The Magic of the Middle Ages

An earth surrounded by revolving heavens forms the starting point of Viktor Rydberg's account of medieval magic. In this historical study, translated from Swedish by August Hjalmar Edgren, angels guide planets and give plants, metals and stones their powers. Rydberg sets out a system in which the visible world depends on spiritual agents, then follows its implications for belief and magical practice.

The book divides its subject among the Church, learned practitioners and ordinary people, connecting their practices with the cosmology described at the outset. A detailed account of a conjuring ritual shows how planetary influences, protective symbols, incense and the names of spirits fit together within that system. Readers interested in medieval religious thought can examine how explanations of nature became entangled with ritual and authority. The opening's careful map of heavens and spiritual ranks gives context to the objects and procedures described later.