Magic in the Early Middle Ages

Magic was remarkably prevalent through society in the early Middle Ages. As the Middle Ages wore on the Church began to exert its considerable power to suppress it. Even the meanings of many words associated with the supernatural changed. Although the Church suppressed some magic, other forms were allowed and accepted into Christianity, and were even encouraged.1 Before the Church began its purging of magical practices, kings, emperors, and commoners practiced it regularly.2

Magic had many names and meanings. The Church condemned some magic and denoted it as magia. Magia consisted of sortilegi (lot casting to foretell the future),3 incantaio (incantations to place power into objects), and astrologia (foretelling the future from the stars), just to name a few. Some of the forms accepted by the Church were miracula (miracles). Miracles were supernatural acts by powers given from God.4 Even the meaning of demon changed in this period, from meaning just any spirit, to an evil malicious spirit.5 In this paper, magic will be what was considered as supernatural events and magia as what the Church condemned.

Magic was derived from ancient pagan religions, folk traditions, and Greco-Roman sources.6 The pagan customs that su

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