Magic,
Alchemy, and Witchcraft in the Middle Ages
HRS / LIBA 296a / HIST 280z
Fall
Semester 2007
Thursday 6-8:50
Office: TAH 3059
Candace Gregory
Tel# 278-3824
Email: cgregory@csus.edu
Office
Hrs: MW 2-3 pm
Webpage: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gregoryc/
Tues 4-5
pm
By
Appt
Course Description:
Survey of belief in and practices of magic from
the late
antique era through the early Renaissance, with an emphasis on the
Middle Ages.
Individual case studies of magic, alchemy, astrology, divination, and
witchcraft will be examined, as well as general theories about them in
the
Middle Ages.
Course Content and Objectives:
This course is designed to answer the question of
what was
magic in the European Middle Ages, including the topics of alchemy and
witchcraft, as well as other Òmagics.Ó
The course will begin with the pre-medieval cultures of the Near
East,
Greece, and Rome, to discern the origins of both medieval practices and
theories about magic. The course
will answer the question of who defined what magic was, what practices
were
acceptable, and who assigned the labels to people. Included will be a
discussion of magic performed by the Catholic Church, the institution
that most
defined acceptability of practice and belief. The
course will also examine how the definitions and views
of magic changed over the period.
Students will read extensively on the subject in both primary
and
secondary sources, discuss assigned readings in each class, write three
book
reviews, and give an oral presentation on one topic to the class.
Required Texts:
Richard Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth
Century
_________, Magic in the Middle Ages
Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, The
Malleus
Maleficarum
Alan Charles Kors and Edward Peters, Witchcraft
in
Europe, 400-1700, A Sourcebook
Georg Luck, Arcana Mundi
Marvin Meyer and Richard Smith, Ancient
Christian Magic
Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic
E. J. Holmyard, Alchemy
Stanton J. Linden, The Alchemy Reader
Christopher Faraone and Dirk Obbink, ed. Magika
Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and
Religion
P. G. Maxwell-Stuart, The Occult in Medieval
Europe
Additional readings (books and articles) will be
assigned to
individual classes.
Requirements:
This is a discussion seminar.
As graduate students you are expected to come to each class
having read the assigned material and prepared to discuss it. Readings
are
assigned daily and are to be done BEFORE you come to class. All work is due on the assigned date;
NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED.
Assignments:
One Oral Report
15%
Each
Three Book Reports
15%
Each
Research Paper
20%
Each
Seminar Participation
20%
Each
Attendance:
Attendance is mandatory and will be checked daily. You are allowed to miss Two classes over the course of the semester.
Each
subsequent absence will result in a loss of FIVE points from your final grade. If you miss more than four classes, you
will receive an F for the course.
Naturally, there are sometimes extenuating circumstances. Each student must see me personally (or
via email) if that is the situation.
The book reports should be 4-5 pages each (typed,
natch) and
are due when the book is scheduled to be read. The
research paper should be 10-15 pages (ditto). The
oral report will be 15 minutes on a
particular week's topic. Some
weeks there will be more than one oral report; I will divide up the
topics accordingly. In your oral report
you should briefly
summarize the topic and then present the assigned readings for that
day's
class. Explain the argument or
thesis of the assigned reading, and discuss what evidence the author
used to
prove his / her argument. Or, if
you feel the author was unsuccessful, explain why.
Tardy:
Tardiness will not be tolerated.
You are allowed to be tardy three (which is defined as
arriving after the class roll has been called); after three, you will
lose five
points from your final exam grade for each subsequent tardy. More than five tardies will result in
an F for the course. If you are
late to class, or must leave class early, please be as quiet and
unobtrusive as
possible.
Grading Scale:
A-
90-92
C- 70-72
B+
88-89
D+ 68-69
B
83-87
D
63-67
B-
80-82
D- 60-62
C+
78-79
F
59
and below
Cell Phones:
Please turn off all cell phones or beepers before
class
begins. If your cell phone rings
in class, you will be asked to leave and will be counted absent for
that day's
class.
Integrity and Scholarship:
DO NOT CHEAT!
If you are caught cheating on a writing assignment, test, the
final
exam, or a daily quiz, or any other assigned work, you will receive an
F for
the course. You are held
accountable for all university guidelines in regard to plagiarism and
cheating.
Plagiarism:
University policy on plagiarism states, "Plagiarism is a form of cheating. At CSUS
plagiarism is the
use of distinctive ideas or works belonging to another person without
providing
adequate acknowledgement of that person's contribution. Regardless of
the means
of appropriation, incorporation of another's work into one's own
requires
adequate identification and acknowledgement. Plagiarism is doubly
unethical
because it deprives the author of rightful credit and gives credit to
someone
who has not earned it. Acknowledgement is not necessary when the
material used
is common knowledge. Plagiarism at CSUS includes but is not limited to:
1.
