ABSTRACT
The use of mediators for love is still relatively common today in many societies. The difference is that instead of employing societally marginalized older women, potential lovers can turn to electronic mediators such as OkCupid, Tinder, and other similar dating services. This chapter exclusively addresses the mediated magics of such mensajeras—Trotaconventos and Celestina. It focuses on Juan Ruiz’s fourteenth-century Trotaconventos, a character in his Libro de buen amor. The chapter also focuses on the Endrina–Melon scene, scholars have found hints of magic elsewhere, such as in the author himself. In the premodern world, love and sex appear more often together than love and marriage.
