Medieval Ritual Magic in The Renaissance

MEDIEVAL RITUAL MAGIC IN THE RENAISSANCE
FRANK KLAASSEN
Frances Yates rescue of Renaissance magic from obscurity was in large measure founded upon the notion that the publication of De vita coelitus
comparanda in 1489 constituted a fundamental break with the past in which
the new elegant magic of Marsilio Ficino stood in stark contrast to the old
dirty magic of the middle ages. The newness of Renaissance magic might be
found in its urbane language, its philosophical and religious character, and its
attempt to recover the original magic of a pristine past through the use of ancient texts, particularly hermetic and neoplatonic works. At the same time,
Yates argued, the principle point of continuity between medieval and Renaissance magic could be found in several areas: common astrological suppositions; the use of certain groupings of natural substances; the use of talismans
and invocations; a common belief in spiritus as the vehicle for astral influence;
and common integration of magic into a philosophical framework1. Thus when
she spoke of Ficinos medieval sources, she was referring principally to traditions of scholastic natural philosophy and of astrological image magic, a tradition largely of Arabic provenance. For example, Yates demonstrated Ficinos
debt to the Picatrix2. Subsequent scholars have continued along these paths.
The most significant in the case of Ficino would be Brian Copenhavers studies of Ficinos debts to Plotinus, Proclus, Iamblichus, and Thomas Aquinas,
and more recently, Nicholas Weill-Parots admirable examination of the tradition of image magic through the later middle ages to Ficino 3. A host of other
scholars have now begun the task of editing, analysing, and explicating the
medieval traditions of astrological magic in their own right4. The importance
Yates, Giordano Bruno, 80-1.
Yates, Giordano Bruno, 69-72.
3
Weill-Parot, Les images astrologiques.
4
The work of David Pingree has been particularly important in its attempt to trace the fortunes of magic of arabic extraction in Europe. See for example: Pingree, Between the Ghaya and
the Picatrix, 27-56; Picatrix: The Latin version; Some of the Sources, 1-15; The Diffusion of
Arabic Magical Texts, 57-102; Learned Magic in the Time of Frederick II, 42-43. The numerous studies of Charles Burnett are tremendously important and many are collected in Burnett,
Magic and Divination. His other studies include Adelard, Ergaphalau and the Science of the
Stars, Arabic, Greek, and Latin Works, and Scandinavian Runes. Very important for the
ongoing manuscript research is Lucentini and Perrone Compagni, I testi e I codici di ermete.
Important for the medieval traditions of image magic and their relationship to necromantic traditions is Weill-Parot, Les images astrologiques. Important for the understanding of scholastic
1
2
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2003
Aries Vol. 3, no. 2
167
of this tradition, especially before 1500, is attested by hundreds of manuscripts.

But medieval ritual magic has received far less attention, in particular in its
relation to Renaissance magic. In some measure the lack of attention to the so
called dirty magic (or the old hole-and-corner business of the persecuted
medieval magician as Yates would elsewhere have it) results from the fact that
these traditions are understood to have been transcended by Renaissance
magic 5. While some recent scholarship has noted the debt of Renaissance
magic to medieval works of ritual magic 6 it is generally assumed that these texts
offered little of interest to the new Renaissance magus. If they have recognized
any connection at all, scholars have followed Charles Nauerts lead, admitting a
probable influence but focusing instead upon other sorts of sources7. No doubt,
the great diversity of this literature, the limited number of printed editions of
medieval ritual magic texts, and the lack of clear connections with Renaissance
writers has made the prospect of investigating this literature daunting. However, the recent and forthcoming publication of a number of important editions,
not to mention a growing body of secondary literature, will make it impossible
to ignore 8. Yet another reason for the lack of attention to connections between
medieval ritual magic and magic in the Renaissance is that the nature of the two
can be so different as to preclude any simplistic comparison. How can one
compare the stellar intellectual acrobatics of a Marsilio Ficino, Cornelius
Agrippa, or John Dee to the run-of-the-mill productions of a single medieval
necromantic writer, especially when such Renaissance writers strongly disareactions to image magic is Zambelli, The Speculum Astronomiae and its Enigma. Most recently, some very important work has been undertaken by Sophie Page which integrates the
study of ritual and image magic with the study of manuscripts and their monastic context. See
Page, Magic at St Augustines.
5
Yates, Giordano Bruno, 142.
6
I refer here particularly to Clucas, Non est legendum and Regimen Animarum et
Corporum.
7
Nauert, Agrippa, 231.
8
For editions of works of ritual magic see Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites. John of Morigny,
Prologue. Forthcoming editions of the Ars notoria by Julien Veronese and the Liber sacer or
Sworn Book of Honorius by Gsta Hedegrd will also make a substantial contribution. For
articles on ritual magic see for example the numerous books and articles by Richard Kieckhefer,
Forbidden Rites, Magic in the Middle Ages, The Holy and the Unholy, The Specific Rationality of Medieval Magic, Erotic Magic in Medieval Europe, and The Devils Contemplatives.
The work of Claire Fanger and Nicholas Watson has been particularly important for the study of
the tradition of the notory art. See Fanger, Plundering the Egyptian Treasure. Watson, John the
Monks Book. Stephen Clucas has attempted to demonstrate the influence of medieval ritual
magic upon the practices of John Dee. Clucas, Non est legendum and Regimen Animarum et
Corporum. Mathiesen, A 13th-Century Ritual. Klaassen, English Manuscripts and Transformations of Magic.
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FRANK KLAASSEN
vowed any connection to necromantic practice? It may well be that Ficino,

Agrippa, Dee, and the other great Renaissance mages did not borrow specific
segments from medieval ritual works. It is certainly true that magic tending to
the astrological and mathematical is an easily identifiable source among their
magical practices. However, an examination of the copying patterns of magical
manuscripts 1300-1600 should lead us to reconsider the importance of the old
dirty magic.
Our discussion will begin by examining the divisions of magic both as described in the Speculum astronomiae, and also as suggested by the texts of
magic themselves and the patterns in their treatment and collection in manuscripts. The second portion of our discussion will examine over time the patterns of copying of the two significant divisions of magic, image magic and
ritual magic, and in particular the sudden apparent decline in interest in image
magic in the sixteenth century. With additional reference to sixteenth-century
literature and printed books, the third portion of the paper will attempt to explain the apparent decline of image magic and the accompanying continued
interest in medieval ritual magic.
Two Divisions of Medieval Magic: Image Magic and Ritual Magic
A common starting point for discussions of medieval magic is the Speculum
astronomiae. The divisions of images it proposes one abominable, one
slightly less so, and one potentially legitimate are ambiguous and continue to
evade explanation 9. David Pingree has suggested that the work divides illicit
magic into hermetic and solomonic categories. Hermetic texts work primarily with talismans constructed at suitable astrological moments, from suitable material, and often with some form of ritual action such as suffumigation,
incantation, or animal sacrifice. The goal of all of this, including the ritual
actions, was to focus the powers of celestial influences or rays in a talisman for
magical purposes10. It is fairly easy to identify surviving examples of these
texts from the titles and incipits and hence to arrive at a more or less comprehensive understanding of this category. Defining solomonic magic, on the
other hand, presents more difficulties since the Speculum provides only a brief
and rather vague definition and considerably fewer examples. In addition, the
manuscript traditions of this material tend to be a good deal more chaotic.
Pingree suggests that Firenze NB II-iii-214 is probably a copy of a thirteenthcentury manuscript from Paris and contains many of the solomonic works re9
10
Speculum astronomiae, XI.

Pingree, Learned Magic, 42-43.
169
ferred to in the Speculum. On this basis he describes the solomonic texts as

those instructing one how to bind the demons and malefic spirits, or the angels to do their will, to compel them by ritual acts and threats of violence to
carry out the necromancers wishes 11. Nicholas Weill-Parots interpretation
modifies Pingrees ideas in significant ways. He first observes that there is a
great deal of overlapping between the two categories. For example, he notes
that in most ritual magic images, characters, and seals play a major role in
operations involving angels. He thus suggests that the ritual magic of the
solomonic Ars notoria, with its attention to astrological conditions and the use
of notae, might be regarded as very similar to the processes of the first category (hermetic), where images are employed under certain astrological
conditions12 . Nonetheless he suggests that the first category, the hermetic or
abominable texts, may be distinguished by its emphasis upon talismans, on
astrological conditions, and upon astral spirits. The second category, the
solomonic or detestable texts employ more complex figures which exceed
the common definition of a talisman and tend to employ inscriptions of various
kinds. The texts also make less frequent references to astrology and draw in
elaborate ritual practices employing characteristic objects such as swords and
candles13 . In a more general sense, Weill-Parot also argues that both the idea of
image magic and the actual practice represented in the available texts were at
odds with the notion of a legitimate, natural astrological image magic proposed in the Speculum astronomiae. The necessity of intervening intelligences
for the operation of image magic made it impossible to justify by conventional
standards. So the legacy of the Speculum was one of intellectual ambivalence.
In addition, in fundamental ways, it did not represent the realities of the magical traditions it claims to discuss. Thus, since our primary goal is to understand
the broader culture of magic the later middle ages, it is perhaps better not to
rely upon this idiosyncratic work. A more useful approach is to examine the
manuscripts for evidence as to how they were treated and understood by their
scribes and collectors. In turn this approach will also help us to better understand the approach taken in the Speculum.
Nicholas Weill-Parot argues that Arabic image magic was fundamentally
incompatible with medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This incompatibility derives from what he refers to as the destinativity of image magic, the
elements within this tradition which clearly involved (or had to involve) com-
11
12
13
Pingree, Learned Magic, 42-43.

