Did magic really exist in the Middle Ages?

Question

I`am still wondering up until now if magic and any of that spell stuff really did existed during the middle ages.

The same type of legend also existed here in japan about Occults who worship different animals such as tigers,snakes,monkeys,birds as gods and acquired some unique arcane capabilities.

Sorry for this bothersome question, I`d rather research it by myself but I`am too busy at work to invest time at studying, I was thinking on getting the community`s opinions on this.

As much as possible, please give meaningful answers and not just something to raise your points and reach a level, this is NOT an online game and I sincerely ask if you would answer in an appropriate manner.

Thank you so much everyone for all the informations you can give me and do not even attempt to post a link because I would probably not check it out.

Again, Thank you everyone!
I`am studying Economics and Welfare and Law by the way, dont ask why, I`am just curious about this question^^

Answer 1

It still existed but it is forbidden and it works but you will be working or being help by something evil.

The price of sin is death

Answer 2

Magic In The Middle Ages

Answer 3

Well, in the middle ages we have no proof weather there was magic or not, most people dont think so because where did the magic all go today? as for the legend in japan, there are people who worship birds, tigers, monkeys, and other animals as gods, and some say they get the special ability of the animal that they are most loyal too. However, i think that it is just practice because if you would worship the monkey, you would have to (and this is true) spend 6hours a day climbing. then, when you could climb 200 feet in less than 10 seconds, the person that had been practicing for 2000 hours of his life, would say its magic. this is the same for many clutures, and ive read a book that told of a man that could hold his breath for over 6 minutes because of "the magic of the fish" realy, he had just practiced holding his breath and swimming fast for 30 years. Getting back to the Middle Ages, some of it is true, but some is completely false. And some we just havent made up our minds about. For instance, King Aurthur was king of england, with several kingts of the round table. He also had a very wise friend (some said he was a wizard) named Merlin. The rest, we are unsure about. we do not know weather he has slain any dragons, or weather he had the magical sword, excalibur or anyting like that. but there are some facts. hope that helps!

Answer 4

Magic then was the same as magic now. People just believed that it was real. If someone back then pulled a rabbit out of a hat, the entire community thought that he had special powers from either God or the Devil. There is no truth to the Merlin theories or anything like that. Magicians healed others with medicinal plants and things like that, not magic.

It's nice to think that maybe magic once did exist, but it's simply not the case. To those people in the middle ages, though, it must have been real enough...

Answer 5

One key factor which must be kept in mind is that "magic" is a subjective classification, rather than an objective one. An Apache helicopter, if suddenly transported back to even the 18th century, would certainly be perceived as a great magical beast akin to a dragon; armored such that even a ballista bolt would bounce off its hide as it hovered, then turned to spit fire upon its attackers.

Eratosthenes (276-194 BC) was a Greek scholar who accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth to within a few feet of modern measurements, as well as determining the tilt of the Earth's axis within the Solar Plane and countless other mathematic, geometric, and geological computations which are so far beyond the capacity of the average modern person as could be deemed 'magic'.

It is my own personal belief that a great deal of prior Ages, from the ancient Greeks, Babylonians, and Phonecians, on through to the Middle Ages, were capable of much greater mental feats than modern humans. When one considers the tremendous capabilities that we perform regularly with utilizing a mere 5%-8% of our mental capacities, one can hardly help but wonder what "super-human" abilities the rest of our minds are capable of.

Modern medical science is at a loss to explain 'miracle healing'; even when relegated as "mere psychosomatic response", science cannot explain how it is that the mind can accomplish such phenominal feats in direct opposition to conventional logic. With even this small fragment of capability within our grasp, how can anyone denounce the supposed 'magic' of past ages?

There is far too much evidence of acts such as telekenesis even in modern times to simply dismiss such as mere speculation. Yet, most 'magic of fantasy' could readily be explained in modern scientific terms if one simply allows for the finely-tuned application of telekenesis. The simple 'nudge' of one factor could initiate a chemical reaction or significantly alter an existing one. So why could a refined form of telekenesis not result in 'magic' such a various pyrotechnics?

How much research on this very subject might have been destroyed in the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria? So much that mankind is only recently rediscovering that was common knowledge to those of that era... Recent excavations of the ancient world have uncovered mechanical devices of such intricate design and calculation that we scantly posess the knowledge to fathom their purposes. Those which we can fathom we strive to disprove, only to verify that they were thoroughly legitimate; such as the infamous 'death ray' created by legionaires using polished shields to focus the sun's rays upon invading ships to set their sails ablaze.

Yes, magic existed, and still exists. So long as any event can exists in contradiction to our ability to understand it, there will always be magic.

Answer 6

Yeah it depends on your beliefs. I mean, i believe there wasn't bagic during the middle ages. I've read several books on the middle ages and you generally don't hear much about magic from that time.

Answer 7

Not only did magic exist then, but it still exist and I use it every day. The belief in magic is greatly reduced form what it was, but that doesn't mean that there aren't people out there who, like me, still do believe and therefore can use magic.

Answer 8

I'm not sure about spells and stuff like that but "Black Magic" actually did exist but it was mostly astrological things- these magicians used nature, stars, y'know that kind of thing to make those things happen...
it was mostly evil powers

Answer 9

I think so....

If enough people believe in something, it is possible. Magic isnt around us now merely because the co-census has put it in our minds that magic is not real...

Answer 10

Religious folks back then believed in Black Magic.