Witchcraft: The Role Of Superstition In Medieval Literature

In Bailey’s article, he describes superstition according to early Christian and medieval writers as “a serious error” (Bailey, pg. 633). Through a theological lens, superstition was seen as religion that was “observed beyond proper measure” (Bailey, pg. 633). In other words, there was a great fear of actions that worshiped or had an association with demons. In addition, there was a belief that charms and spells, despite being corrupted means, would have the efficacy to end in real results. In the 21st century, superstition has the connotation of being something foolish such as a rabbit’s foot bringing good luck. Our modern definition is different from the Medieval Age because in today’s use of the word, the result of an action is purely for …show more content…
The author Martin of Arles talks about superstition, but also frivolously mentions the maleficium which can be translated to, “malevolent sorcery” or in other words, witchcraft. Despite the slight shift of focus on witchcraft in the fifteenth century, there is a lot of similarity from classical and early Christian definitions. This is due to the fact that the concept of superstition preceded the fifteenth century and has origins in antiquity and “excessive or improper devotional or divinatory practices” (Bailey, pg. 638). In addition, as early Christianity was developing in the Roman empire, Christian writers stated that all pagan rites which had an association with Christian demons, were improper and superstitious. In the fifth century, Augustine of Hippo discussed the “pact” with demons was superstitious. It is evident that the authors writing in the fifteenth century were influenced greatly by the authors of the past. According to Baumann, a medieval scholar, he notes that while the fifteenth century drew heavily on earlier writers, what was different in the fifteenth century was the increased interest by authors to write on the topic of