The third element in mediaeval magic came from Northern Europe, from Druid and Teutonic sources. It assumed the form of clairvoyance, or feysightedness; thence divination by seers and various forms of enchantment. In principle it differs from the Oriental type in that the magi cian is conceived to attain power less by control of demons than as a personal possession: the magician becomes a witch, able to blast by a glance or a touch, as well as able to cure disease and to foresee the future by clairvoyance. Witch craft was intimately associated with diabolism, but appears rather as the magic of the lower classes of Western Europe, to whom occult lore was sealed. It was also peculiar in that the vast majority of witches were women or girls: a fact which seems to hark back to the function of the seeress in pre-Christian ages. It may therefore be considered the native magic of Western Europe. Like the art of the educated magician. it was proscribed by the Church. and perhaps because of numbers, perhaps because of greater hold upon the people, was subjected to cruel per secutions by Protestants and Catholics alike, thousands of 'witches' being burned, hanged. and strangled during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and sev enteenth centuries. See WITCHCRAFT.
With the Renaissance, magic in its ancient sense practically disappears from Europe. Not
that superstitious beliefs, charms. divinations, and spells then came to an end or have even yet come to an end; but in the struggle with Christianity magic had ceased to he an institu tion of the social organism. savages it is of the utmost importance, the chief sanction of society and intimately inte•bonnd with religion. In the civilized nations of antiquity the political organization of the State became very largely freed from its control. hut religion and a large measure of the social life of the people still rested upon the basis of magical belief. Chris tianity appeared as the natural opponent of this belief, and in the long struggle practically eradi cated magic as an element of religion or learning and so prepared the way for modern science.
Consult: Maury, La magic et rustrologie (1th ed., Paris, 1877) ; Lehmann, A berglaube and Zaa berei von den d Itc&ten Zeiten an Lis in die Gegenwart (Stuttgart, 1898) ; llellwald, Zau berei and Magic (1.1m, 1001) ; Ennemoser, Ge schichte der Magie (English trans., Bohn's Library) • La (Paris, 1862) ; Frazer, The Golden Bough (enl. ed., London, 1900) ; Lang, Magic and Religion (London, 1901) ; Elworthy, The Evil Eye (London, 1805) ; Lenormant, Chuldwan Magic (London, 1877).