Witchcraft & Heresy Lesson 3

This is the continuation of what is stated here, that will explain the entirety of this so you will not be confused. And to the lesson:

Original: The fact that Medieval magic is mostly documented by the educated elite and the clergy definitely creates a bias in how that information is acknowledged by others. Not only does a bias exists but also it is very difficult to obtain accurate and complete information about all magic practices and the people who practiced it. These people that had the education to read and write about magic, and therefore the audiences were that only of others who were literate. On top of that, most of these people capable of writing about magic condemned it, therefore the writings served as a misrepresentation of the general public during that time period. We, as learners of history, do not get to observe the full, thus accurate, picture of those who did magic, who experienced magic, and those who actually have positive things to say about magic. Not to forget that we are not informed on how the poor and illiterate came about to know about various magic spells and to acquire their materials, or what they did if they could not acquire the proper materials. Perhaps they used substitutes and thus created new branched off forms of magic that then became passed on to others. In other words, we are missing out on the whole evolution of magic from an intimate level to a more broad level. Also to keep in mind is the fact that the secrecy of magic was important, due to harsh punishments, that any other documents could have been destroyed, altered, and even nonexistent in material form. I personally, would be very curious about all these aspects, the experience of especially a layperson’s involvement with magic and even with the Church/law.
Response to student #1: You make several excellent points here, for I agree with you completely. The point you made about literacy being a privilege was something I found very effective. I feel it must be known just how important the fact that people were educated much differently than they are today and how vital it is to be able to read and write in any form of human culture. It seems, for some that feel there isn’t much or no bias at all in this situation don’t quite grasp the major differences between classes in the Middle Ages as well as the means to their educations.
Response to student #2: I would have to disagree with the fact that you feel that there is no bias in terms of the elite being the only to document magical practices. Yes, it is true that people of all classes and educational levels practiced magic, but you have to keep in mind that how those practices evolved and spread vary on how that information is passed. A lot of the lower class people did not have the education to read and write and therefore probably learned about magic through word of mouth from other people within that same class. Because of the separation between classes and educated versus non-educated peoples, the information is deemed to have many differences. Not only that, but also lower classed people may not necessarily have the means to acquire specific materials for their magic and thus may alter the certain practices of magic. This creates some sort of broad branched form of magical practices, and because only the elite wrote about it, that is the only form that we know about.