Anne Lawrence-Mathers

I am a member of the Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies at Reading, and was its Director in 2005-07 and 2013-17.  

My research interests centre on medieval magic and science, and on the interfaces and interactions between the two. Following research undertaken whilst I held an AHRC Research Leaders Fellowship, I have published several books on related subjects. 

Forthcoming:

Together with Carolina Escobar-Vargas (University of Medellin, Colombia) I have edited and contributed to this survey of the interrelations between magic and science across the medieval period.  It will be published by Arc Humanities Press on 31 July 2024. 

My book on The Magic Books: a history of enchantment in twenty medieval manuscripts will be published by Yale University Press at the end of 2024. 

This book argues that magic was present in royal courts, universities and religious centres, throughout the medieval and renaissance periods.  Magical books were collected and used in all these centres; and the surviving examples show the range of practitioners and students for whom beautiful and practical manuscripts were made.  

Recent Publications:

My most recent publication is a monograph on Medieval Meteorology (published by Cambridge University Press, November 2019). 

This book argues that there was significant ongoing study of meteorology and weather in the early middle ages. This scholarship was based on Roman works on astronomy and natural history, and was encouraged by both ecclesiastical and secular leaders. A major revolution in meteorological science took place in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when a great body of Islamicate and Jewish knowledge was transmitted to Western Europe. The result was the rapid establishment of the new science of astro-meteorology, which spread rapidly and was integral to the expanding study of astronomy and its practical applications. Another important argument of my book is that the demand for 'medieval' weather forecasts remained high in the early modern period, even as the scientific basis on which medieval meteorology rested was falling from favour. No new method for producing trusted forecasts was found until the nineteenth century, and thus medieval meteorology had an extremely long afterlife. Linked to this is the exciting possibility that citizen science was created in the service of astrometeorological forecasts, and was advocated by such scientific heroes as Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.

Magic and Medieval Society (Routledge, 2014) was co-written with Carolina Escobar-Vargas of the State University of Colombia sede Medellin. It argues that magic was inextricably connected to key areas of cultural and social practice, from medicine to courtly politics via fiction and natural philosophy. To back up this argument, the book provides new translations of relevant texts, ranging from political horoscopes and instructions on making predictions on the basis of dreams through to details of how to attain magical knowledge. Hostile reactions are also covered, including extracts from papal denunciations and inquisitors' manuals.

The True History of Merlin the Magician (Yale University Press, 2012)traces the impact of the prophet and magician Merlin as created by the fraudster, Geoffrey of Monmouth, in the twelfth century. Geoffrey's Merlin was accepted as a genuine historical figure until the sixteenth century, and it is this 'historical' figure who is the subject of my book. He was at the cutting edge of both science and learned magic as well as being a genuine (if troubling) political prophet. His prophecies were so influential that they helped to establish 'Britain' as a real political concept in the medieval period and were 'updated' into the seventeenth century.

My current project is Magic Books (to be published by Yale University Press). This is an in-depth examination of a set complex, and often very beautiful, manuscripts from across medieval Europe. They contain key texts on natural, ritual and sorcerous magic, and many are illustrated with complex diagrams and illuminations. The texts and images are analysed in detail, and placed in the context of the history of the manuscript and its owners. Many of these challenging manuscripts have been digitised, and readers will be able to use the book to help understand the images now available.