Weill-Parot, Les images astrologiques, 59.
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FRANK KLAASSEN
munication with sentient spiritual beings14.Nonetheless, the vast majority of

the texts of the Speculums categories one and three were collected in manuscripts with works of astrology, medicine, naturalia, and works of natural philosophy in the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries. Very few appear in
collections dedicated to explicit and highly ritualized demonic or angelic
magic of the solomonic variety. This strongly suggests that the scribes either
persisted in the illusive dream of a legitimate image magic untainted by demons, maintained it as a theoretical possibility, or, while recognizing the theoretical problems it represented, simply regarded this magical literature as belonging in the sphere of inquiry related to the natural world. This is not
surprising since these texts were introduced into the Latin world as a part of
Arabic science. They were approached using theoretical works such as the
Speculum astronomiae, al-Kindis De radiis stellarum, or Qusta ibn Luqas
De physicis ligaturis as is attested by the tremendous influence of the Speculum and the fact that image magic texts were frequently collected with these
works15. It seems that at least some of the scribes regarded the ritual activities
they contained, including suffumigation and incantation, as possible forms of
natural magic according to ideas like those of al-Kindi16. The texts were generThe incompatibility of the arabic magical traditions with Christian philosophy is the central
theme of this book. The issue of destinativity is discussed throughout. For a definition of the
term see Weill-Parot, Les images astrologiques, 37.
15
See for example the following manuscripts which contain both texts of image magic and
theoretical works such as the Speculum astronomiae, al-Kindis De radiis stellarum, and Qusta
ibn Luqas De physicis ligaturis.
Speculum astronomiae:
London, Institution of Electrical Engineers, Thompson
Collection S. C. MSS 3/5; Mnchen, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, CLM 27; Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby
228; Vaticano (Citt del), Biblioteca Apostolica, Pal.
Lat. 1381; and Vaticano (Citt del), Biblioteca
Apostolica, Pal. Lat. 1445b
al-Kindi, De radiis stellarum:
Edinburgh, Royal Observatory Cr.3.14; Erfurt, Collegium Amplonianum, Math. 9. (21.31) (Gottlieb. 6; medieval catalogue); Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 30, Cod. 29; Oxford, Bodleian Library,
Selden Supra 76 (Bernard 3464); and York, Austin Friars A8 362 (medieval catalogue).
Qusta ibn Luqa, De physicis ligaturis: Canterbury, St Augustines Abbey, 1275 (medieval catalogue); Canterbury, St Augustines Abbey, 1277 = Oxford, Corpus Christi College 125; Firenze, Biblioteca
Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, II-iii-214; and potentially, Paris, Bibliothque nationale, lat. 7337.
16
The De radiis stellarum of al-Kindi was a work of arabic philosophy widely known in
scholastic circles. It begins with Aristotles contention that the stars are responsible for all sublunar change. According to al-Kindi, this occurs through their rays which impress forms upon
sublunary things. These forms, in turn, also produce rays in imitation of their celestial exemplars.
14
171
ally transmitted like other scientific texts in a faithful manner (which is to say
it is reasonably easy to identify standard texts by title and incipit) and were, in
appearance, much like the surrounding works of naturalia. Finally, not only
did the Speculum astronomiae frame the discussion of images until the end of
the fifteenth century, but as a rule scribes were clearly aware of its theoretical
underpinnings and its injunctions. This is made clear not only by marginal
notes in manuscripts but also by the fact that the works it approved, or those
which it overlooked but which took more or less the same form as those it
approved, were copied far more often than any other works of image magic17.
The influence of the Speculum may also be detected in two original works of
image magic discussed by Weill-Parot. As he points out, the authors chose to
elaborate upon Thabit ibn Qurras De imaginibus, a work regarded as potentially legitimate in the Speculum astronomiae 18. While Weill-Parot demonstrates that the scholastic establishment of the middle ages (medical, astrological, and philosophical) was entirely unreceptive if not hostile to the notion of
astrological image magic, those who took a differing view were more than
often scholastics themselves as were the collectors of the magical texts. Thus
taking into consideration the intellectual heritage of those involved, their education and approach, their awareness of the greater philosophical traditions,
and assumption that astrological image magic belonged to the sphere of
naturalia, we could reasonably refer to this intellectual tradition as scholastic
image magic despite the fact that in philosophical terms the phrase might be
deemed self-contradictory. In any event, while recognizing the limitations of
the term, from this point on I will use the term image magic to refer to this
group of texts and the associated assumptions.
The second group of manuscripts (more like the Speculums second and
less abominable but still detestable category which represents it in part) is
better described simply as ritual magic. The most basic feature of this material
is its emphasis upon ritual action in itself as the source of the numinous power
(i.e. not as a vehicle for stellar influences). But there are other common features as well. Almost without exception the operators understood the powers
behind ritual magic to be sentient beings which might be conjured or petiBy manipulation of earthly forms (in which are included not only objects, but also images,
words, smells, sounds, and gestures) and with due attention to the changing qualities of celestial
influx, the sage can create his own rays and effect miraculous changes in the physical world. See
Al-Kindi, de Radiis, M. T. dAlverny and F. Hudry (eds.). See also Travaglia, Magic, Causality
and Intentionality.
17
For example, I know of over fifty manuscript versions of Thabit ibn Qurras De imaginibus
and over forty of works of images attributed to Ptolemy. I argue this point in more detail in
Klaassen, Transformations of Magic, 56-62.
18
Weill-Parot, Les images astrologiques, 602-622.
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FRANK KLAASSEN
tioned. Thus one might suggest that the distinguishing feature of this tradition
was its lack of concern with the problem of involving spiritual intelligences
(i.e. destinativity). However, this would be to view this tradition from the
outside taking the perspective of those desiring to establish a legitimate
natural magic which would gravely misrepresent the tradition. More analogous to religion than science, ritual magic frequently sets out to achieve direct
experience of these beings, either through a human medium or in a waking or
dream vision. Interior experience in the interpretation of visions (either experienced or reported), the necessity of achieving certain spiritual states, and the
use of contemplative exercises sets this tradition apart as well. Often characterized as theurgic, the texts also commonly seek spiritual or intellectual enlightenment, once again emphasizing interiority. As a whole this genre is far
less concerned with justifying itself by referring to philosophical authorities.
This is no great virtue because unlike the case of image magic, which had
significant defenders, ritual magic could not rely on any authoritative opinion,
right or wrong. In addition, the field of inquiry surrounding image magic had
been framed by the Speculum astronomiae as an issue in natural philosophy,
and this is how the scribes tended to approach it. Authors of ritual magic texts,
on the other hand, had to elaborate justifications based in the complex rhetoric
of mysticism or in bold claims to divine sanction or inspiration 19. As a result
their chief claim to legitimacy lay in their orthodox appearance, internal
arguments which elaborated upon orthodox ideas and sources, strenuous adherence to traditional notions of piety in their rules and practices (abstinence,
prayer, mortification, etc.), or claims to direct sanction by the divine. The rituals are in large measure based upon liturgical sources and also regularly employ Old and New Testament passages as incantatory formulae. Commonly
their authors not only claim to have received direct divine sanction but also
divine instruction through visionary experiences. In fact, even necromantic
texts regularly include rituals to acquire angelic and divine protection and
guidance. Both rituals and autobiographical evidence demonstrate that ritual
magic was understood as an art in which experience and direct instruction or
revelation would expand the knowledge and skill of the operator20. Employing
their direct experience in the magical art and styling themselves as divinely
inspired Christian magi, these practitioners often wrote new works of ritual
magic or transformed and supplemented the older ones. They were not, thus,
19
On ritual magic and the rhetoric of mystical writers see Watson, John the Monks Book of
Visions. For autobiographical evidence see John of Morigny, Prologue, 245.
20
See for example rituals in Oxford, Rawlinson D. 252, in which the operator seeks information about demonic powers. For a more detailed discussion see, Klaassen, Transformations of
Magic, 178-188.
173
simply passive transmitters of ancient information, but active researchers and

