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

4.6
stars
1,608 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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451 - 475 of 525 Reviews for Magic in the Middle Ages

By Margaret H

Sep 28, 2020

This class was very interesting. One star away from the broken links in some things but other than that it was a great first course to take.

By Carlos N

Apr 2, 2022

Many subjects from this matter are exploited during the course with Different perspectives from scholars which give a diversified knowledge.

By Maria d H

Jun 23, 2019

One of the first courses I've done for a while. I really liked it! It gives some interesting facts that I can impress my friends with.

By Emma T C L A

Sep 15, 2020

The last writing assignment needs updated or additional resource material about blockbooks. The site linked is difficult to naviagte

By Edward B M

Sep 19, 2019

Not quite what I was expectng, but still very interesting.

It does not include any practical instruction in magical techniques.

By Joy S

Jun 3, 2017

kind of fascinating, especially the week on witchcraft. Only give it 4 stars because it's in Spanish and I hate subtitles.

By Mathew P

Dec 4, 2016

The lessons i have learned through the course have taught me to new perspective to the time period. Great study.

Thank you

By MAR F

May 30, 2020

Me ha encantado aprender más y tan detalladamente sobre este tema, ha sido muy entretenido y didáctico. Muchas gracias!

By Thomas D

May 18, 2022

Diverse topics, multiple speakers with various backgrounds and the right pace of moving forward. recommendable course.

By kate m

Jul 29, 2019

The information was really interesting, but at times it was difficult to understand what the instructors were saying.

By Krzysztof B

Nov 16, 2020

Very cool course,maybe a bit monotonic but for the most part very nicely done.(I can't give it 4.5 stars so it's 4)

By Hector M

May 31, 2017

Great survey of a fascinating topic! Wish there were more details/depth as it seems we only skimmed the surface...

By Florian C

May 11, 2021

Interesting course, unfortunately some videos have rather poor audio, an update for those videos would be great.

By Meg F

Jan 9, 2017

It was an interesting course and I enjoyed it, though I was hoping for less information about the church.

By Marie S

Mar 25, 2017

3 and a half stars... interesting topic and well presented. A few opportunities to demonstrate learning

By Mary M

Sep 29, 2020

some of it was a little hard to understand and some links didn't open but apart from that it was good

By Pere U

Apr 4, 2020

Estupendo curso, las explicaciones son muy claras y los profesores transmiten su conocimiento del tema

By Surabhi T

Jan 5, 2021

This course was a new and enriching experience, delving on many different concepts and cultures.

By Magali C B

Sep 19, 2020

the vocabulary is a little too technical and hard to digest but the content is very interesting.

By Ghadeer N

May 5, 2020

The course is simple and enjoyable, and the instructors are really enthusiastic about the topic.

By Ashley M

May 30, 2020

I thought that, while the entire course was insightful, it started to lose focus after week 3.

By Kalliopi N

Feb 10, 2019

What a great course! It helped me gain a better understanding of that era! Happy learning! :D

By Loren K

Dec 13, 2017

Great class with lots of practical knowledge of how magic came to be and how it was applied.

By Alice F

May 5, 2020

Questions were overly complicated in some cases, course was interesting and well planned.

By Juan M R

Nov 26, 2017

Great course, i would like to have reading material uploaded so students can download it.