Societas Magica - SMN Fall 2000 Issue 6

7/30/2019 Societas Magica - SMN Fall 2000 Issue 6

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Issue Fall2000

wha! Iollows s apersonal ccount fone lesealcher's ncounte$withamulels. havebeenworkingwith Lea Olsanon a studyofthe MiddlehamJewel to appearn Vi'dtor, 000),a 15'r' enturypieceof Englishewellerynow on displayat he YorkshireMuseumn York. This ewel s a reliquarywom asa pendant, ndadornedwith mages n bothsides, etwilh a sap-phire,and nscribedwith wordsof power. It evidently unclioted asanamuleleven f it is the inestpicceofEnglish goldwo* of $e Middle Ages.As a Librarian amused o workingwith texls,manuscriplsmd printedbooks,but not with museum bjects, nd n attempting o undcrslandheMiddleham ewel have or the irst dme been eeling my way nto thisotherworld. I rcceived cluizzicalook n the British Museumwhen askedin my innocence t he Depafimenl fMedieval and LaterAntiquities f theyhadany amulels.For answer hc Kecpcrpulledout several rawersull ofobjects all unprovenanced,omeof unknownmake.andofextraordinaryvdietv in appearance.or thc mostpart he objects abelled samulets rethe ost sheep f the museumworld,undocumentednd withouta histoiy.But f the survivingamuletsn museum ollcclionsar-ewilhouta history,amuleljcbeliefsandpractices eflainlyhave leir histonans. Amuletsareofcourse loselyboundup with theworld of written charms, incen somanycaseshese hamsgive nstructions s o how to makeamulets, nd erde$ol th is Newsletter an um to No.2, Spring1996, or guidancerom LeaOlsanon rccent iterature n charms.Suzanne . Sheldon's ulanePhDdisscrtatiolon 'MiddleEnglisharldLatincharms, mu]cts, nd talismansfrom vemacularmanuscripts' .A.l. -A, 39.7( 1979), 233,assemblescorpusofrclevanl textsandobiects.Amulet,or its Latin equivalent amuletum'isnot a medjevallerm utis flrstusedby renaissanceuthorities t a time whencritical andhistoricalhinking

EncounterswithAmuletsPeter Iurra)onesfiing Collegc,anbridge


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aboutamuletswas ust gettingunderway. Medievalsources alk ofsuspensionsnd igaturcs,wom orboundon theperson.LynnThomdike'sA Fllstalt of Magic antlE\perime talScience,8 vols.(NewYork, 1923-58)s still the bestintroductiono the medievalandlater iterature n works expoundingthe uses ndvaluesof suspensionsand igatures.One of the mostimpoftantand nfluential reatisessthe Phr-sicalLigatures of Qusta bnLuqa, ranslatednto Latin in thel2'r'century, ndnow editedwith atranslationntoEnglish by JudithWilcox andJobnM. Riddlc inMedieral ncaunters ,1 1995) -50. Thiswork showshow Greekmedicinemadeuseof rcmedies hatdependedn the mutual nfluenceofmind andbody,and so provideda.ationale ndunimpeachable uthor-ily for theuseof ligatures.On theothersideof the fence heo-logians ndecclesiastical uthoritieswefeeager o makesute hat suspen-sionsand igalurcswerenot used yth wrong peoplefor the wrcngreasons.Yet hey werenot opposedto thc useof suspensionsnd iga-turesoutright,ust so long as hewerer wasnot putting his or hertrust n theefficacyofthe object,imageor nscription tself, but wasratherpetitioningGod oi the saintsfbr supporlwith their aid. n factthercwerem,uryecclesiasticallysanctioneduspensionsnd iga-tures.At oneend ofthe spectrumyouhavean object ike theMiddleham ewelwhich wasusedas a repository for sacred relics, andwhosemageryand nscriptionmakefull useofChristian story andlituryy. Thepowers nvokedby thewearerprotectedher ftom theperilsof sudden eathor disease.Other

