The Occult in Medieval Europe 500-1500

di P G Maxwell-Stuart (Autore)

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2005

Of all the epithets popularly attached to the Middle Ages, 'superstitious' is perhaps the most common and most misleading. The eighteenth-century view that the era was represented by the Catholic Church and therefore backward and 'dark', in contrast to their own times which were forward-looking, rational and 'scientific', has created a myth which successive centuries have perpetuated. This fascinating study challenges the assumption that the medieval period was an age of superstition, offering students a varied collection of documents surveying what people throughout Europe actually thought and believed about the occult sciences at the time. Using translated extracts - many of which appear in English for the first time - from religious, legal, medical and scientific documents, P. G. Maxwell-Stuart presents and explores the various branches of magic, divination, astrology and alchemy which helped people to make sense of their world.

• Autore: P G Maxwell-Stuart
• Editore: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Anno: 2005
• Rilegatura: Paperback / softback
• Pagine: 264 p.
• Dimensioni: 235 x 155 mm
• Peso: 405 gr.
• EAN: 9781403902894

Testo in English