The act of incorporating into one's
own work the ideas, words, sentences, paragraphs, or parts thereof, or
the
specific substance of another's work without giving appropriate credit
thereby
representing the product as entirely one's own. Examples include not
only
word-for-word copying, but also the "mosaic" (i.e., interspersing a
few of one's own words while, in essence, copying another's work), the
paraphrase (i.e., rewriting another's work while still using the
other's
fundamental idea or theory); fabrication (i.e., inventing or
counterfeiting
sources), ghost-writing (i.e., submitting another's work as one's own)
and
failure to include quotation marks on material that is otherwise
acknowledged;
and
Weekly Topics and Reading Assignments:
6 September: Introduction to Course
Assignment of Topics for
Oral Presentations and Book Reports
Reading: Kieckhefer, Magic,
Chapter 2:
Classical Inheritance
Handout: Kieckhefer Specific
Rationality of
Medieval Magic
13 September: Ancient Magic and the
Pre-Christian origins
Reading: Georg Luck, Arcana
Mundi,
Chap. I Magic,
C.
Faraone and D.
Obbink, Magika Hiera: Ancient
Greek Magic and
Religion Articles 1, 3, 4, and 9
20 September: Magic in the Early Christian
Church
Reading: Luck, Chap. II
Marvin Meyer and Richard Smith, Ancient Christian Magic (Read
generously.)
Kors
and Peters, Witchcraft
in Europe, pp. 41-57
Maxwell-Stuart,
Sources Making Amulets, Leges
Visigothorum,
King
Liutprand, King Childeric III, Charlemagne, Early English Laws,
Dionysius
Exiguus, Council of
Orleans, Council of
Auxerre, Council
of
Paris, Pope Leo IV, Herard, Archbishop of Tournois, Council of
Worms
27 September: Magic and the Stars: Astrology
and
Divination
Reading:
Kieckhefer, Magic, Chapters
6, part I.
Luck,
Arcana
Mundi, Chaps. IV and V Divination
and Astrology
Thomas,
Religion and the Decline of Magic,
Chapters 10-12.
Maxwell-Stuart,
Sources A Travelling Star, Two
Suns,
Eclipses
(Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle), Eclipse (William of Malmesbury), Various Portents (Sigebert
of
Gembloux), Various Signs (Annales Fuldenses),
Read
generously in the section labeled Astrology,
pp. 163-193
4 October:
Magic and the Other: Jewish
and Muslim Traditions
Reading:
Kieckhefer, Magic, Chapters
6, part I.
Kurt
Seligmann, History
of Magic, Cabala on reserve
Roger
Chartier, Culture as Appropriation, on reserve
Kabbalah excerpts, on reserve
11 October:
Magic and the Church: Theurgy, Saints, Eucharist and Miracles
Reading: Keith
Thomas, Religion
and the Decline of Magic, Chapters 1-6, 8-9.
David
Keck, Angels and Angelology in the Middle Ages, excerpts, on reserve
Claire
Fanger, Conjuring Spirits,
excerpts, on
reserve
Maxwell-Stuart,
Sources Orders of Angels, Angels
of Demons,
The Use of Demons, Blood in the Chalice,
An Anointed
KingÕs Ability to
Cure the Sick, A False
Miracle
Reading:
Kieckhefer, Magic,
Chapter 6, Part II
E.
J. Holmyard, Alchemy
Maxwell-Stuart, Read generously in the section labeled Alchemy,
pp.
193-230
Reading: Linden, Alchemy Reader, Parts I and I
Luck,
Arcana
Mundi, Chap. VI. Alchemy
1 November: Magic and the Dark Side: Necromancy
Reading:
Luck, Arcana Mundi,
Chap. III Daemonology
Kieckhefer,
Forbidden
Rites
Kieckhefer,
Magic, Chapter 7
Kors
and Peters, Witchcraft
in Europe, pp. 58-81.
Maxwell-Stuart,
Sources
Necromancy, Politically
Inspired
Necromancy
8 November: Magic in Practice
Reading: de Givry, Witchcraft, Magic & Alchemy, Curative Virtues excerpt,
on
reserve
Maxwell-Stuart,
Section Popular Practices,
pp. 71-90
15 November:
Magic and Healing
Reading:
Dawson, ed. A Leechbook or Collection of Medical Recipes
of the 15th
Century,excerpts on reserve
Thomas,
Religion and the Decline of Magic,
Chapter 7
Karen
Jolly, Popular Religion in Late Saxon
England: Elf
Charms in
Context,
excerpts,
on reserve
Maxwell-Stuart,
Source Curing the Sick
Andrew
of Strumi
Reading:
Merlin texts, on reserve
Marie
de France, Bisclavret, on
reserve
6 December:
Magic and the Law
Reading:
Kieckhefer, Magic, Chapter 8
Kors
and Peters, Witchcraft
in Europe, pp. 112-148.
Thomas,
Religion
and the Decline of Magic,
Chapters 14-18.
Kramer
and Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum, Part
III
13 December:
Magic and Gender: Women and
the Witch Hunts
Reading:
Barstow, Witchcraze
Kramer
and Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum, Parts
I and II
Kors
and Peters, Witchcraft
in Europe, pp. 149-175.
21 December Final
Paper Due, by 5 pm