desire to tell, to let people know,to make sure that they will not be forgotten. To our brother Jonathan Cohen whose love, courage and uncompromising resistance to injustice have helped me not lose faith in the possibility of chang­ ing the world and in men’s ability to make the struggle for women’s liberation their own. To the people who have helped me to produce this volume. I thank George Caffentzis with whom I have discussed every aspect of this book; Mitchel Cohen for his excdlent comments, his editing o f parts o f the manuscript, and his enthusiastic support for tlis project; Ousscina Alidou and Maria Sari for introducing me to the work o f Maryse Conde; Ferruccio Gambino for mak­ ing me aware o f the existence o f slavery in 16'h- and 17th-century Italy; David Goldstein for the materials he has given me on the witches’‘‘pharmakopeia’'; Conrad Herold, for contributing to my research on witch hunting in Peru; Massimo de Angelis, for giving me his writings on prinutive accumulation and for the important debate on th s topic which he organized in TIte Commoner; Willy Murunga for the materials he has given me on the legal aspects o f witch­ craft in East Africa. I thank Michaela Brennan and VeenaVisW2 natha for read­ ing die manuscript and giving me advice and support.
    [Show full text]
  • Diabolic Magic Michael D
    History Publications History 2015 Diabolic Magic Michael D. Bailey Iowa State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/history_pubs Part of the Cultural History Commons, History of Religion Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, and the United States History Commons The ompc lete bibliographic information for this item can be found at http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ history_pubs/73. For information on how to cite this item, please visit http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ howtocite.html. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the History at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Publications by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Diabolic Magic Abstract 'All superstitious arts of this sort, therefore, whether foolish or harmful, constituted through a certain pestiferous association of human beings and demons, as if by a pact of faithless and deceitful friendship, must be utterly repudiated and shunned by a Christian." So proclaimed Saint Augustine in the second book of his De doctrina Christimui, written around 396. 1 And so it remained for the next millennium and beyond. The great Bishop of Hippo was not the first Christian authority to associate superstitious and magical practices with demons, but he was surely the most influential, at least for the Latin West throughout the medieval and early modern periods. His discussions of demonic power and his statements about the inevitable entanglement of any human who sought to invoke or control that power with diabolical evil "as if by a pact" provided a solid foundation for most subsequent learned discourse on diabolic magic.
    [Show full text]