Charms and Charming in Europe

'[A] thought-provoking history of charms from the medieval period.' - Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature

'Anybody interested in traditional popular culture will welcome the fact that scholars from both Europe and North America are turning increasingly to the systematic analysis of verbal charms, including not merely their texts but their transmission, and the available evidence about the charmers who used them ... This book is an excellent and stimulating contribution to what will, hopefully, become a growing field of study." - Jacqueline Simpson, Folklore

'In a time when 'folklore' is almost as demeaning a word in Britain as it is in France, and when universities remand the study of situated social intercommunication to their psychologists and sociologists, Jonathan Roper acts as if the subject were as vital in his country as it is to American folklorists. ... Roper, nevertheless believing in the enduring interest of British folklore, has uncovered a new genre within it: charms. It's not a genre that's been absent from people's lives or beliefs, but it is new to folklorists. He has gathered philologists, literary and religious scholars, historians, ethnographers, even videographers into a new circle to study it.' - Lee Haring, Western Folklore

'This little collection offers the best and most accessible picture of the context of magical spells - whether in oral or textual transmission, whether to bind or to heal, whether Christian or hybrid. The authors are folklorists, historians, and manuscript specialists, and they show a pronounced sensitivity to the cultural and performative realities of spell-casting. At the same time, while rarely basing their theoretical positions explicitly in anthropological classics like Malinowski and Tambiah, the authors show a remarkable sophistication in handling the materials and social worlds of magic - perhaps because they focus on "charms and charming" rather than "magic and religion."' - David Frankfurter, Numen