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Demons only virgins can see : Divination with child-mediums as a medieval type of clerical child abuse
Barbezat, Michael
Barbezat, Michael
Author
Abstract
This article examines the use of child-mediums in divination and magic as a specific medieval understanding of child abuse. Medieval authors believed that children were used in this way by learned men, particularly churchmen. They believed the practice was abusive, causing physiological and psychological harm. Many also thought, for different reasons, that it could produce revelations. This topic provided medieval authors with an opportunity to theorise about a specifically clerical form of child abuse, and it is an example of the kind of ritual magic extant in clerics’ own social worlds that fuelled paranoid conspiratorial fantasies, such as witchcraft.
Keywords
Date
2023
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Book
Volume
75
Issue
1
Page Range
15-40
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry
Faculty of Theology and Philosophy
Faculty of Theology and Philosophy
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Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
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Controlled
Notes
© Cambridge University Press, 2023.