Description
| Product ID: | 9780226825335 |
| Product Form: | Hardback |
| Country of Manufacture: | GB |
| Title: | Textual Magic |
| Subtitle: | Charms and Written Amulets in Medieval England |
| Authors: | Author: Katherine Storm Hindley |
| Page Count: | 312 |
| Subjects: | Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, European history, History, History, Cultural studies, Mysticism, magic and occult interests, British & Irish history, Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500, Medieval history, Cultural studies, Mysticism, magic & ritual, England, c 1000 CE to c 1500 |
| Description: | Select Guide Rating An expansive consideration of charms as a deeply integrated aspect of the English Middle Ages. Katherine Storm Hindley explores words at their most powerful: words that people expected would physically change the world. Medieval Europeans often resorted to the use of spoken or written charms to ensure health or fend off danger. Hindley draws on an unprecedented archive of more than a thousand such charms from medieval England—more than twice the number gathered, transcribed, and edited in previous studies and including many texts still unknown to specialists on this topic. Focusing on charms from 1100 to 1350 CE as well as previously unstudied texts in Latin, French, and English, Hindley addresses important questions of how people thought about language, belief, and power. She describes seven hundred years of dynamic, shifting cultural landscapes, where multiple languages, alphabets, and modes of transmission gained and lost their protective and healing power. Where previous scholarship has bemoaned a lack of continuity in the English charms, Hindley finds surprising links between languages and eras, all without losing sight of the extraordinary variety of the medieval charm tradition: a continuous, deeply rooted part of the English Middle Ages. |
| Imprint Name: | University of Chicago Press |
| Publisher Name: | The University of Chicago Press |
| Country of Publication: | GB |
| Publishing Date: | 2023-08-16 |
