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lssue 9

Summer2002

ofMorigny's John Liberuisionum and^Royal Praver from Book Poland

Clairc l-rngef Liing ard Betredek

Writienbelween 1304 and l3l8 by nmonknamed Johnat theBencdictinc monxslerv lationof praycrs addrcs sed of Morign!,theLihet-r,isionu t is a compi nineorders ofAngcls,comto theViryin,God.Christ. theHoly Spirit.andthe prisinga rilualsysenllortbeacquisition of knowledge thatis laidoutin aseries ofstcps movingli orll sensoryknowledgc through thcsevcn liberirl afts.philosophyiurdtheololiy. Loosely modeled onthewellknownandwidelycondemned ritualtext.theA /:rrotr)r/dof Soiomon, theLlb.,/ rlri.)nlrr was.accordiig10 predecessor. John.delivered by thevirginMiuy and, unlikeits Solonlonic was pleusing to Godlurdf'teeof iutytaintofdemonic cofuption. Ttepurity of John'ssrstemwasnotequally obvious to all. however, irndthelexi wasbumt as herctical andsorcerous attheLJniversi[, of Parisin I 323.r Though inlormalion aboul$e textoflhe Lil)?/r'irlrrrr? hasoniy griduallybecome available ltt years,:evidence scholurs overthelastfifteen continues to accumulale not only of itsdispersalin a widevaiety offourteendrandfifleenth-celury manuscript pralers10differenl conlexts, but alsoofthe adaplation ofextructs tiom John's uses by olherpeople inihe same timeperiod.'

ioslances hasjuslbeen Oneol-lhenore inlercsting ofsuchxn addplalior] prayer discovered by thepresenl authors in anilluminated booknowpreserved in theBo.lleilnLibru] (MS Rawlinson lirurg. d.6: SumnaryCalnlogue #15857). O gir)ntiuginlifleenrh-centuryPoland,thisisoneoflheeighrpraye parchmet booksknowno havebelonged lolheJdgiellonian dynirsl,v.' Eight), fbliossuppl! thereader with a nunberof prayers ofvariousprovenance tnostly derivi gfiom pr^yers in conrmon xnd use). addressed 1()Chrisl, theVirginNlarl', theIIoly Spiril.' Man) o{ rheindividual prayers havebeen by insertion allered pelition, ofa fbnnulaic varied to suilcorrlex1. operation conceming a divinalory by mcans ofa crystal.Wladislas, sinnerand prays tbeunworthy servantofGod. (somerilnes fbf thc to clarifyandilluminale 1() enter. openandanpliti) thc ^ngels crystal in orderthathelnay lelrn all thesecrets ofthe world.

On theappearance ofthe crystal (whichmayhavebeen anexjsting objectsincewe donot getanyinstruction on how to prepareit) we only haveconjectures. Atonepointit is described asa quadrangularobject, anddivinenames, suchas Agla. Sabaoth, TetraSmmmaton, Emanuel, (whichmay havebeen andMessias engraved around itsperimcterin the manner of thecrystal described in the lastissue ofthir newsletter) are mentioned aspowerful catalyzers of theprocess. Manuscript illuminations reinforceboth theroyal iurdmagical aspects of thetext:oneof them depicts a youngcrowned rnanwith a (an sword imporlanlpartof themagician's inventory) andwitha whiteeagle ona coatofarms(thesymbol oflhe Jagiellmian flmily) standing next 1o a tuble witha strange it which object on mightbeidentified with Ihecryshl. Thefateofthe codexis asmyserious {sthetext anditsminiatures.In 1630 wefind it in Besangon in theposses sionofJacobus Prive(seei IIr). Twenly-fouryears lateritis still in the same town,ownedbydoctor Guefinet who asks for lheJesuitJohannes Ferrandus' opinion onthemanuscript (Ihelatter'sanswer canbe readon f. 78v-79v); andfinallyRichard purchased Rawlinson it belween l7l9 and 1726, whentravelingon the continent. wllile it is notdellnitely knownwhomayfirst have commis sioned thecompiling ofthislcxt,it is was cerlain lhdl thismanuscript preprred for and circulated in a courtlycontext. Origini ly thetext waswrittenor copied lor one 'wladislas',whoctn beidenlified mostFobably wilh tbeJagiellon king (whodiedin ofPolmd andHungary 1,1,14, in thebattleof Vama).n Other attdbutions, however, cannol beruled out.ln contrast to thescript,which dates from the 1430's. thethinecn

