This thesis compares visitation records from the dioceses of Barcelona and Tortosa from
1303-1330 to analyse gender and peasant magical practises. It argues that peasant magic
reflected gender norms that associated nurturance and passivity with women and protection
and activity with men, but also reversed these norms through the greater publicity of
women’s magic. Furthermore, bishops’ perspective of women shaped their interpretation of
peasant magic as either a demonic threat to Christians’ souls or mere foolishness and
superstition. By examining how the feminine stereotype of peasant magical practitioners
differently manifested in Barcelona and Tortosa, and contrasting the stereotypical image to
the real numbers of men and women who performed magic, the language of magical practice,
and the community roles and characteristics of magical practitioners, this thesis contributes to
understandings of not only the belief and practise of magic in the medieval world, but also
the flexibility of medieval patriarchy.