ponable eliquaryamuletsmighttake he ormofrings rather hanpendants,ike the Thame ing n theAshmoleanMuseum,Oxford,withits contriner br a fragment f theTrueCross.So-calledconographicnngs, with mages f the saints, rgold rosaries i th imageson eachbead, anbe ound llustraledn R.W. Lightbown, Melliaeral EuropeanIe )ellery London1992).Theseobjectsenabledhe wearer o enlisttheprctective owerof hischosensaintor sajnts.The most searchinginvestigation f amuleticewellerytemainshowevel oanEvans,Magical Jewek ofthe Middlc Agesanal heRendissanae,aiictiarl)- inEnglund London 922, repr.NewYork 1976).Theagnus ei n rheshape f a discmadeeveryseven eals rcm thepaschal andle t St Peter's n Romewasalsoa sacmlised bjectwhichfocussed muletic owers.WolfgangBi.icknerdealswith thevarious lassesf objectassociatedwith the *gnusdei, rom thesacralised axdisc tselfto ihemetalcontainers ndsecondarycopiesof theagnus, n his chapter'ChdstlicherAmule[-Gebrauch ertiiihen Neuzeit', n FrbmmigkeitF orme , Gesc ichte,Verhahen,ZerSrlJrr, ed. Bauer DeutscheKunstverlag,993) 9-134.Ecclesiasticai iurction as givenalso oobjec$with amuletsor specificprotection gainst isease.As farbackasKing Edward heConfessorEnglishkings,with the apprcval fthe church.werebelieved o haveblessedheso-called ramp irgs tobe given o thesick. n fact be i$tinstance fthe aings eingusedspecilicaliyn thecure ofepilepsyor cmmp date o the reign of EdwardIL The custom ontinuednto the

reign ofQueenMary Tudor. Thetradition s described y RaymondCrawfurd, Theblessing f cramprings', in C. Singer,"lrrdics n r?"Histor! ofStiew,l (1917), 65-88.The commonest hristian unuletnmedievalEuropemusthavebeen hepilgrim badge.This wasmadeoftin-leadalloy,or poorqualilypew-ter,usually, hough xamples ur-vive madeof morenoblemetals.Theseoriginated n saleatpilg mshdnesall across urope themostfamousprobably eing hose nRome, atCompostelan Spain, heshrineofthe Magi at Cologne, ndSt Thomasof Canterbury but therewerehundreds f othersiteswherebadges ouldbe had.Thebadgesfulfilled many unctions,rom hatof passport, r ordinary ouvenir fa trip, to proofofa pilgrimagecompleted,o decoration f ahatorclothing.Bu! becausehebadge adbeenat leaslnotionally n contactwith the shrine f a saint, t ben-efited from encounter ith holyrelics. The badgemightoften epre-sent hepanicularelicassociatedwith the sbline.The badgesn effecrbecame econdrryelics,whichcould work miracles. ven he stringirom whicha Ceurterburyouvenir(anampullaof holy water)hadoncebeensuspendedas ound o be arelic of StThomasBeckcr uffi-cientlypoweful to work a mitaclefor its owner Pilgrimbadgesmightbe obtained pecificallyo lulfiltheir role asamulets. heFrenchKing CharlesV, whose ealthwasalwaysdelicate, btainedhrce'enseignes'or he disease f thekidneys,as ecordedn 1379-80.The protective ole ofthe pilgrimbadge s often mplicit n the designitself, the nscription n r or thedepictionofthe saint,who s fre-

Socieras Magica N.Nsleibr Sunns 2OlO.


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quentlyshown n the act of inlercession.One nsciption reads Allweakness rd pain s removed: hehealedman eats nddrinks,andevilanddeathpass way.'For othen wehave10 nfer theamuleticpowerascribedo thebadge y notins heuses o which t waspuL Pilg mbadges ouldbe attachedo the doorof a house, ungover he bedor onthe wall, or incorporatedn thebellof a churchor themarginof a manuscript, once he) werebrcught home.Many museunrs avecollections fpilgrim badges.a(geo. small. Twoot the argesr rea! he MuseumofLondon and n the van Beuningencollection n Rotterdam excellentcatalogues xislof both collections,namelyBriaDSpencer, ilgnmSowenirs dndSecularBadgc\(London:The Slationery ffice,1998); .H.E.vaneuningen,.M.Koldewei.j, Hcilig en Ptofaan(Cothen,RottedamPapersl, 1993).Both catalogueslsodrawattentionto secularbadges,ndmanyofthesetoo mustbe rcgarded samulets.

