Rate My Professor Michael Bailey

Michael Bailey is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at Iowa State University. A historian of the European Middle Ages, his research focuses on the history of magic, witchcraft, and superstition, as well as heresy and religious reform. He also examines the global history of magic from antiquity to the present. Bailey earned his PhD in History from Northwestern University in 1998 and his BA in History from Duke University in 1993. He joined Iowa State University in 2003, advancing to full professor and receiving appointment as Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2024. Prior to that, he was a visiting assistant professor of history at Saint Louis University from 2002 to 2003. In addition to his academic roles, Bailey served as interim chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures from 2022 to 2024 and is an associate editor of the journal Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, which he helped establish in 2006.

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.