Rate My Professor Michael Bailey

Bailey has made significant contributions to his field through extensive publications and scholarly recognition. He has written, edited, or co-edited nine books, including Battling Demons: Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages (2010), Magic and Superstition in Europe: A Concise History from Antiquity to the Present (2007), Magic: The Basics (2017), Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft (2012, co-authored with J. Durrant), Origins of the Witches’ Sabbath (2021), and A Cultural History of Magic in the Middle Ages (2025, editor). Over twenty-five of his articles have appeared in prestigious journals and volumes, such as "From Sorcery to Witchcraft: Clerical Conceptions of Magic in the Later Middle Ages" in Speculum (2001, 185 citations), "The Meanings of Magic" in Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft (2006, 260 citations), and "Muslims in Medieval Inquisitorial Thought: Nicolau Eymeric and His Contexts" in Church History (2021). His scholarship has earned hundreds of citations and influenced studies of medieval magic and witchcraft. Notable honors include election as a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America in 2023 and a Fall 2024 Research Grant from the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities. Bailey teaches courses including Introduction to Western Civilization I, Medieval Kingdoms, high and late Middle Ages seminars, and the Islamic World to 1800.