disseminators of occult information. This tradition is also highly fluid in its
textual contents, a situation compounded by the fact that the mythology of the
divinely inspired magus tended to encourage constant rewriting and reformulating. With this in mind, let us return to the definitional problem raised by the
Speculum astronomiae.
Based upon the Florentine manuscript he discusses, Pingree has suggested
that this tradition encompasses a set of practices broader than image magic
including binding and deploying demons and angels through ritual acts of violence. This certainly describes the magic in this manuscript, and much of the
contents of ritual magic collections, but there are other elements which need to
be added to our definition of this complex set of sources. First, ritual magic
collections involve a much wider variety of practices. Ritual violence is rare.
Many, if not most, of the angelic operations are supplicatory and the authors
commonly observe the rule that only demons may be commanded 21. Rituals
for dream visions, angelic protection, and the infusion of wisdom also commonly recur. Finally, although certainly based upon more ancient antecedents
like the Testament of Solomon, the ritual magic material commonly incorporates a wide variety of Christian ritual practices, largely from the liturgy. Second, this definition does not include the practices of the Ars notoria, probably
the single most important text of late medieval ritual magic 22. It claims to provide spiritual and intellectual gifts to the operator, putatively infused by the
Holy Spirit through angel intermediaries following a variety of essentially religious exercises (fasting, prayer, contemplation, etc.) Prior to the sixteenth
century, the Ars notoria appears more often in manuscript than any other ritual
magic text. I also suspect it was referred to by name and discussed more often
than any other single work of ritual magic. A number of other texts were developed based upon its practices as well including the Liber visionum of John of
Morigny23 , some necromantic versions24 , as well as numerous shorter ver21
See for example, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson D. 253, p. 7. The first general aphorism is, that you must know that the 7 holy planetary angels are not to be constrained in such
manner as other spirits far inferior, as threatenings such manner of constrains and adjurations but
only by devote prayer to god and a true faith and holy and religious life and conversation to god,
faith, home and charity, towards god and his people, and by reverent holy and gentle narations,
requiring and advising them by divine power and the love and obedience due unto the true god
creator of the world and father of our lord Jesus Christ, etc., and not by threatening excommunications and castings out etc..
22
Weill-Parot has noted this fact as well. Weill-Parot, Les images astrologiques, 59-60.
23
Fanger, Plundering the Egyptian Treasure, 242-249. Watson, John the Monks Book of
Visions.
24
Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites, 193-196.
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FRANK KLAASSEN
sions25. A similar text, also surviving in a number of manuscripts, the Liber

sacer, claims to provide instructions to allow one to have the beatific vision26.
Weill-Parots definition of this category is thus far more accurate and inclusive. Yet we need to add to his observations that this tradition is more fundamentally concerned with direct experience of the divine, more interiorised,
less concerned with developing an association with natural philosophy, and
centrally concerned with the numinous power of Christian ritual. So with this
in mind, let us return to the definitions of the Speculum.
The descriptions in the Speculum are tantalizingly vague, defining this category as those texts using characters which are exorcized by certain names
(qui fit per inscriptionem characterum per quaedam nomina exorcizandorum)27 . As a description of most necromantic or solomonic material this is
rather weak if only due to the fact that a significant portion of the literature
makes no use of inscribed characters of any kind, and strictly speaking, exorcisms are also not a consistent presence either. But if we assume a slightly less
strict set of definitions, we come closer to the original intention. Most ritual
magic practice is formed from elaborations upon liturgical practice, and much
specifically upon exorcisms. If we understand this term to imply the inappropriate use and reformulation of Christian ritual for the purposes of magical
operations, we can accommodate most ritual magic, and as we have seen it
would not be an inappropriate way of referring to the tradition. In addition,
although the use of talismans is by no means ubiquitous in ritual magic collections, the use of written devices of various kinds is very common. Quite common are phrases inscribed on parchment (which we might refer to as leather
amulets), but we also find complex signs such the notae of the Ars notoria and
necromantic circles. The description of these as inscribed characters (which
distinguishes them from talismans in the more strict sense of the word) could
be regarded as perfectly reasonable.
It remains to account for the idiosyncratic nature of the list of ritual magic
works (e.g. why the Ars notoria is not included) and the reason why the author
would regard ritual magic as less detestable. Here we need to recall that the
author of the Speculum frames the subject of chapter eleven as sciencia
imaginum and that the entire book involves questions relating to astrology.
While the Ars notoria observes lunations, this is certainly not the central operative feature of this text and it would be practically impossible to suggest
25
See for example the Ars crucifixi in London, British Library, Harley 181, ff. 75r-81v. On
this text see also Clucas, Regimen animarum et corporum, 113-129.
26
Mathiesen, A 13th-Century Ritual, 143-162.
27
Speculum astronomiae, XI, 21-23.
175
that the notae were anything like astrological images. These are, in fact, complex diagrams often occupying an entire folio page in which lengthy prayers
are written in full. In turn, the active moment in the use of these notae does not
involve their infusion with astral power but is a psychic or interior one when
the operator inspects them. In addition, considerable portions of the ritual
magic tradition involve very limited use of astrology and images, and some
employ none at all28. As will be clear from the descriptions of ritual magic,
only a portion of this literature could reasonably be included in this discussion.
It is conceivable that the works cited in the second category in the Speculum
were originally more like astrological angel magic and that their contents increasingly shifted in the direction of explicit necromancy29 . But it seems more
likely that the author of the Speculum was, as he explicitly says, principally
concerned with magical practices which masqueraded as having purely astrological mechanisms. Hence, with very good reason, much of the ritual magic
tradition would simply never be included.
Recalling that the work sets out to discuss astrological images also helps to
account for the puzzling fact that works of astrological image magic would be
regarded as more detestable than explicit works of demon conjuring (the second and somewhat less unsuitable variety of magic). When the author speaks
of the second category he rejects it on the grounds that something may lie
under the names of the unknown languages that might be contrary to the
Catholic faith (sub ignotae liguae nominibus aliquod lateat, quod sit contra
fidei catolicae)30. The standard written element in most demon and angel
magic was a slightly modified Latin liturgy, language which was quite understandable. Although strange words do appear in these works, one need not
look to them to demonstrate their fundamentally unorthodox nature. Given
that the fundamental concern with magical practice from Augustine on (and
certainly that of the Speculum) was demons, one would think that explicit de-
28
See for example the operations in Rawlinson D. 252, ff. 1-13 and 15-24. This manuscript
also employs the recitation of the psalms as independent operations. See, ff.125r-126r. An extended analysis of this manuscript may be found in Klaassen, Transformations of Magic, 162188. For another example of the use of psalms see Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,
Plut. 89, Sup. 38, ff. 315-325. See also Mnchen, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, CLM 849, ff.
106r-v (Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites, 343-343).
29
For example, despite similarities such as the names of rings, some of the manuscripts of the
Rings of Solomon include explicitly necromantic practices (e.g. Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale
Centrale di Firenze, II-iii-214, ff. 26v-29v and Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut.
89, Sup. 38, ff. 211-224) while others are more like regular astrological image magic (London,
British Library, Sloane 3847, ff. 66v-81). This interpretation of the evidence would suggest that
the latter is more like the original.
30
Speculum astronomiae, XI, 32-33.
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FRANK KLAASSEN
mon conjuring would be condemned outright if that was what was being spoken about. Weill-Parot has suggested that the second category more closely
reflects Christian religious sensibilities in the kind of rituals it employs and in
the way it commands demons (as opposed to supplicating them)31. While this
is probably correct we must recall that amongst ritual magic texts, angel magic
regularly recurs and almost uniformly involves supplication. An orthodox
reader would not regard these texts as legitimate and by implication the angels
would be assumed to be demons. Hence the second category would also be
understood to involve supplication of demons. On balance, however, the
strong presence of operations which command demons in the ritual magic tradition make Weill-Parots interpretation the most likely. And this seems even
more likely if we recall that the Speculum was not considering the entire scope
of ritual magic but rather a restricted group of texts or practices within it. One
way or another, it must be observed that, where this work may be used to
discuss image magic, it has far less value in the discussion of ritual magic,
which it does not fully represent. In fact, the ongoing lack of attention to ritual
magic texts can probably be attributed to this seminal work.
Up to the end of the fifteenth century the manuscripts of these two traditions, ritual magic and image magic, for the most part travel in separate
streams32. Almost uniformly, works of arabic image magic, particularly those
belonging to the first (hermetic or abominable) and third (potentially legitimate) categories in the Speculum astronomiae, travel with works of naturalia,
the most common context being codices concerning astrology. Collections including books of secrets, alchemy, stones or gems, recipes, and natural philosophy are also common contexts for a work on image magic. Usually separated from any other kind of intellectual material the ritual magic texts,
including demon and angel magic, tend to be found in dedicated collections,
although necromantic texts also survive due to having been written more or
less randomly in the margins or blank pages of available codices. The Ars
notoria tends to travel on its own or with variant forms of the same tradition. In
some cases it may be found with divinatory material and also with devotional
literature. It also may be found occasionally connected with works of
naturalia, but this is rare among ritual magic texts. Thus, reversing the evaluation of the Speculum astronomiae, image magic works appear to have been
regarded as less abominable than the texts of ritual magic. There are some
exceptions to the rule that these streams travel separately, yet even in the rare
cases where they occur in the same volume the two traditions are clustered
31
32

