Sophie Page

Can an everyday girl live in a fairytale world...? When Bella falls for a gorgeous man at a party, she's furious with herself when she realises that she forgot to get his number. Or find out anything about him at all. Her only hope is that he's the one who picked up her phone, which she dropped when she left the party. Crossing her fingers, Bella makes the call that will change her life for ever. Because Prince Richard, heir to the throne, did pick up her phone, and he, like her, has fallen head over heels in love. Suddenly Bella is catapulted into a world where she needs to use the correct cutlery at all times, she must never have a bad hair day, and her favourite Top Shop outfit is not an option. Can an ordinary girl like her survive the preparations for her very own Royal Wedding?

To Marry a Prince

Marina Wallace

Spellbound' explores the concept of 'magical thinking', which describes how people in all ages and cultures have sought to connect with an unseen world of perceived power. This concept of magical thinking is used here to explore the history of medicine and the mind, focusing in particular on magic's secular expressions. Spells, magical objects and rituals are engines of hope, and hope is essential to physical and mental health, indeed to survival. These ideas are explored and conveyed through the extraordinary visual culture of magic, offering an introduction to diverse magical objects, from the exquisite, such as engraved rings and illuminated manuscripts, to the unsettling - a shoe embedded in a wall or a bull's heart pierced with nails.00Exhibition: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (31.08.2018 ? 06.01.2019).

Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft

Spellbound

Astrology permeated many aspects of medieval society and people's fear of the work of the astrologer was gradually transformed into revering him as an important and influential scholar. The ability to understand and predict celestial movements improved greatly in the medieval period and this study not only provides the historical background to astrology at this time, but it traces the principles and methods used as documented in manuscripts. Sophie Page goes on to assess the role of astrology in society as a whole, in agriculture, politics, medicine, weather forecasting, cosmology and alchemy, accompanied by many lovely illustrations.

Astrology in Medieval Manuscripts

During the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries a group of monks with occult interests donated what became a remarkable collection of more than thirty magic texts to the library of the Benedictine abbey of St. Augustine's in Canterbury. The monks collected texts that provided positive justifications for the practice of magic and books in which works of magic were copied side by side with works of more licit genres. In Magic in the Cloister, Sophie Page uses this collection to explore the gradual shift toward more positive attitudes to magical texts and ideas in medieval Europe. She examines what attracted monks to magic texts, works, and how they combined magic with their intellectual interests and monastic life. By showing how it was possible for religious insiders to integrate magical studies with their orthodox worldview, Magic in the Cloister contributes to a broader understanding of the role of magical texts and ideas and their acceptance in the late Middle Ages.

Pious Motives, Illicit Interests, and Occult Approaches to the Medieval Universe

Magic in the Cloister

"Astrology in Medieval Manuscripts describes the complexity of western medieval astrology and its place in society, as revealed by a wealth of illustrated manuscripts and historical background."--BOOK JACKET.

During the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries a group of monks with occult interests donated what became a remarkable collection of more than thirty magic texts to the library of the Benedictine abbey of St. Augustine’s in Canterbury. The monks collected texts that provided positive justifications for the practice of magic and books in which works of magic were copied side by side with works of more licit genres. In Magic in the Cloister, Sophie Page uses this collection to explore the gradual shift toward more positive attitudes to magical texts and ideas in medieval Europe. She examines what attracted monks to magic texts, in spite of the dangers involved in studying condemned works, and how the monks combined magic with their intellectual interests and monastic life. By showing how it was possible for religious insiders to integrate magical studies with their orthodox worldview, Magic in the Cloister contributes to a broader understanding of the role of magical texts and ideas and their acceptance in the late Middle Ages.

Catherine Rider

The Routledge History of Medieval Magic brings together the work of scholars from across Europe and North America to provide extensive insights into recent developments in the study of medieval magic between c.1100 and c.1500. This book covers a wide range of topics, including the magical texts which circulated in medieval Europe, the attitudes of intellectuals and churchmen to magic, the ways in which magic intersected with other aspects of medieval culture, and the early witch trials of the fifteenth century. In doing so, it offers the reader a detailed look at the impact that magic had within medieval society, such as its relationship to gender roles, natural philosophy, and courtly culture. This is furthered by the book’s interdisciplinary approach, containing chapters dedicated to archaeology, literature, music, and visual culture, as well as texts and manuscripts. The Routledge History of Medieval Magic also outlines how research on this subject could develop in the future, highlighting under-explored subjects, unpublished sources, and new approaches to the topic. It is the ideal book for both established scholars and students of medieval magic.

The Routledge History of Medieval Magic

Magic in Medieval Manuscripts explores the place of magic in the medieval world and the contradictory responses it evoked, through an exploration of images and texts in British Library manuscripts.

Sophie Page

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