Charms And Charming In Europe

by Roper, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9781403939258
• ISBN10: 140393925X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-03-02
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Historical records of charms, the verbal element of vernacular magic, date back at least as far as the late middle ages, and charming has continued to be practiced until recently in most parts of Europe, yet the topic has received only scattered scholarly attention to date. This book aims to rectify this neglect, and by presenting discussions covering a variety of periods and of locations--from Finland to France, and from Hungary to England--it forms an essential reader on the topic.

Author Biography

Jonathan Roper is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Sheffield.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	ix
Introduction	1	(6)
Jonathan Roper
Note	7	(4)
Issues in Charms and Charming
1 The Transmission of Charms in English, Medieval and Modern	11	(21)
T.M. Smallwood
Notes	28	(4)
2 On the Christianity of Incantations	32	(15)
David Elton Gay
Notes	45	(2)
3 The Self of a Charm	47	(12)
Henni Ilomäki
Active words	48	(1)
The self and I	49	(1)
A conscious healer	50	(3)
The reciter's self	53	(1)
An assumed self	54	(2)
Notes	56	(1)
Bibliography	57	(2)
4 Charms in Medieval Memory	59	(32)
Lea T. Olsan
Manuscript sources	60	(1)
Structure of charms	61	(1)
Charms in memory	62	(2)
Semantic motifs	64	(14)
Conclusions	78	(1)
Notes	79	(7)
Bibliography	86	(5)
National Traditions
5 French Charmers and Their Healing Charms	91	(22)
Owen Davies
Terminology	91	(2)
The practice of charming	93	(1)
The role of popular literature	94	(2)
The charms	96	(12)
Comparative perspective	108	(2)
Notes	110	(3)
6 Eclecticism in the Russian Charm Tradition	113	(15)
W.F. Ryan
A brief survey of structures and types of Russian charm	116	(7)
Conclusion	123	(1)
Notes	123	(5)
7 Typologising English Charms	128	(17)
Jonathan Roper
Types in the English material	131	(8)
Future research	139	(2)
Notes	141	(4)
8 Towards a Typology of Romanian Love Charms	145	(43)
Sanda Golopentia
Constructing a typology of charms	145	(4)
Primary roles and episodes in a love-charm scenario	149	(2)
Secondary roles and speech acts in magic formulas	151	(2)
Charms for beauty, charms for fate and counter-charms	153	(3)
A basic typology of Romanian love charms	156	(26)
Final remarks	182	(2)
Notes	184	(2)
Bibliography	186	(2)
9 Swedish Finn Incantations: Valter W. Forsblom on Charms and Charming	188	(17)
Ulrika Wolf-Knuts
The contents of Forsblom's book	188	(2)
Context and informants	190	(2)
The original manuscripts	192	(1)
Scholarly standpoints	193	(1)
Folklore, ethnography and ethnology	194	(1)
Magic and religion	195	(1)
Forsblom and scholarly work	196	(1)
Forsblom and his informants	197	(2)
Forsblom and his material	199	(2)
Conclusions	201	(1)
Notes	202	(1)
Bibliography	203	(2)
10 Evil Eye in Hungary: Belief, Ritual, Incantation	205	(24)
Éva Pócs
Notes	221	(3)
Bibliography	224	(5)
Index	229