Knox, Lezlie

English

epublications@Marquette

Marquette Universitye-Publications@MarquetteHistory Faculty Research and Publications History, Department of7-1-2017Review of Witchcraft, Superstition, and ObservantFranciscan Preachers: Pastoral Approach andIntellectual Debate in Renaissance Milan by FabrizioContiLezlie KnoxMarquette University, lezlie.knox@marquette.eduPublished version. Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 2 (Summer 2017): 760-762. DOI. © 2017University of Chicago Press. Used with permission.Witchcraft, Superstition, and Observant Franciscan Preachers: Pastoral Approachand Intellectual Debate in Renaissance Milan. Fabrizio Conti.Europa Sacra 18. Turnhout: Brepols, 2015. xviii þ 380 pp. €100.Fabrizio Conti’s study examines how a group of Milanese friars staked out a skepticalposition in debates on witchcraft at the end of the ﬁfteenth century. While his focus isnarrow—most of his argument is based on a contextualized analysis of one sermon byBernardo Busti—he nonetheless provides a compelling case for how pastoral experiencesinﬂuenced theological discussions. Scholars of magic and witchcraft beliefs are anobvious and appreciative audience for this work, but this topic also engages two areas of760 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY VOLUME LXX, NO. 2This content downloaded from 134.048.158.106 on December 01, 2017 06:31:33 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).particular interest among intellectual and religious historians. First, Conti contributes tonew attention on the later Observant reform movement and the friars’ roles in lateﬁfteenth-century society. He stresses, though, that this is not a book about preaching orultimately about the friars’ relationship with the laity. Rather, his main concern isa mentalite oriented toward magic and superstition (xiii). Conti successfully argues thatthese friars’ reservations over the reality of witchcraft beliefs demonstrate that subject’simportance for their intellectual formation as preachers, and also suggest new and earlierevidence for the Renaissance Church’s eﬀorts to distinguish licit and illicit beliefs as partof a pastoral approach to reform. His case study thus oﬀers a challenge to the perpetualhistoriographical debate over a shift from medieval to modern perspectives.The book is divided into three parts (each consisting of three chapters). The ﬁrstintroduces the friars of St. Angelo, which was founded in 1421. The house soon becamenot only the leading Observant friary in its province, but also the center for theproduction of preaching and sermon literature in Milan. Conti focuses on thecommunity between 1480 and 1510 when Bernardo Busti became the mostinﬂuential ﬁgure there, producing encyclopedic collections of sermon literature. Conticharacterizes these works (Busti’s and his confreres’) as both exhaustive yet concise,synthesizing the latest theological thinking even as they oﬀered practical models for otherpreachers. Their utility contributed to the success of these works in print. The book’ssecond part turns to the treatment of superstition in these model collections. Contiprovides detailed comparisons with various classifying schemes for sins, but uses Busti’ssermon 16 from his Rosarium Metricum, a collection of Lenten sermons, as thecenterpiece for showing the variety of ways Milanese friars understood superstition.This particular sermon addresses transgressions of the ﬁrst commandment, where Busticonsidered credence in dreams, magical incantations, and other popular superstitions asforms of idolatry (that is, crediting to other entities what is due only to God). Conti’sreading of the sermon in comparison with other contemporary works and its authoritiesis comprehensive and allows him to sketch out the spectrum of ideas related to witchcraftbeliefs among the Milanese friars. His comparison with Dominican patterns of thoughtoﬀers a broader perspective (166–72). His level of detail can be distracting, though, asthe text sometimes overdescribes or digresses into extensive reviews of previousscholarship (reﬂecting the work’s origin as a doctoral dissertation).The third part of the book represents Conti’s most original contribution as heconsiders how Busti and other Franciscan authors distinguished superstition fromwitchcraft. Busti’s analysis brought together what were originally independent traditions:popular belief (originating in Northern Europe) in the night rides of Diana and herfollowers and claims about ﬂying witches derived from Inquisition trials. Unlike theirfellowDominican and Franciscan friars who served as Inquisitors, however, theMilanesefriars saw these beliefs not as facts but rather diabolical fabrications designed to lead thebeliever into idolatry. Conti concludes that the St. Angelo friars were interested inchallenging an emerging mythology of witchcraft. His ﬁnal chapter, a consideration ofa polemical exchange between Samuele Cassini, another Milanese Franciscan, and the761REVIEWSThis content downloaded from 134.048.158.106 on December 01, 2017 06:31:33 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).Dominican Vincenzo Dodo, suggests how an Aristotelian-Thomistic rationalism alsoshaped their doubts concerning the reality of witchcraft. This fascinating distinctionsuggests an avenue for further research about the development of skepticism derived fromboth intellectual and occupational formations. Conti’s research makes clear the rewards ofstudying pastoral materials as a part of the history of witchcraft and superstition.Lezlie Knox, Marquette University762 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY VOLUME LXX, NO. 2This content downloaded from 134.048.158.106 on December 01, 2017 06:31:33 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).

Review of \u3cem\u3eWitchcraft, Superstition, and Observant Franciscan Preachers: Pastoral Approach and Intellectual Debate in Renaissance Milan\u3c/em\u3e by Fabrizio Conti

https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1244&amp;context=hist_fac

Review of \u3cem\u3eWitchcraft, Superstition, and Observant Franciscan Preachers: Pastoral Approach and Intellectual Debate in Renaissance Milan\u3c/em\u3e by Fabrizio Conti

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