Tempestarii

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Tempestarii

Tempestarii (weather-makers) were legendary magicians in medieval folklore who could raise or prevent storms. They lived among farmers and villagers and were both respected and feared. People believed that those who could alter the weather held powerful influence over communities.

Agobard of Lyon and On Hail and Thunder

In 815 CE, the bishop Agobard of Lyon wrote On Hail and Thunder, one of the best-known accounts about tempestarii. He described villagers who believed weather-control was real and who paid church tithes while also relying on weather-makers to shield their crops. When storms still came, tempestarii could be harmed or killed. Although Agobard argued against the existence of weather-witches, he allowed that saints could affect weather through faith and prayer. He also mentions a myth about Magonians from a land called Magonia who supposedly paid tempestarii to summon storms so they could steal crops; a bishop even intervened to save prisoners tied to this belief after a bad storm.

Storm-raising and witch hunts

During witch hunts, many people believed witches could cause storms, hail, or lightning. Witches were blamed for harming homes, crops, ships, and people. The Church taught that such acts were permitted by God as punishment for wickedness, and that the Devil could influence weather through witches. The idea of weather magic appears in both ancient and early modern times and even in literature, such as Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with its tempest-causing magician Prospero.

Remedies against tempestarii

The Church opposed pagan remedies for weather-related problems. Instead, prayer, sacraments, and invoking God were prescribed. For those clinging to superstition, church bells were rung to drive away storm demons, and charms made from Palm Sunday flowers were placed in fields to protect crops. If a storm still struck, people believed their crops might be protected by these measures.

See also

Solomonari, Witch-hunt, Paganism, Witchcraft, Weather lore.

References

Valerie I. J. Flint, The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe (1991).