Chapter 5 is structured according to the uses for which noble clients commissioned magic. The range of uses is broader than the five identified for other social classes and they have therefore been grouped under three wider ambitions: political or social advancement; money; and practicalities. By structuring the discussion in this way we are able to interrogate the motivations behind the upper classes’ use of magic, and investigate the role it played in elite culture. The conclusion of this discussion is that the few aristocratic magic cases that survive are indicative of a wider culture of use

This chapter focuses on how and when elite persons employed magicians; what sort of relationship was enjoyed between employer and employee; and how such relationships were allowed to continue in a courtly context. Through the course of this discussion we see that the culture of magic use among the elite was substantially different to that of society more broadly. For example, whereas generally the lower classes had a ‘pay per use’ arrangement with service magicians, upper classes were more in the habit of keeping magicians as part of their household, normally requesting the services from a cleric on retainer. The implications of this, and other habits peculiar to the elite, are explored in some detail.

Magic was not new to medieval Britain, but traditions of learned magic that reached Britain from the Islamic world in the twelfth century transformed perceptions of the political importance of magic. The figure of Merlin, confabulated by Geoffrey of Monmouth, represented an ideal royal counsellor with mastery of the occult arts. This chapter explores Britain’s reputation for magic from the Roman era onwards and introduces the various occult traditions introduced to Britain the Middle Ages, including the harnessing of occult properties through natural magic, the use of ritual magic to summon spirits, Kabbalism, alchemy, astrology, occult prophecy, and witchcraft. All of these occult traditions had the potential to play a role in politics, whether as threats to be feared by governments or as ‘supernatural technologies’ that were potentially attractive to rulers.