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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Magic in the Middle Ages by Universitat de Barcelona

4.6
stars
1,606 ratings

About the Course

Magical thought has always attracted human imagination. In this course we will introduce you to the Middle Ages through a wide conception of magic. Students will have an approach to medieval culture, beliefs and practices from the perspective of History and History of Science. Popular magic, as well as learned magic (alchemy, geomancy and necromancy) will be addressed. Moreover, we will also deal with how eastern practices and texts influenced western culture. In July 2016, the course will contain a brand-new module devoted to astrology. Magic in the Middle Ages offers a captivating overview of medieval society and promotes reflection about certain stereotypes associated with this period. At the end of the course, the students: a) will have overcome the usual prejudices about the Middle Ages, b) will be able to analyze historical documentation from the Middle Ages and recognize the most common patterns of juridical documents regarding witchcraft, and c) will be capable of distinguishing between popular magic and the magic of the learned people; will have a notion of which spiritual practices were allowed in medieval Europe and which ones were related to the devil, and will be aware of the link between a cultural product and the society that produced it. This course is taught in English, although subtitles in English, Catalan and Spanish will also be provided. COURSE SYLLABUS Week 1. Introduction to medieval magic (Pau Castell). Week 2. Magic & Heresy (Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel). Week 3. From Magic to Witchcraft (Pau Castell). Week 4. Magic in Islam (Godefroid de Callataÿ and Sébastien Moureau). Week 5. Astrology & Geomancy (Theo Loinaz, Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel, Godefroid de Callataÿ and Blanca Villuendas). © Gemma Pellissa Prades (coord.), Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel and Joana Palau Mumany Magic in the Middle Ages by Gemma Pellissa Prades (coord.), Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel and Joana Palau Mumany is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License....

Top reviews

A

Feb 17, 2022

Thank you for preparing such an informative course from an objective perspective and allowing us students to gain a new view of seeing thi s still controversial-topic. It was well informative and fun!

BW

Mar 23, 2018

Helpful and insightful. I try to learn as much about witchcraft and all religions as I can. The first set of videos were well lit and well read. I recommend this for anyone who wants to learn more.

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351 - 375 of 525 Reviews for Magic in the Middle Ages

By Marcia d S R

Nov 29, 2019

Greast course.

By faith m

May 14, 2018

boring but fun

By Jasmine A

Jul 9, 2018

Super helpful

By Allen J C N

Sep 2, 2016

¡De lo mejor!

By R F

Jun 15, 2021

Fascinating!

By Hicham L

Aug 13, 2020

very optimal

By Abigail L

Jan 12, 2020

Great thanks

By Дарья А С

Dec 28, 2017

IT WAS GREAT

By Santos P M M

Jul 27, 2020

Excellent!!

By Grisel N

Aug 1, 2020

BRILLIANT.

By Jiayang T

Jun 23, 2018

Excellent!

By Porfirio S M

Jul 1, 2017

eXCELELENT

By Matthew D

Jan 18, 2017

Was Great!

By Chamod R

Jun 16, 2022

great one

By Alonso S B

Oct 4, 2020

Excelente

By Gustavo A C

Aug 31, 2020

Excellent

By Ygor K B

Feb 1, 2019

Excelent!

By Silvia C T

Jun 10, 2017

very good

By Antony M

May 4, 2018

¡THANKS!

By Vitória S

Feb 17, 2024

I LOVED

By Erick C

Oct 24, 2016

Good !

By Grace

Apr 4, 2023

非常有意思

By Fatima A K

Jun 19, 2022

great

By JEEVARATHINAM S

Aug 14, 2020

good

By Joseph A V

Jan 6, 2023

Not being a historian of the Middle Ages, Magic in the Middle Ages seems like an accurate and well-planned course. Week 4 and week 5 were the most interesting, with week 5 delving into the knitted relationship of magic in Islam, with roots and lineages directly connected to contemporary practices of "magic" (which is something I did not know and was very curious about regarding the context of political and religious tensions evolving throughout the middle east). I would have liked more activity-based and practical instructional units on how magic and rituals were conducted, especially information on healing, medicines, and alchemy. Geomancy was the only practical component with explicit details on how to cast figures, and it needed to incorporate how it was used with astrology in a practical way. A unit on Astrology and the Astrolabe was needed as well since the videos and literature often referred to astrology, and without a basic working and understanding of how an astrolabe was used to calculate a chart, the student is left hanging on having to figure way too much on their own (which becomes rife with problems and miscommunication). The quizzes and assignments are fun but often awkwardly worded which became confusing, and can easily be cheated on. Grading of assignments was a bit nebulous and put into question others abilities to accurately and fairly grade. People paying money for course content should be separated from students not paying because engaging, stimulating, and critical analysis as discourse cannot be maintained in fidelity. Of course, the credibility of ALL courses on Coursera are at stake because little to no universities and businesses accept the certificates as valid credentials for jobs or career ladder mobility. Ultimately, one is paying for a piece of paper that is not really valued or even usable at the very same institutes that put together the coursework; and that is a very lame proposition! The final kicker is that I needed to submit highly sensitive, personal identification just to get a PDF of the certificate--absolutely ridiculous, especially considering that the topic of interest for this course neither necessitates nor warrants such high-end secure methods.