In the Middle Ages, textual amulets--short texts written on parchment or paper and worn on the body--were thought to protect the bearer against enemies, to heal afflictions caused by demonic invasions, and to bring the wearer good fortune. In Binding Words, Don C. Skemer provides the first book-length study of this once-common means of harnessing the magical power of words. Textual amulets were a unique source of empowerment, promising the believer safe passage through a precarious world by means of an ever-changing mix of scriptural quotations, divine names, common prayers, and liturgical formulas. Although theologians and canon lawyers frequently derided textual amulets as ignorant superstition, many literate clergy played a central role in producing and disseminating them. The texts were, in turn, embraced by a broad cross-section of Western Europe. Saints and parish priests, physicians and village healers, landowners and peasants alike believed in their efficacy. Skemer offers careful analysis of several dozen surviving textual amulets along with other contemporary medieval source materials. In the process, Binding Words enriches our understanding of popular religion and magic in everyday medieval life.
Issues for Feb. 1957-July 1959 include a Checklist of the Vatican manuscript codices available for consultation at the Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library at St. Louis University, pts. 1-8.
Annually published since 1930, the International bibliography of Historical Sciences (IBOHS) is an international bibliography of the most important historical monographs and periodical articles published throughout the world, which deal with history from the earliest to the most recent times. The works are arranged systematically according to period, region or historical discipline, and within this classification alphabetically. The bibliography contains a geographical index and indexes of persons and authors.
Alexander and Dindimus is an anonymous alliterative poem which tells the fictitious epistolary exchange between Alexander the Great and Dindimus, king of the Bragmans. It is acknowledged to be one of the earliest poems belonging to the Alliterative Revival. Derived from the Historia de Preliis Alexandri Magni, its sole witness is extant in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 264, a lavishly illustrated miscellany containing French texts dealing with the Alexander legend. The manuscript is one of the clearest examples of multilingual codices that were produced and circulated in England in the late Middle Ages. It is probable that the compiler conceived Alexander and Dindimus as a moral and edifying complement to the French chivalric romances present in the first part of the manuscript. The introduction includes an up-to-date study of the text, with a focus on its codicological, linguistic and metrical features. In particular, it explores relationships between the text of 'Alexander and Dindimus' and the nine accompanying illustrations (which are reproduced in the edited text). It includes also an analysis of the Latin source for the text. The edition is supported by a commentary and glossary.