miniaturesseemto comefrom the 1490's:7 thus, thetextcanalsobe linked with Wladislas II, kingof (d. l5l6). Bohemia andHungary Cefiainpassages of thetext,however, seem to imply thatthepractitioner is not a king,only ada, soourmanuscriptmightbea copyofan earlier compilationservingthegoalsof Wladislas, a dukeof Opole(d. 140I). In theintroduction ofthe to hisedition tex!(published in 1928),N Ryszard G:utszyniec iilentified sources for roughly two thirdsofits prayers. Most of these werestandard liturgical lexts, though hedid identifyone prayer as deriving fromtheSolomonicA/'.t ,tdlr-id. Theremaining prayers he couldnol findsources for.fto[gh he seems to havefelt confident indeclarins (moreaccurately thanhc could haveknownatthetime)thatnone of lhe prayers wasoriginal.e More recentlv noted UnzulaBorkowska that in this prdyerbook "Marian ispa,ticularly <lsvotion developed... andlhexngelctogicdl texts,rarely developed in prayer books, areextremely interesting."r('

oaol'rd, hasbeenadapted andmade into a prayer in its ownrightby the compilerof wladislas'book.The compi lerinserts thisprayer earlyon in his text,immediately aftertheprayer takenlrom theSolomonicAl's rotol-i.1, anditseems likely thatthe compilerwished to stress, in imitation of Johnhimsell, the impofianceof the operator'spassage throughthe methodoflheA/n,nt )rid to amode in touch ofdivination morcsecurcly with theangelic presences lhesystem wasdesigned 10call upon.Thetexl thuspreserves notonlytheindividual (which, extracts ftom John's prayels though fromwidelydivergent culled locations. appear in something like theiroriginal order), butalsothe underlying structure ofthlJritual psychologi system dictated by John's cal andvisionary cxpericnce ot'the

Amongother things, thismanuscript provides evidence thatJohn's work circulated in Central Europe.Lr and thalithada royalaudiencc in addition to thc lay andmonastic audiences witnessed by inlormationin other manuscipts. Besides theintbmation Neither Ganszyniec norBorkowska it offers aboutthe circulation and hadaccess to the source ofmost of reception of theLir?/ risronr'rr, this in thisbook, thercmainingprayer rcmarkable Polish textalsoseems JohnofMorigry's Libel |irionrm, likelytoprovide newinsighls intoiale whichtumsoutto bethepointof medieval plactices, crys!allomantjc originnol only offte moreunusualof whichachieve aremarkable slaleof theMarianprayers, but alsootnllthe elaboration here.Theconceptual and angelological ones.Thecompiler oi contextual linkstbrged bctwcen theroyalpraycr bookusedJohn's praycrs crystallomancy, fiom theArr prayers in a way thatseems to indi ,a)lolidandits avatars, andthe cate knowledge ofJohn'scomplete conceptof iurSelic communication, ^ wereprob text (thatis,theprayers seem morcthoroughly developed in ablynot Iakenfrom aparlialcopyor thistextthanmostotherknown bookin whichsone ofJohn'sprayers crys|alloman!ic exprimenls beforc hadbeen excer?ted). ParlicularLy Dr Dee's well-publicized conversanotcworthy isthet'act thatoneof Iions wilhangels in the1580s. For John's autobiographical nffrative prayer Ihese reasons, Wlftdislas' book passages. in whichhecomments on seems a Iextworthyofbeingbrought hisconvcrsion awry fiom theA/-r to thcauention of scholars in thisfield.
SociefuJ Nfug,rr Ne$slener Summer 2(X)1.