For an expanded discussion of this subject see Klaassen, English Manuscripts.
177
together in distinct groups within the codices indicating, at least, that the
scribes were aware of the differences between them33.
While this pattern is almost ubiquitous prior to 1500, it changes dramatically at that time. Beginning in the fifteenth century and carrying through the
sixteenth, it becomes much more common for collections of magic to include
both ritual and image magic. In addition, the medieval form of collection in
which works of naturalia are collected with works of image magic drops radically in number. That this shift in the pattern of collection coincides roughly
with the magical Renaissance is the focus of the latter half of this article.
The Problem: The Decline of Image Magic?
The numbers of codices containing works of astrological image magic plotted
by their date of copying (Figure 1) reveal a dramatic and puzzling trend 34. If
33
In Klaassen, English Manuscripts, 10-11, I discuss the example of a manuscript recorded
in the catalogue of the York Austin Friars, A 362. See also Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale
Centrale di Firenze, II-iii-214. This manuscript is discussed in detail by David Pingree in
Learned Magic.
34
I include in this list only those texts which are dedicated solely or almost entirely to magical
images, such as those texts listed in the Speculum astronomiae and most of these texts correspond to its first and third categories (i.e. hermetic and tentatively approved).
178
FRANK KLAASSEN
we look at raw numbers of codices containing works on image magic, the peak
in production of manuscripts of this genre would appear to be in the fifteenth
century with a radical diminution in the sixteenth century. This peak in the
fifteenth century bears out Weill-Parots claim that there was a great interest in
this literature at that time, perhaps encouraged by an increased level of tolerance 35. Yet these figures must be adjusted to some extent, at least mentally, due
to the undoubtedly large number of manuscripts that did not survive from earlier centuries. This would tend to push the figures in the earlier centuries
higher relative to later ones. In addition, I have plotted manuscripts known
only through references to them in medieval library catalogues according to
the date of the catalogues production (i.e. the latest possible date). Many, no
doubt, pre-dated the catalogue by a century or two. Hence it is reasonable to
assume (even given that these figures can be taken as no more than rough
indicators) that a relatively high level of production took place in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and that the sudden drop in the sixteenth is even
more dramatic than what is presented here (roughly 63%). But before attempting to interpret this situation, a number of factors must be examined in more
detail. First, how did the availability of printed versions of these texts bear
upon the numbers of manuscript copies made? Second, might the political and
religious upheavals of the sixteenth century have affected the frequency with
which these texts were copied? Third, does the nature of these codices, in
particular their contents, change over time, and might this explain what was
happening?
Printed works of image magic were available in the sixteenth century and
this might account for the drop in manuscript copies. A scribe who could purchase a printed version would hardly feel compelled to go through the trouble
of copying it. Ficinos De vita libri tres, which passed through numerous sixteenth-century editions, contained sections on image magic 36 . The Speculum
lapidum of Leonardus Camillus concerns the properties of stones and also
contains a large section on magical images carved in stones. After a theoretical
discussion of natural magic, the work goes on to list magical images from
35
Weill-Parot, Les images astrologiques, 592. This suggestion is also problematic since
the greatest number of image magic texts are contained in larger codices whose contents are nonmagical. Thus while the copying of the text may be a significant moment for the study of image
magic, the survival or destruction of such texts was probably indifferent to their magical content.
Exceptions to this could be an instance when an entire codex was destroyed for the sake of a few
folios or when folios containing magic were cut out.
36
The British Library Short Title Catalogue lists the following 13 editions of the De triplica
vita the third part of which is the De vita coelitus comparanda: Florence, 1489; Florence, 1490;
1501; Argen.., 1511; Venice?, 1525?; Basel, 1532; Paris, 1547; Lyon, 1560; 1584; Paris?, 1616;
Strasburg, 1521; Venice, 1498; 1520?.
179
various sources, including the standard authors Raziel, Thetel, and Hermes.
Some of these are re-written, some are extracted from other authors, most are
more or less direct transcriptions from the circulating manuscripts. Two
printed editions of this book derive from the early part of the sixteenth century37. In addition, the hermetic De quindecim stellis accompanied an edition
of Ptolemy38, and Thabit ibn Qurras De imaginibus was published independently at Frankfurt in 1559. Hence, the argument might go, the popularity of
Ficino and Camilluss works indicate a wide-scale interest in astrological image magic, and the resulting goodly number of printed editions of image magic
works would make manuscript copying obsolete. In addition, the popular nature of these publications would have put many copies in the hands of nonspecialists who bought the books as curiosities and so they would have been
available in a wide number of places, making the need for copying even less
urgent.
The presence of this printed literature, however, cannot account for the lack
of manuscript copies. In fact, it drives us to further questions about the place of
image magic in the Renaissance. First, to acquire a collection of image magic
works in the sixteenth century solely through printed works, one would have
had to purchase many volumes. Some, like the edition of Ptolemys works,
would have been relatively expensive purchases not only because printed
books were very expensive in their own right, but because one would have to
purchase a large volume for the sake of only a few pages of text. Similarly in
the case of the De vita libri tres, the practical sections on image magic are
quite short relative to the length of the volume. In addition, Ficino and others
were justifiably circumspect in the amount of practical instruction they offer.
So printed versions were not the most cost effective ways of acquiring information on the practice of image magic. On a practical level, not everyone
would have had the necessary financial resources and, anyone with a high
level of interest, would have been driven to making their own copies. A logical
result of this situation would be that those interested in this literature and lacking the luxury of a large personal library would have compiled their own handwritten collections. The texts on image magic are short, quick to copy, or inexpensive to have copied by someone else. So almost every aspect of the
situation suggests that one could reasonably expect more manuscript copies
(rather than less) to have been produced. The texts were available and easy to
37
I have employed, Camillus Leonardus, Speculum Lapidum (Hamburg: Christianum
Liebeziel, 1717). It was published in Latin editions in 1502 (Venice), 1516 (Venice), and 1610
(Paris). Italian editions date from 1565 and 1617. An English edition was printed in 1750 (London). Thorndike, History of Magic, VI, 298-302.
38
Venice, 1549.
180
FRANK KLAASSEN
copy, but expensive to purchase in printed volumes; if practical information

