The Enchantment of the Alien: Metaphysics and Marginality in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Abstract

This article investigates why magical powers were ascribed to social out casts in late medieval and early modern Europe, or why they were placed in transcendent contexts. Taking its cue from ethnological approaches (Geertz, Douglas), it proposes a model of a complex cluster of factors, which could vary from region to region, from society to society. Single instances, such as dealing with fire, with 'unclean things', or the carrying out of nocturnal tasks, do emerge more distinctly when a comparative ap proach is adopted. This phenomenon assumed a special importance during the era of the counter-reformation, which the author interprets as an epoch of battles for the 'monopoly of magic'and for the formation of a theocracy.