Appendix: Manuscripts Discovered toThis Point Containing John of Morigny's Work

Since newmanuscripts ofJohnof Morignyhave been tumingupal the late ofone or two peryearit is difficult to statclvith certainfythetotal number ofextantmanuscripts oflhe Liber yisionum.To date,seven manusctipts areknowntoexist containing moreor less t'ulI rcxtsof (.that theLib(.t risionum is, textswith the wholeautobiographical prologue andsome orallofthe mcillary mai,eri, als al theend). Theseincludethe venjions fbundin thefollowingm:uru scnpls: Graz. Universiiirsbibliodlek, MS6lio London, British Librar],Addition.rl t802"/ Torino, Bibliotec.r Ndz ionale, c. IL 25 Wien, Schotlenkloscr, MS 140(61) Wien,Osterreichische Nationalbiblioftek, MS l3li59 Salzburg, Studienbibliothek Salzburg, MI24 Seif enstetten, Seilenstetten Stitisbihliothek. MS273 Paflialtexts, conainingtheentire Book tt /t4a^ irn(l thc Book t)J Iiil n Prors, butrot containing the autobioFaphical prologue orthefull array olancillarymalerii s includel Hanlilton. Can:rdLr, McMastef University Library. MS 107 Miinchen, Bayerische Staarsbibliothek Clm276 Textsin whichsome ofJohn'spruyers are[oundadaptcd to anotherpurpose include: Oxford,Bodleian. MS Rawlinson lilurg.d.6 {Cryslallomancy of Wl.dis1.$)

Mainz, Stadtbibliothek Mainz, MS I 138 ('lhe Septemdietas, a lelection ofJohn's prayersadaptedto enhancement of grammaticalunderstanding) Miinchen,Univenitlitsbibliothek, oct. Cod. MS 213 (Preserves some of the samepraycrs as the S?a?m ../i,a.rr, though whether it is the same or a related fext remainsto be seen)

Notes:
'According to chronicle recordsfbr thai tea\ seel-cs Gnn.le! Chroniqucsd( /r,./,.?. ed.JulesViard-vol.9 (Paris: I-ibrairieancienne HonorChampion. 1937).23-4. I ldenlificxtion ofrhe text in Miinchen. Bayerische SrJntsbibliothek Cln 276 wirh lhe chronicle aclouni ofrhe condemnarion was ilrst madeb)' J. DuPabe. L 'lrs notoria-et la pol6r que sur la di\,inarion et la nagie inrnrirlk t lt Lrrttrarersc reli-qidtseen Fkrne uu XYIe sii(l(. Cuhi.^l;. L. Suttniet.1 lParisrl E.N.S. d eJ e u n e Fi s l l e!. 1987). 128.note22. Subsequent discoveriesof dift erenl n nusariprs ofthistext were nade independentlyin the 1990sby Sylvie Barnay in Franceand Claire Fangerand Nicholas Warsonin Canida. Foranalysis ofrlre texl ind ns Mmology basedon Torino Bibliotec.tNuion,rlc C. II. 25. see Sylvie Barn.!y. L.rmariophanjeau regard de Jern de Morigny: magie ou ni.acie de l a v i s i o nmari al el hS oci ei 6des Ilistoriens Medi6vists de l' Fnseignemenl Superieur Public,Mt? cles,prodises et nencilles uu Moren Agc (Paris:Publicarions de l.rSorbonne. 1 9 9 5 1l.7 : l 90.{nd' D 6si rde voi ret inlerditsvisionD.ue!ou la mariophanie' selonJeandeMorigny (Xlv siicle)' nr H.nn Reliriosus (Pans:Fayard.1997). 519 16. For analyses of John s ritual srlterl. ils relalion lo lhc Arf, ,o/r/r,?. and io Je\rish myslicism. based prinrarily on !ersrcns in Miinche!. Bayerische StraLsbibliothek, Cllll 276 .nd Hamilron. Cmrdn, McMaller Unirersity Library MS 107.sceanicles by Nicholas Witson. Clane l-anger. andRichardKieckheltr;r C. Fanger.ed.. Colr/,r i)i-' .tpt;.r: 7i,r/!