was lacking in the printed works, copies of the old manuscript versions could
be found to fill in the gaps. Yet no wide scale copying took place in fact it
drops off radically and thus we are even further from explaining the decline
in manuscript copies.
If we compare this with the case of ritual magic we have even further reasons to doubt that this drop was due to the availability of printed books. Numerous works concerning ritual magic were available in print in the sixteenth
century and this had no apparent negative impact upon the copying of works of
ritual magic in manuscript. Three editions of the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy (a work concerning geomancy, which circulated under Agrippas
name), another work on ceremonial magic attributed to Agrippa, and a similar
text called Arbatel were printed around the middle of the sixteenth century39.
The latter is a clear discussion of ceremonial magic. A work on ritual magic
entitled Heptameron and attributed to Peter of Abano also appeared in sixteenth-century editions 40. Reginald Scots Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584)
contains almost 60 pages of necromantic operations drawn largely from medieval sources and for the most part indistinguishable from them41. This is not to
mention the multiple editions and translations of the De occulta philosophia of
Agrippa42. Thus ritual magic also had a significant presence in printed works.
39
The spurious Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy passed through three Latin editions
(Marburg, 1559 and Paris 1565 and 1567). A Latin edition of the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy and the accompanying texts also appeared in the 1600 and 1630 editions of Agrippas Opera
Omnia published at Lyon and in two English editions published in London, 1655 and 1665.
Arbatel also appeared in Basel, 1575.
40
This appeared appended to the seventeenth-century editions of Agrippas Opera Omnia
and John Frenchs 1655 English translation of The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy. But also
independently in a German edition in Paris, 1567. Reprinted by Verlag in 1971.
41
Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1583), 376-430.
42
There were three printed editions of the De occulta philosophia in the sixteenth century.
The edition published at Cologne in 1533 by Johannes Soter was overseen personally by
Agrippa. Its publication had been delayed by the intervention of the Dominican Inquisitor
Conrad Kllin of Ulm. A partial edition may have been printed at Antwerp in 1531 and in Paris
by Christianus Wechelus. Subsequent editions include three early seventeenth-century editions
of his Opera omnia published at Lyons, one or two at Strasbourg, and an English edition, London
1651. For more information on the printed editions of Agrippas works see Ferguson, Bibliographical Notes. A version of the notory art is included in at least one of Agrippas Opera Omnia
editions. Another was published in English translation in London, 1657. A wide variety of other
texts concerning ritual magic were also published in the various Beringos Fratres editions of
Agrippas Opera omnia. For example, the copy used for the Georg Olms Verlag reprint (1970)
includes such texts as De speciebus magiae ceremonialis..., De illorum daemonum qui sub
lunari collimitio versantur..., and Libri arbatel magiae.... The British Library Short Title Catalogue lists the following 13 editions of the De vita libri tres, the third part of which is the De vita
coelitus comparanda: Florence, 1489; Florence, 1490; 1501; Argen.., 1511; Venice?, 1525?;
181
Yet in stark contrast to works of image magic, copying of this kind of material
grew steadily right through our period (Figure 2). One might argue that this
was due to the fact that the printed works provided better coverage of the
literature of image magic than ritual magic. The result would be that more
copies of ritual magic texts would have to be made. However, the evidence
does not bear this out either. There were many works of image magic which
were never printed. In addition, many of the manuscript collections of ritual
magic works include hand-written extracts from printed volumes43. In some
cases, such as when an entire volume or large portion was copied out, it would
appear that the copy was made in lieu of locating and purchasing a printed
edition.44 In the case of shorter extracts, there is no reason to assume the scribe
did not own a printed version of the work being extracted, but used the manuscript book simply to collect significant information together in one place. Yet
Basel, 1532; Paris, 1547; Lyon, 1560; 1584; Paris?, 1616; Strasburg, 1521; Venice, 1498;
1520?.
43
See for example London, British Library, Sloane 3850 which contains copies of the Fourth
Book of Occult Philosophy and Heptameron. For a mid-seventeenth century copy of this work
see London, Wellcome Institute for the History of Science, Wellcome 8. Another late sixteenthor early seventeenth-century example is London, British Library, Sloane 3851, which contains,
in addition to the Fourth Book also the work entitled Arbatel.
44
For a seventeenth-century example see, London, Wellcome Institute for the History of Science, Wellcome 8.
182
FRANK KLAASSEN
183
whatever the reasons for copying might have been, one thing is clear. Unlike
the case of image magic, the printed texts concerning ritual magic actually
stimulated the production of more manuscript copies. Similarly, if the political
and religious upheavals of the sixteenth century affected the copying of image
magic, they do not appear to have negatively affected the copying of ritual
magic.
The decline in the copying of image magic texts thus appears to be connected to other kinds of issues, and in the century in which Ficinos De vita
libri tres was a runaway best seller this would seem very puzzling indeed.
However, if we break these figures down into their component parts some
different patterns emerge which may help to shed light on the situation. In
particular, the image magic manuscripts of the fifteenth and sixteenth century
suggest either the emergence of a different pattern of copying or the increased
survival rates of an approach to magic which pre-dated the Renaissance. In
this pattern, texts of image magic are included as part of collections of ritual
magic works, collections which appear to be principally focused upon ritual
magic and include image magic as a sub-category. I will describe the evidence
for these briefly before attempting to arrive at an explanation.
If we plot the numbers of codices containing both works of ritual magic and
image magic, a rather different pattern emerges than we have seen so far (Figure 3). First, of the manuscripts including image magic in the sixteenth century, almost half (9 of 19 MSS) occur in codices together with ritual magic. In
addition, this form of collection actually appears to peak in number during the
magical Renaissance. In previous centuries the standard pattern of image
magic collection included no ritual magic in the vast majority of cases (over
85% in the fifteenth century). Many of the sixteenth-century codices continue
the standard pattern of most surviving manuscripts of the fifteenth and prior
centuries45. But a very large portion reflect a new pattern where image magic
texts traditionally associated with works of naturalia are now included in collections of ritual magic. In some cases like London, British Library, Sloane
3822, a collection which combines image magic texts with rituals for confession and exorcism, the overall direction of the scribes interest is not clear. In
most cases however, where image and ritual magic are combined, the predominant interest of the collector appears to be in ritual magic46. This configu45
Among those with this standard medieval pattern are Cambridge, University Library Kk. I.
1.; Conte de Sarzana, Private Library, Unnumbered. (a large collection of image magic works);
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Canonicanus latinus 500 (Picatrix extract); and Oxford, Bodleian
Library, Ashmole 346 (the collection of an early sixteenth-century British doctor).
46
See for example Cambridge, University Library, Additional 3544; London, British Library,
Sloane 3846; London, British Library, Sloane 3847; Oxford, Bodleian Library, e Mus. 173;
184
FRANK KLAASSEN
ration of magical interests which combines ritual and image magic appears to
be the only one which increases in number in the sixteenth century both in
terms of raw numbers (Figure 3) and also as a percentage of the texts of image
magic (Figure 4). It is interesting to note that some of the earliest known large
collections of magical works, Pingrees proposed thirteenth-century exemplar
for Firenze NB II-iii-214 and the large volumes owned by John Erghome in the
library of the York Austin Friars, follow this same pattern47 . To look at it a
different way, if we look only at those codices which reflect the usual medieval
pattern associating image magic with naturalia, the drop in the sixteenth century becomes very dramatic indeed (almost 83%) (Figure 5).
The numbers presented here are not comprehensive and any study of this
kind contains a number of statistical traps. First, we cannot compare the numbers of image magic manuscripts with those containing ritual magic, since
image magic manuscripts stood a much higher chance of surviving not least
due to the fact that they usually constituted a small part of a larger codex con-
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson D. 253. The substantial presence of the Liber Rasielis in
Lubeck, Bibliothek der Hansestadt Lubeck, Math. 4 o 9 suggests this is a similar case. In the case
of Gent, Centrale Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit 1021 which I have not seen, it appears to be
a copy of one of the printed editions of Ps. Agrippa and so would also follow a similar pattern.
47
See Klaassen, English Manuscripts, 9-11.
185
taining less dubious works and, in any event, could be justified as reasonable
subjects for scientific study if not as legitimate in their own right. To compound this, medieval ritual magic was commonly disdained in printed sources
in the sixteenth century while image magic had a relatively high level of acceptance. In the age of witchcraft persecution, explicitly demonic magic was
clearly prone to destruction. Finally, most of the manuscripts of ritual magic
were of a low quality frequently taking the form of a personal notebook. Thus,
comparatively speaking, the numbers of surviving ritual magic manuscripts
probably represent a much larger number of original manuscripts, most of
which have been lost or destroyed. What the original ratio may have been is
anyones guess. Second, except where great numbers of manuscripts are involved, such as in the case of fifteenth-century image magic manuscripts, the
discovery of a single manuscript can make a substantial difference to the figures. For example, it would be silly to talk about percentages in a sample of
five manuscripts when a single new manuscript would skew the data by 20%.
Nonetheless, I believe the larger trends presented here are not vulnerable to
substantial variation due to new manuscript discoveries and thus cry out for
further examination 48. What I now propose is a tentative, but I hope, useful
exploration the dramatic changes in the sixteenth century.
An Interpretation: The Ascendency of Ritual Magic and the Integration of
Image Magic
So what are we to make of this situation? It would appear that, contrary to our
current understanding, the manuscripts suggest that there was not a great increase in interest in image magic in the sixteenth century, at least not in image
magic as represented by the usual texts and patterns of copying and collection
in the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries. We also find that contrary to
the suggestions of Lynn Thorndike who claimed that the sixteenth century saw
a diminution of interest in ritual magic, we have a continued strong level of
interest in it49. For the most part the data assembled here supports the ideas of
Nicholas Weill-Parot. The tremendous production of image magic texts in the
fifteenth century confirms his claims about the great interest in the topic at this
time. It also suggests that most still clung to the chimeral dream which associ-
48
The area of this study most subject to variation due to future manuscript discoveries would
be that of ritual magic. Investigations of image magic have, from the time of Thorndike and
Carmody, been far more thorough. The recent catalogue by Lucentini and Compagni, I testi e i
codici di ermete nel medioevo, further extends and solidifies our knowledge of this literature.
49
Thorndike, History of Magic, V, 591.
186
FRANK KLAASSEN
ated image magic, despite its destinative elements, with the naturalia rather
than with explicit forms of ritual magic. In addition, the increasing comfort
with destinative image magic in the fifteenth century is born out in the small
but increasing number of manuscripts collecting image magic with ritual
magic in manuscripts. Yet if we wish to establish continuities with the sixteenth century, we need to look elsewhere. Whereas one would have every
reason to expect the new Ficinian synthesis to provide the basis for a renewed
enthusiasm for magical images in the sixteenth century, quite the opposite appears to have happened. On the other hand, one cannot argue away the popularity of Ficinos De vita coelitus comparanda, or even the image oriented
works of John Dee or Giordano Bruno. So, as this article concerns the great
morass of authors, scribes, and book collectors, let us begin with them.
In his considerable collection, the late fifteenth-century Hartman Schedel
had copies of Ficinos De vita libri tres and translations of various neoplatonic
works. In addition, he had a volume of medieval image magic and two volumes containing three works of the notory art. While no great amount of
weight can be placed on the coincidence of these various works in this very
large collection (i.e., this is not evidence for an involved interest in magic on
Schedels part), it cannot be insignificant that of all the works of learned
magic, the best represented is the medieval Ars notoria. In addition, it was not
merely uninformed and unintelligent lunatics who collected and copied these
works. Not only Schedel but many other well educated university professors
and medical doctors in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are among the
identifiable owners of the old dirty magic 50. Although the presence of identifiably Renaissance magic is surprisingly limited in sixteenth-century manuscripts, Renaissance and medieval elements are often blended in the manuscripts, and when Renaissance authors do appear, there is no indication that
scribes regarded them as fundamentally different kinds of writers. Pal. Lat.
1394 contains an experiment for invisibility of a standard medieval nature,
preceded by a passage which tries to demonstrate that this is possible. The
scribe quotes not only authorities standard to medieval authorities, such as
Albertus Magnus, but also Herodotus, Plato, Pythagoras, and Cicero 51. A similar Italian manuscript from the end of the fifteenth century contains a ritual in
which the operator prays to be made like the sages of antiquity in language
50
See for example British Library, Additional 36,674. This ritual magic notebook has been
identified as belonging to Dr John Caius, founder of Gonneville and Caius College. See also the
numerous codices containing works on magic owned by the Monks at St. Augustines Abbey at
Canterbury, Canterbury, St Augustines Abbey, 1130 (=Ashmole 341), 1161, 1170 (= CCC 221),
1275, 1277 (= CCC 125), 1538, and 1545.
51
Vaticano (Citt del), Biblioteca Apostolica, Pal. Lat. 1394, ff. 67r-74v.
187
very reminiscent of the Renaissance esotericists, but the same scribe also
records a long text on the magical power of each of the psalms, a standard
component in medieval ritual magic 52. Similarly in Sloane 3846, a sixteenthcentury British codex we find sections from Agrippas De occulta philosophia
quoted in a ritual magic collection including such works as the Liber Rasielis,
De arte crucifixi (a variant of the notory art) and a variety of texts involving
spirits, but also a variety of standard image magic works such as Thabit ibn
Qurras De imaginibus. Another similar volume, Sloane 3850, contains a copy
of the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy spuriously attributed to Agrippa in
addition to a host of standard works of medieval ritual magic. In a final example, the sixteenth-century translator and scribe of the Liber sacer in Royal 17.
A. (42) XLII used extracts from Agrippas De occulta philosophia. and other
works to expand and supplement his translation of this classic of medieval
ritual magic 53. So the scribes did not appear to regard medieval ritual magic as
distinct from Renaissance magic.
This pattern is not only limited to manuscripts but extends to printed volumes of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century. The printed edition of the
Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy also contains works attributed to the notorious medieval doctor Peter of Abano and Gerard of Cremona. In the case of all
six of the editions of Agrippas Opera Omnia, published at Strasbourg and
Lyons around 1600, the Ars notoria, the premier ritual magic text of the middle
ages, is singled out and advertised on the title page as a special and valuable
addition to the two-volume set. The other added-bonus texts further reflect
this mix of Renaissance and medieval, including works attributed not only to
Trithemius, but also Peter of Abano, Gerard of Cremona, and Qusta ibn Luqa.
In other words, the scribes and publishers saw no strict division between the
works of the late middle ages and Renaissance. The publishers sold them in the
same volumes and evidently believed that the medieval works would promote
sales. The scribes clearly took if for granted that Renaissance works could be
used to supplement and expand medieval ones and copied them down next to
works of medieval ritual magic. In short, despite all the protestation of Renaissance authors, the old dirty magic was still very much a part of Renaissance
magic.
Yet why would the rate of copying of image magic texts decrease while
ritual magic persisted? This question in part hinges upon the distinguishing the
historical meaning of a printed edition from a manuscript copy. It is my as52
Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 89, Sup. 38. For the passage on the psalms
see ff. 315-325. For the incantation see f. 27r.
53
Mathiesen, A 13th-Century Ritual, 145.
188
FRANK KLAASSEN
sumption that in most cases a manuscript copy is an indication of an involved

