Examines charm magic, an utterance simultaneously a command, an appeal, an embodiment of belief, a literary form, a reference to tradition, and a window onto the past. Using all available resources (e.g., charm texts, trial records, material evidence of magical practices) in analyzing the heterologous European magical materials, this course examines the vexed history of ’magic’ as a scholarly category, theories of magic, and historical evidence of charm magic, with an emphasis on northern Europe.
