Charms, the verbal element of vernacular magical practice, form some of the most interesting elements of traditional culture. In this volume leading authorities from Europe and North America address many aspects of charms and charming, from the transmission of charms between charmers to the collection of charms by researchers in the field, from the felicity conditions that apply to acts of charming to how charm texts should be organized in a typology, from the religious elements present in the charms to their use against the 'evil eye'.

'[A] thought-provoking history of charms from the medieval period.' - Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature

Introduction; J.Roper
PART I: ISSUES IN CHARMS AND CHARMING
The Transmission of Charms in English, Medieval and Modern; T.M.Smallwood
On the Christianity of Incantations; D.E.Gay
Typologising English and European Charms; J.Roper
Towards a Pragmatic Typology of Love Charms; S.Golopentia
The Self of a Charm; H.Ilomaki
Charms in Medieval Memory; L.T.Olsan
PART II: NATIONAL TRADITIONS
French Healing Charms and Charmers from an English Perspective; O.Davies
Eclecticism in the Russian Charm Tradition; W.F.Ryan
Swedish Finn Incantations; U.Wolf-Knuts
Evil Eye in Hungary: Belief, Ritual, Incantations; E.Pocs

JONATHAN ROPER is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Sheffield.