interest in the subject; the copying of a text was time-consuming and more
likely to by carried out by a specialist. The purchase of a printed book on the
other hand has much more ambiguous historical meaning. For simple financial
reasons printed books had to appeal to a less specialized and more popular
audience. We might thus assume a large audience interested in magical images
as a illustration of a world-view to which they are sympathetic, but with no
practical interest in magic at all. The engaging tone of Ficinos De vita libri
tres, its urbane and literate style, these are features just as important to its
popularity as its limited magical contents. In addition, many of the printed
books including image magic significantly the De vita libri tres dedicate
only a small portion to practical image magic. An extensive popular printed
literature could thus easily exist despite the fact that the interests of engaged
specialists had shifted.
I would argue that the shift evident in patterns of manuscript copying may
be explained by commonalities between medieval ritual magic and Renaissance magic. In addition, Renaissance scribes would have had less interest in
image magic due to a number of inherent limitations. First, image texts tend to
be limited to magic involving a small subdivision of astrological influences
(e.g. lunar mansions). The instructions also tended to have relatively restricted
results (e.g. ridding a place of scorpions, destroying a city, etc.). I recognize
the possibility that the texts could be, and were, re-worked to produce different
forms54, but as a whole the tradition is less flexible than ritual magic. Second,
cosmologically speaking, the significant moment in astrological image magic
occurs with the manipulation of forms in the sublunar world. Were we to
choose a parallel layer in human microcosm, it would be that of the medical
spirits, the substance which mediates body and soul and a rough equivalent to
the rays of the stars, which mediate between the upper world and the lower.
Even if spirits are invoked in the process, this is, quite simply, magic of a lower
cosmological order than ritual magic which sought information, communication, illumination, vision, and direct contact with the divine through explicitly
religious and Christian rituals in which the interior condition of the operator
played a fundamental role. Ritual magic practitioners also sought to achieve a
far more broad-reaching understanding of the cosmos on a spiritual level. In
short, this is a magic of the soul or intellect. Ritual magic scribes could also be
interested in image magic, but their goal of achieving universal knowledge of
this kind of practice could only be achieved through higher forms of magic
54
Weill-Parot, Les images astrologiques, 602-622.
189
which transcended and subsumed image magic55 . Renaissance writers from

