ABSTRACT
In the Middle Ages, as today, the concept of magic meant different things to different people. Broadly speaking, it is possible to distinguish between two categories of definitions. To the first category, which may be called external, belong the definitions of magic provided by modern anthropologists, who seek, probably in vain, to find common denominators of “magic” in all human societies. The second category, which may be called internal, is composed of the definitions provided by individual societies or by groups within those societies. In societies where everyone believed in the constant intervention of supernatural powers, both good and evil, in day-to-day affairs, it was essential to provide some controls on access to and manipulation of those forces, just as today many people feel that it is necessary to control access to such powerful tools as guns. The most richly moneyed of the manuscripts from Tours is a sacramentary made in 844-45 and now in the municipal library at Autun.
