Books in the Magic in History series

Examines a series of powerful artifacts traditionally associated with King Solomon, largely via extra-canonical textual sources--Solomon's ring, bottles to contain evil forces, the so-called Solomon's knot, a shamir, and a flying carpet--and traces their varying cultural resonances.

A collection of essays on various aspects of the position of magic in the modern world. Essays explore the ways in which modernity has been defined in explicit opposition to magic and superstition, and the ways in which modern proponents of magic have worked to legitimate their practices.

Explores the work of the astrologer-physician and Anglican rector Richard Napier (1559-1634). Examines Napier's medical and magical practices in their larger context and shows how the physician incorporated both astral and ritual magic into his medicine.

A collection of essays on various aspects of the position of magic in the modern world. Essays explore the ways in which modernity has been defined in explicit opposition to magic and superstition, and the ways in which modern proponents of magic have worked to legitimate their practices.

The Affair of the Poisons was the greatest court scandal of the seventeenth century. From 1679 to 1682 the French crown investigated more than 400 people - including Louis XIV's official mistress and members of the highest-ranking circles at court - for sensational crimes. This book aims to bring this bizarre story to life.

In the Middle Ages, textual amulets were thought to protect the bearer against enemies, to heal afflictions caused by demonic invasions, and to bring the wearer good fortune. Offering an analysis of many surviving textual amulets, this book provides a study of this once-common means of harnessing the magical power of words.

Explores the practice of alchemy in the context of the religious and political tensions in late Elizabethan and early Stuart England, and the use of occult knowledge to demonstrate proof of theological doctrines.

This volume aims to sift through the polemics to make sense of religious belief and practice in late antiquity. It aims to describe the mechanisms of ritual with semiotic terms, so that we can better see how they worked and how they affected the social identities of their followers.

It was during the late Middle Ages that the full stereotype of demonic witchcraft developed in Europe, and this is the subject of this volume which places the Dominican theologian Johannes Nider at the centre of an emerging set of beliefs about diabolical sorcery and witchcraft in the 15th century.

Utilizes the collection of magic texts from the late Middle Ages at St. Augustine's, Canterbury, to examine the orthodoxy of magical approaches to the medieval universe and to show how it was possible to combine magical studies with a monastic vocation.

In "Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World", a distinguished array of scholars explores the many ways in which people in the ancient world sought to gain access to-or, in some cases, to bind or escape from-the divine powers of heaven and earth.

Examines the text and background of The Flowers of Heavenly Teaching, an autobiography by the fourteenth-century Benedictine monk John of Morigny. Explores how the author negotiated the categories of magic and heresy in relation to Christianity.

Presents and analyzes texts of learned magic written in medieval Central Europe (Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary), and attempts to identify their authors, readers, and collectors.

A collection of essays examining medieval and early modern texts aimed at performing magic or receiving illumination via the mediation of angels. Includes discussion of Jewish, Christian and Muslim texts.