This volume presents new research in medieval conceptions of magic, science, and the natural world, bringing not only medicine but also meteorology and navigation into the discussion. Ground-breaking theoretical chapters on theology, natural sciences, and the writing of history are presented by established experts in their fields. These are accompanied by case studies of interactions between magic, science, and natural philosophy. Each chapter offers new findings while contributing to a comprehensive survey of the shifting boundaries between natural and supernatural across both space and time. Emerging areas, such as the study of prognostics, are represented by challenging new work. This collection will prove fascinating to everyone engaging with this expanding field.

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Introduction – Carolina Escobar-Vargas

Rhythms of the (Super)Natural World: Timing Instructions in Early Medieval Medical Recipes – Claire Burridge

Time and Tide: The Creation of a Sea Travel Network in the Severn Region in the Early Middle Ages – Caroline Bourne

Astral Forces and Arthurian Dragons in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae – Humma Mouzam

Natural and Non-Natural: Weather, Seasons, and Place in the Medicine of Constantine of Africa – Anne Jeavons

Matthew Paris, William of Conches, and the Use of Diagrams to Observe the World – Judith Collard

Astrology: Science or Divination? The Example of Astro-Meteorology – Anne Lawrence-Mathers

Magic and Science in the Middle Ages: The Building of the Boundaries between Natural Magic and Necromancy, ca. 1230–ca. 1310 – Sebastià Giralt

Witchcraft and Weather: The Problem of Magical Control of the Weather – Carolina Escobar-Vargas

The Boundaries of Magic and Medicine in Medieval Theology – Victoria Burns-Price

Between Natural and Demonic? Onomantic Divination in the Later Middle Ages – Joanne Edge

Late-Medieval Brontologies: Popular Superstition or Astrological Medical Guide? – Janet Walls

Wonder and Wonder Working in Middle English Romance: The Prose Merlin – Victoria Flood

Alchemical Poetry, Alchemical Practice – Zachary Matus

Encountering the Wonder in Nature: The Science of the Sacred in the Early-Modern Construction of the Natural World – Helen Parish

Index

Source: https://www.arc-humanities.org/9781802700411/medieval-perceptions-of-magic-science-and-the-natural-world/