2026/03/05 by Juan Antonio Jiménez Sánchez · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · #Classical Studies and Legal History #Historical and Religious Studies of Rome #Medieval Literature and History
paper · doi:10.1111/emed.70023
openalex publication_date 2026/03/05 · openalex created_date 2026/03/09 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This paper studies the strategies used by the Church to fight against the storm‐makers. These figures were said to cause the storms that ruined crops, and during Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages in the Visigothic and Frankish kingdoms were subject to punishment and constraints. The analysis begins with a review of the methods employed by ordinary people to nullify the actions of tempestarii . Next, the canonical legislation enacted to punish these practitioners of magic is examined, followed by an analysis of how the Church was helped in this struggle by the civil authorities. Finally, the study explores how the Church countered belief in the tempestarii both through preaching and teaching, and through the appropriation and reinterpretation of these beliefs within its own doctrinal framework.