Ficino to Dee similarly included image magic yet unequivocally regarded it as
middling magic56. Their magical systems are far more expansive and inclusive.
They were centrally interested in higher, more indeterminate, interiorised, and
religious forms of magic of which images were only a part. This would then
explain why sixteenth-century scribes of ritual magic were a large percentage
of those who copied image magic: they understood it as a sub-set of ritual
magic. Finally, if one actually desired to practice Renaissance magic in this
broad sense (i.e. not merely astrological image magic), the only practical instruction manuals available would have been the manuscripts of medieval
ritual magic. None of the printed works of the Renaissance authors would, in
themselves, be enough to seriously practice magic since they were usually
very circumspect about providing any specific instructions.
The commonalities between ritual magic and Renaissance magic can perhaps be best recognized in the figure of the magus. As in Ficino, the ideal
magus in the medieval ritual magic tradition is a learned priest. His activities
were represented as fundamentally religious in form and intent. This may be
seen in practices like the Ars notoria, often collected with and even confused
with devotional literature. Even necromantic manuals effectively require that
the magus be clerical if they do not demand it and represent their activities
as essentially religious, or at least moral, activities 57. As in Agrippa and Dee,
the magus of medieval ritual magic gains an understanding of the cosmos
through learning but, more fundamentally, through direct intellectual contact
with the divine which willingly aids him. Through this contact and divine assistance, more often than not achieved by petitioning angels, he is able to disSee for example the fourteenth-century Ars notoria in Mnchen, Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek, CLM 268 ad cognitionem omnium scientiarum naturalium. We can see this
tradition continued in the sixteenth century in Harley 181, f. 80v, in which an Ars notoria claims
to provide not only information about the arts and sciences, but also the practice of medicine and
features of the functioning of the physical world including the magical power of stones.
56
For example, in Ficinos scheme the things capable of receiving celestial things are not only
images and medicines but the movements of the imagination, reason, and contemplation. De vita
coelitus comparanda, 22. Agrippa places image magic in the second of three books, high magic
being in the third book of the De occulta philosophia. Although Dee was demonstrably interested in image magic, the high point of Dees magical operations were his angelic conversations.
See Harkness, John Dees Conversations. Despite the general failure of this book to recognize
the clear influence of medieval ritual magic upon John Dee, it remains a very strong account of a
very significant portion of Dees life.
57
In one particularly extreme example a sixteenth-century manuscript justifies treasure hunting by means of ritual magic. It claims that the devil guards treasure left behind by a rich man in
a hidden place and will try to use it to purchase good will from God on judgement day. The
implication is clearly that one is perfectly justified, if not morally called upon, to take it away
from him. Oxford, Bodleian Library, e Mus. 245, f. 1r.
55
190
FRANK KLAASSEN
cern truth from falsehood and penetrate many of the mysteries of the cosmos.
Once again the practice of the notory art, which seeks complete knowledge of
the arts and sciences serves as a good example. But we may also find similar
tendencies in the necromantic tradition in its use of demons and angels to discover information, learning, and even wisdom or ability in discernment 58. Finally, there are also medieval antecedents for Agrippas magus cooperating
with God. John of Morignys Liber visionumis approved for Christian use by
the Blessed Virgin since it seeks entirely good ends, intellectual and spiritual
enlightenment, which in turn contribute to the worship and glory of God on
earth59. The necromancers in the prologue to the Liber sacer not only operate
with Gods permission, but with divine sympathy and guidance. Angels assist
them in their efforts to preserve their art in the face of persecution by the institutional church 60. The resonances between the two periods are clearly very
strong and the Renaissance preference for ritual magic quite understandable.
One way of understanding these changes in the context of larger intellectual
shifts would be to regard the image magic collectors and their chimeral goal of
a legitimate astrological magic as the product of the rationalist environment of
the schools, intimately connected with the belief that the structure of the cosmos is accessible to rational inquiry. The scribes of this tradition began with
the rationalist assumption that the truth or falsity of their magical texts could
be established by rational means, that is, with reference to authoritative discussions of the natural world and by logical elaboration upon them. As one might
expect the intellectual wave of scholastic ideas peaked, in terms of intellectual
influence, in the centuries after the death of its great proponents, such as Thomas Aquinas61. It is then that we see the greatest production of manuscripts of
Arabic image magic. It is into this context we may wish to place Giorgio
Anselmi, Antonio de Monte Ulmi, Peter of Abano and the other late scholastic
writers whom Weill-Parot discusses. At the same time, the late middle ages
saw an increasing belief that truth was not achievable through rational means
and that alternate approaches to it were not only desirable but necessary. Just
as the philosophers reduced the scope of reasoned enquiry and intellectual
See, Klaassen., Transformations of Magic, 178-187.
There is a tantalisingly Promethean dimension to the way John of Morigny pushes to have
the Liber visionum approved. According to him, the Blessed Virgin approves the work (evidently
with some hesitation) because any good he sought from her assiduously and devoutly she would
grant. John of Morigny, Prologue, 191-192.
60
Honorius of Thebes, chosen by a council of necromancers, preserved the art of necromancy
in a book which was written with angelic assistance. By finding this peaceful way to protect their
divinely inspired art from destruction by the demonically deluded churchmen, they protect all
their enemies from the destruction of demons. See Mathiesen, A 13th-Century Ritual, 148-149.
61
See for example Hillgarth, Who Read Thomas Aquinas?.
58
59
191
interests began to shift from logic to mysticism, rhetoric, and poetry, texts of
ritual magic increasingly emphasized visionary experience, illumination, or
revelation and regarded this divine assistance as essential to determining truth.
Late medieval ritual magic may thus be seen to flow from the same larger
intellectual tendencies as nominalism, mysticism, late medieval affective piety, and humanism.
The evidence I have presented here is suggestive but far from conclusive.
Many more manuscripts remain to be not only examined and described, but
simply discovered. In addition, the study of late medieval ritual magic is very
much in its infancy. Yet the culture of magic in the sixteenth century and as
represented by magical manuscripts clearly requires further attention, in particular to the transmission of the old dirty magic. It will not suffice to employ
printed works as our only indicators of the world of learned magic, nor will it
suffice to assume that no connection exists between the great works of Renaissance magic and the larger intellectual movements which made up learned
magic in the preceding centuries. At the very least we must regard medieval
ritual magic as a fundamental part of the context into which Renaissance
magic was born and a fundamental feature of magical practice in the sixteenth
century. Yet perhaps we might go further and regard Renaissance magic as
medieval ritual magic which has subsumed image magic and been transformed
in original ways under the influence of a variety of late antique texts.
Frank Klaassen (1963) is Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Saskatchewan.
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littraire du moyen-age 41 (1974), 139-260.
Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands
und der Schweiz, Mnchen: Beck 1928.
Boudet, J.-P., Lars notoria au Moyen Age: un rsurgence de la thurgie antique? in: A. Moreau
and J.-C. Turpin (eds.), La magie (Actes du colloque international de Montpellier, 25-27
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Burnett, C., Scandinavian Runes in a Latin Magical Treatise, Speculum 58:2 (1983), 419-429.
, Adelard, Ergaphalau and the Science of the Stars, in: C. Burnett (ed.), Adelard of Bath:
An English Scientist and Arabist of the Early Twelfth Century, London: Warburg Institute
1987, 133-145.
, C., Arabic, Greek, and Latin Works on Astrological Magic Attributed to Aristotle, in: J.
Kraye, W.F. Ryan and C.B. Schmitt (eds.), Pseudo-Aristotle in the Middle Ages, London:
Warburg Institute 1987.
, Magic and Divination in the Middle Ages: Texts and Techniques in the Islamic and Christian Worlds, Aldershot, Great Britain; Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum 1996.
Butler, E.M., Ritual Magic, University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press 1998.
192
FRANK KLAASSEN
Celenza, C., Late Antiquity and Florentine Platonism: The Post-Plotinian Ficino, in: M.J.B.
Allen & V. Rees (eds.), Marsilio Ficino: This Theology, His Philosophy, His Legacy,
Leiden: Brill 2002, 71-97.
Clucas, S., Non Est Legendum Sed Inspicendum Solum: Inspectival Knowledge and the
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Clucas, S., Regiment Animarum Et Corporum: The Body and Spacial Practice in Medieval and
Renaissance Magic, in: D.G. Taunton and N. Taunton (eds.), The Body in Late Medieval
and Early Modern Culture, Aldershot: Ashgate 1999, 113-129.
Couliano, I.P., Eros and Magic in the Renaissance, Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987.
Dupbe, J., LArs notoria et la polmique sur la divination et la magie, in Divination et
controverse religieuse en France au xvie sicle, Paris: Ecole normale suprieure de jeunes
filles 1987, 122-134.
Fanger, C. (ed.), Conjuring Spirits : Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic, University
Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press 1998.
, Plundering the Egyptian Treasure: John the Monk, His Book of Visions, and Its Relation
to the Notory Art of Solomon, in: Fanger, Conjuring Spirits, 216-249.
Ferguson, J., Bibliographical Notes on the Treatises De Occulta Philosophia and De
Incertitudine et Vanitate Scientiarum of Cornelius Agrippa, Edinburgh: Edinburgh Bibliographical Society 1924.
Gutirrez, P. David, De antiquis ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini bibliothecis, Rome:
Analectica Augustiniana, 1955.
Harkness, Deborah, John Dees Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of
Nature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1999.
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John of Morigny, Prologue to the Liber Visionum [c. 1304-1318], Claire Fanger & Nicholas
Watson, ed. and transl. with introduction, Esoterica III (2001), 108-217. http://
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Watson, N., John the Monks Book of the Visions of the Blessed and Undefiled Virgin Mary,
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Champion 2002.
Yates, F., Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
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Zambelli, Paola, The Speculum Astronomiae and its Enigma: Astrology, Theology and Science
in Albertus Magnus and his Contemporaries (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science
135), Dordrecht, Boston & London: Kluwer 1992.
Manuscripts:
The following are the codices of image and ritual magic which formed the basis for my data. This
is not a comprehensive list. Rather I include only those which I have either personally examined
or have a reliable description or dating. Those preceded by an asterisk are codices known
through medieval catalogues, if they survive, their modern shelfmarks are listed in parentheses.
Similarly where surviving manuscripts are identifiable in medieval catalogues, the medieval
catalogue reference follows the modern one in parentheses.
The numbering given for manuscripts held in medieval libraries listed below correspond to the
following modern editions. For Canterbury, St Augustines Abbey, see James, Ancient Libraries.
For York, Library of the Austin Friars, see Humphreys, Friars Libraries. For Milan, Library of
the Sforza and Visconti Families, see Elizabeth Pellegrin, Bibliotheque des Visconti et des
Sforza. For Nurnberg, Library of Hartman Schedel and Erfurt, Amplonian Library, see
Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge. For Rome,
conv. S. Mariae de Populo, see P. David Gutirrez, De antiquis ordinis eremitarum Sancti
Augustini bibliothecis.
194
FRANK KLAASSEN
Manuscripts of Image Magic

Thirteenth Century
Canterbury, Abbey of St. Augustine 1130
(=Ashmole 341)
Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,
Plut. 30, Cod. 29
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmole 341
(=Canterbury, Abbey of St. Augustine
1130)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 79
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Selden Supra 76
(Bernard 3464).
Paris, Bibliothque nationale, lat. 8454
Fourteenth Century
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 243
Cambridge, University Library Ff. vi. 53
(1391)
Cambridge, University Library, Gg. vi. 3.
*Canterbury, St Augustines Abbey, 1170 (=
CCC 221)
Edinburgh, Royal Observatory Cr.3.29.
Erfurt, Wissenschaftliche Bibliothek, Amplonian Collection, Folio 380
Erfurt, Wissenschaftliche Bibliothek, Amplonian Collection, Quarto 174
Erlangen, Universittsbiliothek, Hs. 434
London, British Library, Arundel 342
London, British Library, Harley 1612
London, British Library, Royal 12. C. XVIII
London, British Library, Royal 12. E. XXV
London, British Library, Royal 12. F. VI
London, Wellcome Institute for the History of
Science, Wellcome 116
Lyon, Bibliothque Municipale 328
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, A. 183. inf.
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, M. 28. sup.
Mnchen, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm
10268
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 463. (2456.
115.)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 67
(Bernard 2136)
Oxford, Corpus Christi 221(=St. Augustines
Abbey 1170)
Paris, Bibliothque nationale, lat. 7316A
Citt del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica, Pal.

Lat. 1116
Citt del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica, Pal.
Lat. 1381
Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, lat.
XIV. 174 (4606)
*York, Austin Friars A8 362
Fifteenth Century
Berlin, Preussische Staatsbibliothek, Cod.
Elect. 964
Boston, Medical Library (Countway Library
of Medicine), 7
Cambridge, University Library Dd. xi. 45
*Canterbury, St Augustines Abbey, 1161
*Canterbury, St Augustines Abbey, 1277 (=
CCC 125)
Erfurt,
Wissenschaftliche
Bibliothek,
Amplonian Collection, Quarto 361
*Erfurt, Collegium Amplonianum, Math. 11
(22.8).
*Erfurt, Collegium Amplonianum, Math. 12.
(22.14)
(25.11)
(27.23)
(29.5)
(29.17)
(21.31)
Plut. 30, Cod. 24
Plut. 89, Sup. 38
Firenze, Biblioteca Riccarciana 1165
Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di
Firenze, II-iii-214
Gent, Centrale Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit 5 (416)
Ghent 5 (Saint Genois 416)
Glasgow, Huterian Museum Library V.6.18
(=Gen. 468)
Klagenfurt, Bischflich Bibliothek, HS

XXXI.b.7
Kbenhavn
(Copenhagen),
Kongelike
Bibliotek Gl. Kgl. S. 1658
Kbenhavn (Copenhagen), Kongelike Bibliotek Gl. Kgl. S. 3499
Krakow, Jagiellonian University Library 793
(DD III 36)
London, British Library, Cotton Julius, D. VIII.
London, British Library, Sloane 1784
London, Institution of Electrical Engineers,
Thompson Collection S.C. MSS 3/5.
London, Society of Antiquaries of London 39
Science, Wellcome 560 (Miscellanea
Medical XXXVI)
Mnchen, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, CLM
214
27
59
*Nurnberg, Benedictine Abbey of St Agigien,
L11 (497,9f)
*Nurnberg, Hartmann Schedel, 808, 19-809, 3
Ottobeuren, Bibliothek der Benediktiner
Abtei, O. 86
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Canon. Misc. 285
Oxford, Corpus Christi College 125 (=Canterbury, St Augustines Abbey, 1277)
Praha, Universitn knihovna 629 (IV.C.2.)
Vaticano (Citt del), Biblioteca Apostolica,
Pal. Lat. 1330
Pal. Lat. 1340
Pal. Lat. 1354
195

