Perceptions of Magic

in Medieval Spanish
Literature

Jennifer M. Corry

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Lehigh
Unrversitt/
Press

Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press

 Introduction

The physical world and the human beings who inhabit it are
bound by a set of physical laws, which, generally, must be obeyed.
Because so often there is an obvious relationship between cause
and effect a majority of people have accepted these laws and con­
structed their lives and civilizations around them. Yet, since the
earhest ages of history events have occurred that defy, or at least
seem to defy. Nature’s rules. Even today many phenomena occur,
such as fire walking in India, and levitation in the Buddhist tem­
ples of Tibet, that seem to break the bonds of physical limitation.
Throughout recorded history accounts appear of a select few who
have surpassed accepted limitations of human ability, and the ap­
parent physical laws of nature, by delvmg into supernatural and
paranormal experience.
In early human society these people were revered as priest/
esses, shamans, and magicians. They appeared to be able to con­
trol the very essence of Nature and thereby render human beings
more equal to that awesome power that had always presided over
them. In many of those early societies a woman often held that
role, as well as other honored positions, because her ability to
bring life into the world associated her with the Mother Goddess.
However, as time passed the Great Mother began to lose favor to
an omnipotent male God and, as a result, men replaced women in
the powerful positions of society and subsequently began to fear
woman’s ostensible magicsd abihties. Some of those men mas­
tered the art of magical practice, while others isolated themselves
from women altogether.
Christianity, one of the major rehgions constructed around a
supreme male God, reordered the once matriarchal society, in
part by competing with the traditions and magic that Pagan mag­
ical practitioners offered. While the Church promised paradise in
the afterlife as a reward for good behavior. Pagan magic promised
rapid solutions to worldly problems such as love, illness, and pov­
erty. In its infancy, the Church incorporated certain promises of

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 INTRODUCTION 13
12 PERCEPTIONS OF MAGIC IN MEDIEVAL SPANISH UTERATURE
After the Moorish invasion of 711, Christian Spain concentra^
magrirfll remedy into its own doctrine to compete with the allure much of its energy on regaining the territory the Moors had ron-
of magic. quared. It would have been ludicrous for Christian Spain to en-
Eventually the Church grew powerful enough to enforce its ^ge'uoT a mass murder of the people it needed to repopulate its
rlaima of possessing the only spiritual truth and began to eradi­ newly conquered territory. The Moors had contributed to Span­
cate any competition that non-Christian practitioners of magic ish culture a vast wealth of scholarship / magic that included
presented. One of the methods the Church employed was the cre­ mathematics, astrology, and alchemy, which was absorbed into
ation of the DevU, the embodiment of Evil and ultimate nemesis the culture at many levels, from the folkloric to the academic. The
of the Good that the Church claimed to represent. Thereafter the division between magic and science was still developing and, be­
Church could exchange protection for obedience to its precepts. cause of its diverse ethnic heritage, Spain acquired a reputation
Nonetheless, because the Church did not offer instant relief from as Europe’s m^cal and scholarly center. Magic, as a result, was
all worldly problems, people continued to rely on local magical more readily accepted in Spain than in other areas of Europe, a
practitioners for aid. In time those practitioners became a threat fact that impeded the magical practitioner’s transformation into
to the Church’s basic tenet; the people were expected to concen­ a witch. The tradition of scholarship that the Moors contributed
trate on earning a rewarding afterlife through obe3dng Church to Spanish society fostered an erudite skepticism about witch­
law rather than hving a life of comfort on Earth. craft not only on the part of secular intellectuals but also the lead­
The Church outlawed magical practice during the Middle Ages ers of the Spanish Inquisition.
and labeled its practitioners witches in an effort to solve this Although there were some who behoved in witchcraft, a study
problem. These witches, it claimed, were worshippers of Satan of medieval Spain’s laws, intellectual treatises, legends, and hter-
who established “churches” of their own in order to carry out ature reveals a wide range of opinions. Some behoved in and
their rituals of demonic worship. While the Church claimed to be wholeheartedly condemned magical practice, some had no behef
God’s representative on Earth, the witch became Satan’s. Paral­ in it, and others saw merit in its study. While other countries re­
leling the masculine power structure of the Christian Church, the fined their creation of the witch, many Spanish authors dissected
witch became associated with women. By the end of the Middle her and not only exposed the truth ^out her simple humanity,
Ages much of Europe experienced such a ravenous fear of witches but also ridiculed those who behoved she was real.
that a mass murder of those accused of witchcraft began, a phe­
nomenon known as the Witchcraze that lasted well mto the
seventeenth century.
Concepts such as witch and witchcraft were creations from out­
side institutions such as the Church. Politics and social actors, as
well as the changing role of women in society, also contributed to
the witch’s creation. There was no band of Devil worshippers who
called themselves witches and who were intent on destrojdng all
of civilization. Rather, the label of witch was bestowed on the
weak and marginalized as well as upon anyone who presented a
threat to the emerging power structure of medieval and Renais­
sance Europe, including, but not limited to, those who claimed to
wield supernatural abihty.
Spain, despite the activities of its European neighbors, did not
experience the same political, social, or religious development as
other European countries, such as the Germanic lands and, as a
consequence, did not develop the same manic fear of witches.
 Contents

Introduction

1. Magic
2. Spanish Intellectual and Medical Treatises 99
3. “Real” Magical Practitioners in Spain m
4. Magic in Medieval Spanish Literature 128
Conclusion 202

Notes 206
List of References 230
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Index 243
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