About the event

Speaker: Prof. Sophie Page

Chair: Dr Louise Milne

Abstract

The ancient Roman author Pliny uses the prologue to Book 30 of his Natural History (Naturalis Historia) to present a history of magic from its invention in the distant past to its practice in his own time. When artists were commissioned to illustrate late medieval luxury manuscripts and incunabula of this work, they depicted magic practitioners who evoked both contemporary and Roman interpretations of the art. This talk analyses these different responses to magic. 

Biography

Sophie Page joined UCL History as a lecturer in 2002 after studying at the Warburg Institute, UCL and Cambridge. She works in the area of European medieval magic and astrology. Her publications include Magic in the Cloister: Pious Motives, Illicit Interests, and Occult Approaches to the Medieval Universe (Penn State University Press, 2013), and the Routledge History of Medieval Magic (2019), co-edited with Catherine Rider.

Access

Please let us know if you require any support accessing this event by emailing eca.events@ed.ac.uk.

Please see ECA's privacy notice for more information on how your personal details provided will be used and stored.

This lecture will take place online.

Image credit: Parm. MS 1278 (HH.I.62) (f.186r), illuminated c.1425 by the Venetian miniaturist Cristoforo Cortese for Cardinal Louis d'Aleman, Biblioteca Palatina.