The Magic of the Middle Ages: History of Magic

Viktor Rydberg was one of the more interesting academic and literary minds of his age, able to bounce back and forth between fiction and nonfiction works, objectivity and theory. It is this work here which stands out as perhaps his best; a treatment on duality, the burning times, and a fairly early pre-modern look at cryptozoology of a fashion. Speaking of vampires, werewolves, witches and dark spells, "Magic of the Middle Ages" claims the continuation of dualism and all of its superstitious offshoots, simultaneously praising Christendom for its successes and deriding it in its earlier forms for butchery and lack of intellectual power.