arul Ttdditio|s of Metiietal Ritudl Masi( (University Park,Pennsylvania: Penn Stare Universirrr Press. 1998),163 265. For an edirion of the a tobiographica] prologue io the lite. risi.,ntln basedon the versionin Gfdz. University I-ibrnry MS 680.seeClane Fanserand Nicholas Watson, 'The Prologue io John of Morignt'sllrer I'iri./r,n: Texr and Translation.'Er,lcft.r 3 (2000). hrtp:// \!w w esoteri c.msu.edu. Anedit ionof t hc completelext b$ed on Cuz. University Library MS 680 is curently in progress by Claire Fangerand Nicholas Waison. ' In addition lo lhe instancedcscribedin the prescnl articlc. lhere is an adaptarion ofcxce4rts lom John s prayersfbr the enhancement of :ft mnl tical learningin the r_.pk,/,r ./ii,/dj conrainedin Mainzstadbibliorhek. MS I 138. cdi l i onof t heLat iDt cxt ' Fora pnbl i shcd and! dctai l cdunrl ysi t(i n Poiisb) see . Ludwik Bernrcki rud Rylzardcansz],niec (eds.). Mo. tn'|tii| VkAsluto t hrkeic:\'kt \ :hr,1tth Bihlideki Bodlej.nis ki t i \WI dl i s lu\, tUanen..\k ! Ptuvt Book Ktpt in th. Bodleian arrturl). Knlo\!: Anczyc i Sj6>ka.I 928. ' For a descriplionofthe conrentofrhis and the other Jagielloni,rn pra),erbooks. seeUhzula Borko$ ska.K/.i/.,r'rtl. Mo.llite\,likt \Ptdtcr BooLsfl onl .Kr.dtdlj,.Lubtrn. 1999. especially: 64 76. I A roteworihy corcspondcnce luppot itrg this rssumptioDis that a respected llgure ofthe rovaL court ofWlidislas of Varna. HeDricus Bohemus.wis accused ofkeeping necrorninlic books rnd pursuingcrysrallomancl.He rv!s j!ilcd tbr his inclinartunto Iiussite ideasin 1429.but in thc 11,10's he livedtiee in Kr*ow ' WladislasPodLacha.N{injatury modlitewnika Whrnenczyka f'On the Miniaruresof the PrayerBook"). in Modliter ik Wl.tdt rldva lltarnetic,'kd. 93-1,11. ' R yszardC anszyni ec,' O M odlit ewniku Wlddr"snawa ( On WladisLasPfayer Book"). in rh. ite\rnik Irt&lj-sndv Il'athei. :\' kt. 25 -93. 'We are gralelul loJolanta Szpilcwsk! lbr allo$,ing us to consult her unpublished

Socrel!\ NIrgr.a Nossl.tcr

Sunrnrer ll)l):.

drali rranslalion ofGanszyniec s introduc p.346. ' Borkowska.

Llfiere stil1rcmah two or ihree pByers in lhe collection N ith unidentilied sourccsilhesemay yct tum out to be odginal wiih ihe compiler.

rr ,\ll manuscriptt ofthe Liber iisionuit that have come to our attentionup io thi! point: e ofNoflh llalian, German.or ,\ustnan provenance.

forPapers Call
TheSocictas Magica hasproposed to sponsor four sessions at the 38thannual Intemational Congrcss on Medievai Studies, Kalamuqr,Michigan. M a y8 -1 1,2003. Titlesof sessions areasfollows: l.

The Magic of the NledievalChurch: A Reconsideration of Keith Thomas

2. Magic, Politics and Economics

Magic and the Manipulation of Spirits: Angels,Demons, and their Kin
I

Magic, Dreamsand Visions

Peopledoing research on matcrialappropdate fo fhese sessions alrdinterested in presenting a paper at the1003Congress areinvitedto contacl (RR#1,Elmwood,ON NOG 1S0). ClaircFanger, cfanger@bmts.com Deadline lor abstr presenfed actsis Septcmber 15.200f. Papers shouldnot exceed 20 minutesin length.

The Societas Magicainvitesproposals for ssays to run in future issues of the newsletter.
Wearelookingfbr essays of 1500to 2000wods cover-ing recentresearch in Ihe historyof nagic andrelated topics. in orie falioi bul neednot be.Someol lhe topicswe aleconsiderilrg for fulurcissuei; include Arabic, Renaissance, and.lenish Magic. Wearealsolor*ing fol smaller pieccs tbr our notes andqueries colulnn:newsaboutdissertations in progrcss or conlpleted. manusciptdiscoveries or othersuchitcmsareall welcomed. Proposals forcssays. pieces, smaller ornoteson all topicsofpotentialinlerest to membe$ol'theSocielas Magicawill welcome. be Please corlact Lea Olsan.ENOLSAN@uhn.edu.

5o.ieri: NlrStcr Ne$sl.tl.r sunnn.r :rr1rl