Cornell University Press Fearful Spirits, Reasoned Follies: The Boundaries of Superstition in Late Medieval Europe

Superstitions are commonplace in the modern world. Mostly, however, they evoke innocuous images of people reading their horoscopes or avoiding black cats. Certain religious practices might also come to mind―praying to St. Christopher or lighting candles for the dead. Benign as they might seem today, such practices were not always perceived that way. In medieval Europe superstitions were considered serious offenses, violations of essential precepts of Christian doctrine or immutable natural laws. But how and why did this come to be? In Fearful Spirits, Reasoned Follies, Michael D. Bailey explores the thorny concept of superstition as it was understood and debated in the Middle Ages. Bailey begins by tracing Christian thinking about superstition from the patristic period through the early and high Middle Ages. He then turns to the later Middle Ages, a period that witnessed an outpouring of writings devoted to superstition―tracts and treatises with titles such as De superstitionibus and Contra vitia superstitionum. Most were written by theologians and other academics based in Europe’s universities and courts, men who were increasingly anxious about the proliferation of suspect beliefs and practices, from elite ritual magic to common healing charms, from astrological divination to the observance of signs and omens. As Bailey shows, however, authorities were far more sophisticated in their reasoning than one might suspect, using accusations of superstition in a calculated way to control the boundaries of legitimate religion and acceptable science. This in turn would lay the conceptual groundwork for future discussions of religion, science, and magic in the early modern world. Indeed, by revealing the extent to which early modern thinkers took up old questions about the operation of natural properties and forces using the vocabulary of science rather than of belief, Bailey exposes the powerful but in many ways false dichotomy between the "superstitious" Middle Ages and "rational" European modernity. Review Fearful Spirits, Reasoned Follies is a very useful book: learned and clearly written and offering perspectivesfor both the general reader and the specialist.... Bailey's narrative of how clerical writers used the category of superstition to define and control the boundaries of legitimate religious practice and acceptable science engages usefully with other historical narratives: the reforming agenda of the late medieval Church, rising concern about magicaland superstitious practices in the fourteenth century, and the heightened fear of demonic power.--Sophie Page "Isis" Fearful Spirits, Unreasoned Follies is a groundbreaking work, suitable for graduate seminars and advanced undergraduate courses on premodern magic and witchcraft. It exemplifies why Bailey is one of the best scholars writing about the Middle Ages today.--Michael A. Ryan "The Catholic Historical Review" As many scholars have pointed out, the differences between religion and superstition are in the eye of the beholder. Focusing largely on the works of French--and German--speaking theologians, Mark Bailey's detailed and readable new book argues that debates about this boundary were also important to medieval thinking.-- "the english historical review" As Bailey elegantly points out, church authorities used superstition to promote proper religious devotion, and understanding these actions and beliefs is vital to understanding medieval culture and society. Basing his book upon a close reading of the primary sources, Bailey clearly explains the importance of superstition among the elite and in common practice during the late Middle Ages and explains how authorities sought to create a coherent theory of superstition to better control society. Summing Up: Highly recommended.-- "Choice" Bailey draws on a range of theorists and specialists to contribute meaningfully to the deconstruction of that great scholarly irony: modernity.... It amuse