Weekly Video 1 (2015)

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Do curso por Universitat de Barcelona

Magic in the Middle Ages

642 classificações

Universitat de Barcelona

Magic in the Middle Ages

642 classificações

Magical thought has always attracted human imagination. In this course we will introduce you to the Middle Ages through a wide conception of magic. Students will have an approach to medieval culture, beliefs and practices from the perspective of History and History of Science. Popular magic, as well as learned magic (alchemy, geomancy and necromancy) will be addressed. Moreover, we will also deal with how eastern practices and texts influenced western culture. In July 2016, the course will contain a brand-new module devoted to astrology. Magic in the Middle Ages offers a captivating overview of medieval society and promotes reflection about certain stereotypes associated with this period. At the end of the course, the students: a) will have overcome the usual prejudices about the Middle Ages, b) will be able to analyze historical documentation from the Middle Ages and recognize the most common patterns of juridical documents regarding witchcraft, and c) will be capable of distinguishing between popular magic and the magic of the learned people; will have a notion of which spiritual practices were allowed in medieval Europe and which ones were related to the devil, and will be aware of the link between a cultural product and the society that produced it. This course is taught in English, although subtitles in English, Catalan and Spanish will also be provided. COURSE SYLLABUS Week 1. Introduction to medieval magic (Pau Castell). Week 2. Magic & Heresy (Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel). Week 3. From Magic to Witchcraft (Pau Castell). Week 4. Magic in Islam (Godefroid de Callataÿ and Sébastien Moureau). Week 5. Astrology & Geomancy (Theo Loinaz, Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel, Godefroid de Callataÿ and Blanca Villuendas). © Gemma Pellissa Prades (coord.), Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel and Joana Palau Mumany Magic in the Middle Ages by Gemma Pellissa Prades (coord.), Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel and Joana Palau Mumany is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Na lição

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO MEDIEVAL MAGIC

Introduction2:35

The Idea of Magic3:33

The Ancient Precedents5:26

Magic and Superstition in Christian Europe6:56

The Decline of Magic7:30

Weekly Video 1 (2015)5:22

Conheça os instrutores

Godefroid de Callataÿ - University of Louvain
Professor
Oriental Institute (University of Louvain)
Dr Pau Castell Granados
Research and Teaching Scholar at University of Barcelona
Sébastien Moureau - University of Louvain
Chargé de recherches du F.R.S.-FNRS
Institut Orientaliste (CIOL)
Dr Gemma Pellissa Prades
Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of the Classics, Harvard
Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel
BSc, BA, MA
Dept. of Medieval History, Palaeography & Diplomatics, Institute for Research on Medieval Cultures, University of Barcelona
Blanca Villuendas
PhD Candidate
Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

Hello everybody.

I hope you have enjoyed this first week of magic in the Middle Ages.

Today, is a sunny day in Barcelona, and

I am here at the cloister of the Faculty of Letters, to record this first weekly

video in order to discuss some of the topics that have appeared in the forums.

First of all, let me tell you that we are very glad to see the interest that

the course has aroused.

There are currently several thousands of students enrolled in the course and

that generates a lot of activity in the forums as you have already seen.

Also, you must know that this is the first mooc for our team, and therefore,

we are very thankful for your comments and critics to point the little problems

that may appear along the course and to help us improve.

So one of the topics that has generated quite a debate in the forums

is the concept of superstition.

Its etymology, its pejorative meaning, or

its use along history and in present day times.

In fact, from antiquity to the present, various beliefs and

behavior patterns have been characterized as superstitious.

We know that the word superstition comes from the Latin term "superstitio",

although its exact translation is disputed.

There is currently no consensus among scholars about its original meaning.

But it seems that the Latin term is up to some extent synonymic to

the ancient Greek term "desidaimonia".

Both terms, Latin, superstidio, and Greek, desidaimonia,

implied a sort of excessive fear of numinous powers, and

they were also used to refer to the beliefs and practices of alien religions.

Be as it may, the Latin term was adopted by the Romance languages and

English during medieval times

and was used to designate those beliefs and rituals

not approved by the official theological hierarchy

and thus, considered irrational and untrue.

During the most part of the Middle Ages the vision that prevailed was that of

Saint Augustine, which he developed in his famous work The City of God.

This Father of the Church understood superstition

not only as an illicit cult to the true God, but also

as the cult given to the false gods from the ancient pagan religion.

So, for many centuries, the term superstition was,

in some way, a synonym for paganism.

When it was used by Christian authors, it usually referred to the reliance on

amulets, on dreams and visions, on charms, fortunetelling,

sorcery, necromancy, prodigies, portents, soothsaying, spells and so on.

Many of these were, in fact, survivals of pagan beliefs and rites

and the clergy condemned them as such.

A superstitious mind was generally ascribed to uneducated laypeople,

especially the country folk, or rustics.

But often,

the same so-called superstitions existed among the upper classes as well.

In that sense, we could define medieval superstition as a set of beliefs and

rites co-existing with, but disapproved of, by the official religion.

In fact, along history, the term superstition has been used by many social

groups to refer to any sort of beliefs in a pejorative way.

The specific content of this invariably pejorative term depends

only on the beliefs of the definers and their own cultural framework.

So, right-thinking Romans, for example, qualified Christianity as superstitious,

while Christians expressed the same opinion about Judaism or pagan religion.

During early modern times, reformed theologians

denounced many aspects of Catholic faith and piety as superstitious

in a similar way as some current day Western scientists define as superstitious

a wide range of beliefs which are not sanctioned by modern science.

Currently, however, a growing sensitivity to the clearly negative connotations and

implicit cultural arrogance connected with the term, prevents many scholars from

using the word superstition in their works when talking about beliefs and

practices which are just different from their own.

Well, I hope this has been useful and I invite you to take a look

at the bibliography provided at the end of this video and

to keep giving your insight on the matter through the different forums.

This next week, we will undertake an approach to the subject of magic and

heresy by the hand of Delfi Nieto, and

then I will join you again in the third unit to talk about witchcraft.

See you soon.

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