On the occasion of a visit by professor Stephen A. Mitchell from Harvard, the Medieval Research Unit at Aarhus University invites its members as well as all other scholars interested in the topic to a workshop on witchcraft, magic and superstition in the Middle Ages.

                      Stephen A. Mitchell is professor of Scandinavian and Folklore at Harvard University. In 2011, he published a highly acclaimed book, Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages. In this he gives the first scholarly treatment of witchcraft in medieval Scandinavia, analyzing how it developed in the centuries between two periods and phenomena that have been studied extensively: on the one hand, the pagan forms of magic in the Viking Age, on the other, the spectacular witch-hunts of the early modern period.

                      Professor Mitchell will open the workshop with a paper entitled “Demonic Magic, Necromancy, and Home Remedies: Making Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages”. In the paper, he will address the ‘problem’ of magic as a cultural category in late medieval and early modern Scandinavia, and the issue of verbal magic in particular.

                      After the paper professor Per Ingesman from Aarhus University will give a shorter presentation, in which he discusses some of the viewpoints, questions and results in professor Mitchell’s book from 2011. All other participants in the workshop are invited to contribute with short comments or reflections on one or more of the medieval phenomena of witchcraft, magic and superstition, taking their own field of research as the point of departure.

Wine, fruit and chocolate will be served during the workshop. All scholars are welcome, and it is not necessary to sign up in advance. For further information about the workshop, contact the organiser: Per Ingesman (PI@teo.au.dk).