Love Magic and Control in Premodern Iberian Literature

Veronica Menaldi is an assistant professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Mississippi. She received her PhD from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Minnesota in 2018. Her research focuses on premodern (medieval and early modern) Iberian literatures and cultures with an emphasis on magic, food, and cultural contact. She has articles and chapters published on Castilian and Aljamiado spells and fictions in conjunction with Andalusi, Latin, and Sephardi grimoires; and in-progress articles on the use of foodstuff in similar Iberian texts.

• Introduction: Love Magic as a Metaphor for Control and AdmirationConvivencia, Courtly Love, and Categorizing Magic1. Thirteenth-Century Alfonso X’s Interest in Andalusi and Islamic MagicEucharists as Magical Chastity Belts in Cantiga 104Demons as Tools for Magical Seduction in Cantiga 1252. Enchanted Spaces as Sites of Melding Thirteenth/Fourteenth-Century KnowledgeMarriage and Temptation in the Sulfuric Lake in the Libro del Caballero ZifarThe Devil’s Seduction of Roboán and His Loss of the Fortunate Isles in the Zifar3. Transgressive Clerical Employment of Fourteenth-Century Go-BetweensAmorous Linguistic Enchantments in Libro de buen amor4. Sephardi and Andalusi Influences in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century MediatorsMatch-Maker Celestina’s Pantry of Herbs and Medicinal SuppliesThe Cord that Broke Courtly Love in Celestina5. Lingering Morisco Practices in Seventeenth-Century ImaginaryMedieval Inspirations for Feminine Empowerment and Meddling Neighbors and Mediated Trickery of the InnocentNocturnal Trace-Induced Intimacy by Moorish Necromancer in "La inocencia castigada"Conclusion

"Menaldi’s book is an exemplary addition to historical Iberian magical research as well as a tribute to the memory of Iberia’s rich diverse past." - Jennifer Corry, Berry College