Images, rituals and magic on the fringes of churches in the medieval West

The article analyzes a small group of performative images from the exterior monumental decoration of buildings in the Middle Ages that do not represent the divinity. Some of them were the object of magical incantations, others are simply the trace of rites and another group represents subjects that confer power on them. In spite of these differences, these images work according to common principles of efficiency. Some of them, such as the similitudo or evocation of the dead, are specific to the functioning of magic. These images, acting on space and on people with various purposes, create "ritualizing devices" in the margins of the ecclesial space.