The Sacred and the Sinister. Studies in Medieval Religion and Magic ed. by Collins, David J., SJ (review)

The title of this commemorative volume dedicated to Richard Kieckhefer is inspired by his 1994 article ‘The Holy and the Unholy: Sainthood, Witchcraft and Magic in Late Medieval Europe’. The volume aims to advance an understanding of the relation between terms which, thanks to Kieckhefer’s pioneering efforts, now appear a great deal less remote than they once would have. Collins’s introduction provides a brief overview of Kieckhefer’s impressive contribution. One remains perplexed, however, by the claim that his 1984 book Unquiet Souls built on the theoretical foundations of his two 1994 articles (p. 6).

‘Traditional Holiness’ begins with Claire Fanger applying Kieckhefer’s reflections on self-mortification to Christina Mirabilis and Francis of Assisi, whose performative suffering she interprets as wilfully transforming the body into a bridge between matter and spirit. Sean L. Field follows with an examination of the Second Vita of Margherita Colonna by the otherwise unknown Stefania. A member of the prominent Roman family, Margherita is commemorated in only one manuscript, but I found her a welcome addition to the usual cast of holy women. Field’s predictably expert analysis of the Vita’s sources highlights both the hagiographical strategies appropriate for laywomen and their elevated educational level.

‘Conflicts over the Holy’ leads off with Kristi Woodward Bain on medievalism and heritage. An erstwhile student of Kieckhefer, she references his latest book, Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley (Oxford University Press, 2004). The study of how a 1409 conflict between monks and parishioners over the church of Wymondham has been preserved in stone and in memory is interesting, though I was unable to discern any connection, beyond Kieckhefer’s recent interests, to the overall theme of the volume. By contrast, Elizabeth Casteen’s examination of the continuity in medieval thought and law between mystical rapture and sexual violation, particularly in the demand for signs of bodily of damage, furthers in a most fruitful way Kieckhefer’s 1994 insights. The section concludes with Maeve B. Callan discussing syneisaktism— holy partnership between the sexes. The clear references to this practice in the Gospels have not prevented its continual denunciation, especially by those most open to accusations of it, such as the notoriously misogynist Jerome. Callan takes the story up to the twelfth century, with a particular interest in Ireland, although the evidence is confusing.

‘Identifying and Grappling with the Unholy’ opens with Michael D. Bailey considering whether magic could be considered a religious movement, a question inspired more by Herbert Grundmann’s seminal Religious Movements of the Middle Ages than by anything Kieckhefer wrote. Bailey decides that it could have been but never was, largely due to the Church’s persistence in defining and excluding practices, much as it did with heresy, whose proponents also normally regarded themselves as true Christians. Next, Katelyn Mesler gives us the text of Nicholas Eymeric’s Contra infideles demones invocantes. Less well known than Eymeric’s Directorium inquisitorum, it justifies inquisitorial jurisdiction over non-Christians, particularly Jews. This is clearly a very important source for the history of the inquisition, and one can only echo Mesler’s hopes that a fully annotated edition will eventually be produced. The challenging nature of the only surviving manuscript has prevented Mesler from proceeding further with the task at this stage, so we must be grateful for what she has brought us. Anne M. Koenig concludes the section with a wide-ranging exploration of the connections between magic and madness in fifteenth-century Germany. Magical and naturalistic explanations for mental disorder were not opposed but rather overlapping conceptual possibilities to be drawn on in appropriate cultural contexts. In practice, the naturalistic usually predominated.

Finally, ‘Magic and the Cosmos’ starts with Sophie Page explaining how theological beliefs about the earthly presence of demons were integrated into the...