Sexualamule6, a signilicanf aFcgory n their ownright, aredeallwith in Malcolm Jones's rticle nthe Rotterdam atalogue,ndotherafticlesby the same uthor n Foll-lore1Ol and102 1990, 991).SeealsoJ.B.Bedaux,'Laatmiddeleeuwseexueleamuletten. in sociobjologischebenaderung' ir Annusqualrigamddi, ed. J.B.Bedaux, .M.Koldeweij (Zutphen,1989)16-30.Clothingaccessoriesike broochesor bucklesweresometimesumedinto amulelsby the addition finscriptions,whethernvocations rchanctersscralched n them nimitationof the powerfulwodsinscribed n moreexpensivejewel-lery. A useful suwey s G. EganandF. P|tchard, Medieral Fin ls lionErcaNationsn London:3, DrcssAcces orie t. | | 50-c. 4.t0 (London,H.M.S.O., 1991). Archaeology asmuch o offer the student fmedi-evalamulels,particularly f cou$efor the early MiddleAgcs. Manykindsof amulet,bothchristiim nd

pagan,wereburiedasgmve-goods.The comprehensiveuide or Eng-lish matcrial s Audrey L. Meaney,Anglo StLronanulets aal curingsranes Oxford,B.A.R., l98l), butthere areothergood cgionalsur-veys, for norlh-west uropeat east.Moving easlwardsherehavebe.ensome mpo antstudies f Byzmtineamulet raditions.JeffreySpier,'Medieval Byzantinemaliicalamu-lets and heir radition' Journalofthe Warburgdnd Cout'tauldInsti'lutu.r56 (1993) s both a catalogueof amuletsbelongingo one mdi-tion (a rare hing n itself) andaguide to the eseaich nd iterature.He givesreferencesor instanceothemany valuable nicleson amulets by A.A.Barb which haveap-peared n the sameoumal.Thelanguage anier betweenGrcekeastand Latin westdoesseem o havecoincidedwilh separate muletictraditionsduing theMiddle Ages.Finally this personalexcursioninto amulet erritory must end with

QueryMarI K. Greer

Many peopleon fhe TarotDis-cussionList (Tarotl) havebeen(or begun) readingbooks n theMagic in History series n ourcontinuingeffort to understandfand how magic may havebeenrelated o early l5th c. Tarot.Early wood-block magesweresometimesusedas charms tholy rel ics. Early Tarotsoftenhavepin holes showing hat heywere hunS on a wall (aswerewoodblockholy pictures rintedby the sameprintersot playingcards)and not ust used n cardgames.

As a former college rcfessor(literatureandwomen'sstudies) ndauthorof a groupbiography alledWomenol the GoldcnDawn:Rebels and Priestesses, have,with others,beenputting togelhera Timeline oJDirinatio, as relatesto Tarot. I am ndebted, or in-stance, o Professor Braekman'swork on dice divination, whichmay be importantsince wo dicehave 21 possible ombinations(the Trumps) and three olls have56 (smallcards).Wil l anyoneinterested n sharing csearchpleasecontactme [email protected].

Sdiehs Mlgira Netrnerer Summer 2!OU.


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for the zo0t't:''ay 3-6,:'

Magic IDr{ty MaCtc Visions: Magicga

a brief look af somesurveysofwesternamuletic raditions. Thebest nhoduction s still that of L.Hansmannand L. Kriss-Relte\beck, Amuleft und Talisman(Munich, 1977),which has hebonus of a treasuryof excellentillusffations. JeanMarques-RiviEre,Amulettes, .tlismansetPantaclesdans es traditions

ori entale et occide tales (Parj.s,1972) s still usefulon medievalamulets. A thoughtful approach othewhole subject s to be found inE. Boz6ky, From Mattet of Devo-tion to Am:u]ets.'MedieNal Folklore 3 (1994). The prcblem ofastrologicalamulets s addressedby Bruno Delmas, M6daillesastrologiques t talismaniques

dans e midi de a France XlIlLXYI' siicle)' ,96" Congris na-tional desSociifts savdrts (Tou-louse, 9? ), vo1.2, 31-54,andthe intellectualbackgrounds thesubjectof NicolasWeill-Parot,'Causalitastnle et'science desimages' au Moyen Ag": El6mentsde r6flexion', Revaed'Histoire desScience 59 (1999),2O'740.

Seeh\ M0gico ewslererSumm.r 00tr.

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Societas Magica - SMN Fall 2000 Issue 6