Magic and Disbelief in Carolingian Lyon

Abstract

The Middle Ages are often associated with credulity, especially toward magic, compared to modern Western society, which is often regarded as thoroughly disenchanted. Yet not all medieval people believed unhesitatingly in all magical practices. The early ninth-century Carolingian archbishop Agobard of Lyon described a remarkable system of weather-magic widely believed by people in his diocese of which he was completely skeptical. He justified his disbelief through references to biblical texts, but this study argues that his disbelief was grounded in his own encounters with and investigations of these magical practices, and focused only on certain elements within them.