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2 results

Conjuring the Arab Magician

Conjuring the Arab Magician
  • Intercultural Histories of Magic
  • Gal Sofer
  • Published online:
    15 December 2025
    Print publication:
    22 January 2026
    • Element
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  • This Element reassesses narratives of intercultural transmission in medieval European magic, highlighting complex processes of compilation and attribution often obscured by broad labels. Following an Introduction that lays out the methodological framework, Section 1 ('The Wise Saracens') explores a medieval Christian magician's depiction of Islam and the figure of the Arab magician, illustrating how authors blended genuine intercultural exchanges with imaginative attributions. Section 2 ('The Seven Names') reconsiders a Latin magical text traditionally labeled 'Arabic magic,' demonstrating that its complex, multicultural components resist any simple claims of a lost Arabic original. Section 3 ('The Almandel Problem') presents another contested text, showing how philological evidence often complicates a linear model of transmission. Finally, this volume offers a complete edition and translation of The Book of Seven Names, discussed in Section 2.

  • Four - The Materiality of Magic: The Ritual Lives of People and Things

  • Roberta Gilchrist, University of Reading
  • Book:
    Sacred Heritage
    Published online:
    20 December 2019
    Print publication:
    02 January 2020, pp 110-144
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  • Summary

    This chapter explores the relationship between medieval magic and religion. It considers the use of objects and material culture in ritual performances that may have been intended to heal, protect and transform the living and the dead. It examines three specific ritual technologies, with particular focus on medieval Scotland: the use of amulets; the deliberate burial or deposition of objects in sacred space; and the placing of objects with the medieval dead.