![]() They should know that they have forsaken the faith of Christ, betrayed their baptism, and incurred the anger and enmity of God.2 But those who believe in the aforesaid things, or stubbornly defend them, or propagate them, especially when they shall have learned the truth, are faithless and worse than pagans, and four times a year they are cursed by the Lord and his holy church. For when the devil has won over the soul of such a person to believing such things, he transforms himself other wise, now into the form of an angel, now a man, now a woman, now other creatures, now in dances and other games, and thus by the weak faith of their souls such wretches are deceived. On Trinity Sunday sometime around the year 1400 a sermon was preached in England containing an extended denunciation of popular superstition.1 Palmists, dream readers, pythoners, nigromancers, astrologers, and the makers of wax effigies were all quickly dismissed, and then the preacher turned to those who believed in fairies: There are also others who say that they see women and girls dancing by night whom they call elvish folk and they believe that these can transform both men and women or, leaving others in their place, carry them with them to elfland all of these are mere fantasies bequeathed to them by an evil spirit. Chaucer, The Wife of Bath’s Taleįor many pious Christians, as for the inquisitors of Joan of Arc, this was a distinction without a difference. But now kan no man se none elves mo, For now the grete charitee and prayeres Of lymytours and othere hooly freres. This was the olde opinion, as I rede I speke of manye hundred yeres ago. The elf-queene, with hir joly compaignye, Daunced ful ofte in many a grene mede. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 A Cataloging-in-Publication record is available from the Library of Congress isbn 978-0-8122-4843-2 Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher. Universit y of Pennsylvania Press Phil adelphiaĬopyright © 2016 University of Pennsylvania Press All rights reserved. Heroes of might and magic v location of erewel series#THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor Edward Peters, Founding EditorĮLF QUEENS AND HOLY FRIARS Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church ![]()
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