Fever, sun, and blood : Sermons, amulets, and incantations as sources for magical practices in Medieval Europe
Dalsgaard, Clara LU
(2024)
In Scandinavian Journal of History
49(4).
p.421-444
- Abstract
- This paper presents a novel method to access lived religion and magical practices of a Medieval congregation via sermons combined with material culture. Previously, scholars have dismissed sermons as having low ‘truth value’ due to the copying inherent in the genre. In this paper, I first examine how one Danish sermon was adapted from a German model to fit a local context. This adaptation reveals specific local practices that the preacher thought were relevant to his congregation. Secondly, I demonstrate how several practices described in the sermons are mirrored in surviving non-normative material evidence such as amulets and incantations in manuscripts. This interdisciplinary combination of sermon studies, magic studies, archaeology, and... (More)
- This paper presents a novel method to access lived religion and magical practices of a Medieval congregation via sermons combined with material culture. Previously, scholars have dismissed sermons as having low ‘truth value’ due to the copying inherent in the genre. In this paper, I first examine how one Danish sermon was adapted from a German model to fit a local context. This adaptation reveals specific local practices that the preacher thought were relevant to his congregation. Secondly, I demonstrate how several practices described in the sermons are mirrored in surviving non-normative material evidence such as amulets and incantations in manuscripts. This interdisciplinary combination of sermon studies, magic studies, archaeology, and medieval studies yields an as-yet-untapped source group. The paper concludes that 1) sermons can indeed be used as sources for magical practices and lived religion, and 2) they can be used as sources for practices that did not leave material evidence. Finally, discussions of the importance of material evidence in sermon studies and how magical practices were both locally anchored and part of an international network are broached. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/a506ec33-2606-477b-8694-ce99e360ae8e
- author
- Dalsgaard, Clara
LU
- publishing date
- 2024-05-03
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- magic, sermons, incantations, amulets, late middle ages, denmark
- in
- Scandinavian Journal of History
- volume
- 49
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 23 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85192169265
- ISSN
- 1502-7716
- DOI
- 10.1080/03468755.2024.2345406
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- a506ec33-2606-477b-8694-ce99e360ae8e
- date added to LUP
- 2024-09-17 15:50:15
- date last changed
- 2024-09-20 10:22:42
@article{a506ec33-2606-477b-8694-ce99e360ae8e,
abstract = {{This paper presents a novel method to access lived religion and magical practices of a Medieval congregation via sermons combined with material culture. Previously, scholars have dismissed sermons as having low ‘truth value’ due to the copying inherent in the genre. In this paper, I first examine how one Danish sermon was adapted from a German model to fit a local context. This adaptation reveals specific local practices that the preacher thought were relevant to his congregation. Secondly, I demonstrate how several practices described in the sermons are mirrored in surviving non-normative material evidence such as amulets and incantations in manuscripts. This interdisciplinary combination of sermon studies, magic studies, archaeology, and medieval studies yields an as-yet-untapped source group. The paper concludes that 1) sermons can indeed be used as sources for magical practices and lived religion, and 2) they can be used as sources for practices that did not leave material evidence. Finally, discussions of the importance of material evidence in sermon studies and how magical practices were both locally anchored and part of an international network are broached.}},
author = {{Dalsgaard, Clara}},
issn = {{1502-7716}},
keywords = {{magic; sermons; incantations; amulets; late middle ages; denmark}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{05}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{421--444}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Scandinavian Journal of History}},
title = {{Fever, sun, and blood : Sermons, amulets, and incantations as sources for magical practices in Medieval Europe}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2024.2345406}},
doi = {{10.1080/03468755.2024.2345406}},
volume = {{49}},
year = {{2024}},
}