Pal. Lat. 1369
Pal. Lat. 1390
Pal. Lat. 1401
Pal. Lat. 1445b
Pal. Lat. 1375
Vat. Lat. 10803
Vat. Lat. 4085
Weimar, Thuringische Landesbibliothek O 95
Wien, sterreichische Nationalbibliothek
3317 (Philos. 156)
Wien, sterreichische Nationalbibliothek,
3394
Sixteenth Century
Cambridge, University Library Kk. I. 1.
Cambridge, University Library, Additional
3544
Conte de Sarzana, Private Library, Unnumbered
Darmstadt, Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek 1410
Darmstadt,
Hessische
Landes-und
Hochschulbibliothek 326 (630)
Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di
Firenze, Magliabechi XX 20
Gent, Centrale Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit 1021
Lubeck, Bibliothek der Hansestadt Lubeck,
Math. 4o 8
Lubeck, Bibliothek der Hansestadt Lubeck,
Math. 4o 9
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Canonicanus
latinus 500
Oxford, Bodleian Library, e Mus. 173
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson D. 253
Praha, Nardoni Muzeum 2843 (XI A 19)
196
FRANK KLAASSEN
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century

Bratislav. Univerzitnej Kniznice, MS 1167 (E
796)
Duke of Northumberland 589
Hamburg, Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek,
fol. 188
Leipzig, Stadtsbibliothek 742 (DCCXLII)
Paris, Bibliothque de lArsenal 1033
Paris, Bibliothque nationale, fran. 14788
Reginensis latinus 1344
11381
Manuscripts of Ritual Magic
Thirteenth Century
New Haven, Yale University Library, Mellon
Collection MS 1.
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell Empt. I
Fourteenth Century
Graz, Universittsbibliothek MS 1016
Kbenhavn (Copenhagen), Kongelike Bibliotek Ny kgl. S. 218
Kues, Hospitalbibliothek 116
London, British Library, Additional 18027
268
Pal. Lat. 1363
Wien, Schottenkloster 61 (50. g. 4.)
*York, Austin Friars 8A, 371
Fifteenth Century
Basel, Universittsbibliothek B VII I
*Canterbury, St Augustines Abbey, 1538 (cf.
1603)
*Canterbury, St Augustines Abbey, 1603 (cf.
1538)
(D.8.G.6)
(22.32) (=Octavo 84.)
(22.36) (=Quarto 380)
(28.31)
(40.18) = (Erfurt, Amplon. Octavo 79)
*Erfurt, Collegium Amplonianum, Math. 8
(21.24)
Plut. 89, Sup. 38
Firenze, Biblloteca Nazionale Centrale di
Firenze, II-iii-214
Graz, Universittsbibliothek 680
Kbenhavn
(Copenhagen),
Kongelike
Bibliotek Gl. Kgl. S. 3499
London, Society of Antiquaries of London 39
*Milan, Library of the Visconti and Sforza
Famlies 282
Famlies 286
Famlies 836
Famlies 967
*Mnchen, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek,
CLM 51
*Nrnberg, Hartmann Schedel, 832, 8-14
(=Munich, CLM 276)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Tanner MS 407
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 951 (2871;
925)
Oxford, Merton College 999 (Medieval)
Praha, Universitn knihovna 267 (I. F. 35.)
*Rome, conv. S. Mariae de Populo (Augustinian Convent), 275
Vaticano (Citt del), Biblioteca Apostolica, Pal.

Lat. 1330
Vaticano (Citt del), Biblioteca Apostolica, Pal.
Lat. 1375
13859
4773
849
Sixteenth Century
Bremen, Universittsbiliothek Ms. c. 49
Cambridge, Trinity College Library 1404
(O.8.29)
Cambridge, University Library Ll. i. 12 (2141)
Cambridge, University Library, Additional
3544
Chatsworth (UK) 73 D
Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut.
44, Cod. 33
89, Sup. 35
89, Sup. 36
Gent, Centrale Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit 1021
Kbenhavn, Kongelige Bibliothek, Thott MS.
624 Quarto
Leiden, Bibliotheca Universitatis Leidensis,
Codices Vulcaniani, MS 45
London, British Library, Additional 36674
London, British Library, Cotton Append.
XLVI pts 1 & 2. (formerly Sloane 5007)
London, British Library, Royal 17. A. XLII
197
Oxford, Bodleian Library, e Mus. 173

Oxford, Bodleian Library, e Mus. 238 (3546
(56))
Oxford, Bodleian Library, e Mus. 245 (3550
(60))
Oxford, Bodley Add. B. 1 (30208)
Pisa, St. Cath., 167
Raleigh (NC), Rev. A. B. Hunter 39
Sevilla, Biblioteca Zayas C.XIV.22
Pal. Lat. 1394
Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare 43 (311)
11281
Seventeenth Century
Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, Ms. Hamilton 589
Berlin, Preussische Staatsbibliothek Ms. germ.
quart. 474
Bologna, Biblioteca comunale dellArchiginnasio MS A. 646
Brussels, Bibliotheque Royal Ms. III.1152
Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, Ms. 24252.89.6*
Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, Ms. 24252.89.7*
Cambridge, Trinity College Library 1419
Leipzig, Stadtsbibliothek Ms. 841
London, British Library, Additional 10,862
London, British Library, Additional 10,862
[#1]
London, British Library, Harley 3536A
198
FRANK KLAASSEN

Science, Wellcome 8
Marseille, Bibliothque Ms. 983 (B. 108) [#1]
New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinicke Library, Mellon 85
Nrnberg, Statsbibliothek Ms. 34 x
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmole 187.
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Aubrey Ms. 24
(Cat. 6544)
Paris, Bibliothque nationale, lat. 14075 [#1]
Pommersfelden, Grftlich Schnbornsche
Bibliothek, Ms. 357.
Wein, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek
11284
11294
11303
11304
11320*
11321
11332
11344
11424
Eighteenth Century
Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library Ms. 24252.89.5*
Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library Typ. 625
Darmstadt, Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek 1671
Hamburg, Stadts- und Universittsbibliothek
Cod. Alchim. 739 Quarto
Jerusalem, Jewish National and University Library, MSS varia 223
Karsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek Ms. 302
Karsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek Ms. 303
Leipzig, Stadtsbibliothek 707

Leipzig, Stadtsbibliothek 725 (DCCXXV)
Leipzig, Stadtsbibliothek 730 (DCCXXX)
Leipzig, Stadtsbibliothek 745 (DCCXLV)
Leipzig, Stadtsbibliothek 829 (DCCCXXIX)
Lisbon, Bibliotheca Senatoria MS 829
London, British Library, Kings 288
London, British Library, Lansdowne 1203
Madrid, Biblioteca nacional Ms. 12, 707
28,942
Munster, Universittsbibliothek, Nordkirchen
169
Neustadt A.D. Aisch, Evangelische Kirchenbibliothek Cod. 31

Paris, Bibliothque nationale, lat. 18511 [#1]
Providence (RI), Brown University, John Hay
Library BF1611, M313, 1798
199
Sevilla, Biblioteca Zayas Ms. C.XIV.1

Trapani, Biblioteca Fardelliana, MS 175 (gi
VII. c. 35)
Uberlingen, Leopold-Sophien Bibliothek 164
11301
11340
11517
La magie rituelle mdivale la Renaissance

On observe certaines rgularits dans la manire de copier les textes de magie des images
caractre astrologique, du 13 me au 14 me sicle. Cela suggre que, dans leur grande majorit, les
scribes comprenaient ceux-ci comme faisant partie du vaste ensemble catgoriel des naturalia.
Dans leur qute des sources mdivales de la magie de la Renaissance, les chercheurs se sont
montrs trs attentifs ces traditions magiques. Cependant, la nature des manuscrits indique
que ces chercheurs se devraient dtudier de plus prs la tradition magico-rituelle. Au 16 me sicle, les textes relatifs la magie des images astrologiques disparaissent presque entirement des
manuscrits. En revanche, on continue copier, un rythme soutenu ou croissant, des textes
magiques rituliques mdivaux. La prsence de livres imprims ne saurait rendre compte de
cette situation, car les deux formes de magie paraissaient sous une forme imprime; pourtant,
dans le cas de la magie rituelle, il est de fait que la prsence de ces matriaux imprims a stimul
la production de copies manuscrites en plus grand nombre. En mme temps, cette diminution
radicale de lactivit qui consiste copier des textes traitant de la magie des images contraste
fortement avec lexistence des nombreuses ditions du De vita libri tres, ouvrage de Ficin, et qui
en grande partie est consacr la magie des images. On peut expliquer cette contradiction apparente par le fait que, tout comme les scribes mdivaux de la magie rituelle, les occultistes de la
Renaissance considraient la magie de limage comme un sous-ensemble de la magie rituelle.
Cela est confirm par ce que nous montrent les textes magiques, les manuscrits, et les livres
imprims. Ainsi, cest dans les traditions de la magie rituelle, plutt que dans la magie des images, quil faut chercher la continuit entre Moyen Age et Renaissance. Larticle conclut sur le
souhait que lon puisse envisager de considrer la magie de limage caractre astrologique
comme le rve rationaliste du monde scholastique. La magie rituelle, quant elle, reflterait (au
cours du Moyen Age tardif et de la Renaissance) les passages vers la langue, la rhtorique, la
posie, la mystique.

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