Medieval Magic. A Visual History of Witches and Wizards

A woman flying through the night sky on a broomstick. A gray-bearded old man with a staff wrapped in a long cloak. These images of witches and wizards have emerged in modern culture under the influence of medieval depictions – and most of our fantasy worlds are based on concepts of magic formed in Western Europe in the 14th-17th centuries. This book will discuss the visual origins of the imagined magical world. How did artists depict the famous sorcerers and enchantresses of the past? What role did iconography play in the witch hunts? And why did thousands of magicians throughout Europe follow the instructions of illustrated grimoires and books of magic? This study will lead us to images that are easily recognizable today from films, music, and computer games: the magic wand and witch's broom from fantasy, the satanic pentagram from horror movies, and the black goat from rock music. A thousand years of medieval magic have not vanished into thin air, but have left a deep imprint on modern culture. Dilshat Harman – PhD in Art History, Senior Researcher at the Center for Visual Studies of the Middle Ages and Modern Times at RGGU. Specialist in European art of the Middle Ages and Modern times. Sergey Zotov – PhD candidate at the University of Warwick, UK, Junior Researcher at the Duke Augustus Library, Germany. Specialist in iconography and the history of alchemy.