Investigations into Magic, an Edition and Translation of Martín Del Río’s Disquisitionum magicarum libri sex Volume 1 (Heterodoxia Iberica, 6) PDF
Preview Investigations into Magic, an Edition and Translation of Martín Del Río’s Disquisitionum magicarum libri sex Volume 1 (Heterodoxia Iberica, 6)
InvestigationsintoMagic,anEditionandTranslationofMartínDelRío’s Disquisitionummagicarumlibrisex Heterodoxia Iberica GeneralEditor JorgeLedo(UniversidadedaCoruña) EditorialBoard FernandoBouza(UniversidadComplutense) NuriadeCastilla(EcolePratiquedesHautesEtudes,psl,Paris) MercedesGarcía-Arenal(ConsejoSuperiordeInvestigacionesCientíficas) IgnacioJ.GarcíaPinilla(UniversidaddeCastilla–LaMancha) CarlosGilly(BibliothecaPhilosophicaHermetica –UniversitätBasel) LuisGirónNegrón(HarvardUniversity) JonathanIsrael(InstituteforAdvancedStudy –PrincetonUniversity) XavierTubau(ConsejoSuperiordeInvestigacionesCientíficas) MaríaJoséVega(UniversitatAutònomadeBarcelona) JoséLuisVillacañas(UniversidadComplutense,Madrid) volume 6.1 Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hdib Investigations into Magic, an Edition and Translation of Martín Del Río’s Disquisitionum magicarum libri sex Volume1 By PeterMaxwell-Stuart JoséManuelGarcíaValverde leiden | boston Coverillustration:HeiligeAntoniusdeGrotevanEgypte(AntoniusAbt)alskluizenaarmetdeduivelin verschillendegedaantendieheminverzoekingbrengen,designedbyAbrahamBloemaertandprintedby BoëtiusAdamszBloswertbetween1590–1612.Rijksmuseumobjectnumber:RP-P-BI-2342.PublicDomain. TheLibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailableonlineathttp://catalog.loc.gov lcrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2022021610 TypefacefortheLatin,Greek,andCyrillicscripts:“Brill”.Seeanddownload:brill.com/brill‑typeface. issn2213-0594 isbn978-90-04-44154-5(hardback) isbn978-90-04-44153-8(e-book) Copyright2022byP.G.Maxwell-StuartandJ.M.G.Valverde.PublishedbyKoninklijkeBrillnv,Leiden, TheNetherlands. KoninklijkeBrillnvincorporatestheimprintsBrill,BrillNijhoff,BrillHotei,BrillSchöningh,BrillFink, Brillmentis,Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,BöhlauandV&Runipress. KoninklijkeBrillnvreservestherighttoprotectthispublicationagainstunauthorizeduse.Requestsfor re-useand/ortranslationsmustbeaddressedtoKoninklijkeBrillnvviabrill.comorcopyright.com. Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaperandproducedinasustainablemanner. Contents Introduction 1 NoteontheLatinText 51 Disquisitionummagicarumlibrisex Defence,orApologia 54 LettertoPrinceErnst 70 Poems 76 Approvals 100 Prologue 108 Book1:OnMagicinGeneral,andonNaturalandArtificialMagicin Particular 130 1 SuperstitionandIts[various]types 130 2 Magic,ItsTypes,andtheDifferentWordsfor‘Magician’ 136 3 NaturalMagic,ortheMagicWhichRelatestotheCreated Universe 148 3.1 WhatBearingDoHeavenlyAspectsandInfluxesHaveonthe PerformanceofMagic? 164 3.2 CanMagicalPerformancesofThisKind,WhichResembleMiracles, AriseFromaHumanBeing’sNaturalTemperament? 178 3.3 HowGreatisthePoweroftheImagination,andWhatSortofThing IsIt,inRespectofTheseWonderfulEffects? 180 3.4 CanWoundsandDiseasesBeCuredSimplybyTouch,Sight,Voice, Breath,Kiss,orMerelybyBindingwithaLinenCloth,andCanOther ExtraordinaryThingsofThisKindBeAccomplished Naturally? 204 4 InstrumentalMagic 246 4.1 DoCharacters,Rings,Sigils,orImagesHavethekindofPower MagiciansClaim? 260 4.2 IsThereAnyMagicalPowerintheNumbersUsedinArithmeticor Music? 270 4.3 DoWordsorIncantationsHavetheInnatePowertoCuretheSickor AccomplishWonders? 308 4.4 AmuletsandPeriapts 326 vi contents 5 ToWhichTypeofMagicShouldOneAssigntheTechniqueofMaking Gold,Knownas‘Alchemy’? 340 5.1 IsRealGoldMadebymeansofThisTechnique? 340 5.1.1 WhatIsAlchemy,andWhenWasItDiscovered? 342 5.1.2 TheEffectivenessoftheTechniqueofAlchemyinMaking Gold 352 5.1.3 MoreAboutThatSameEffectiveness 380 5.1.4 IsThereAnyLiteratureWhichHasEstablishedThatGold HasBeenMadebyMeansofThisTechnique? 386 5.2 ShouldGold-MakingBeConsideredOneoftheNobleArtsorClassed asWorkforArtisans? 394 5.3 ToWhatTypeofMagicDoes[Alchemy]Belong? 396 5.4 IsAlchemyLawfulorUnlawful? 406 Bibliography 431 IndextoBook1 442 Introduction 1 DelRío’sLifeandLiteraryCorpus Callimachusissaidtohaveobserved,μέγαβιβλίον,μέγακακόν,‘abigbookis a big evil,’ and since Del Río’s work is large enough in itself, perhaps a long introductionwouldservemerelytotestthereader’spatiencetobreakingpoint whereasheorshewillneedeveryounceofittocopewiththeimmensedetail withwhichDelRíoembellishedwhatheclearlyintendedtobetheultimate word on the subject. These preliminary words will therefore be kept as few aspossibleinordertoletDelRíospeakforhimself.Isheworththereader’s effort? Yes, he is. To be sure, he is not an easy companion and, indeed, can sometimesbeexasperating,buthissheerdiligenceinanagewithouttheready aids of modern scholarship, not to mention his battles with increasing bad healthandnear-blindnessandthediscomfortsanddangers(toexpressthem no more vividly than that) of sixteenth-century travel by land and sea in a Europerivenbywarandlocallawlessness,elicitone’sadmirationandthis,in turn,increasesone’scuriositytofindoutwhathehastosay.Forallitslength, hisbookisnomeredryorramblingcompilationofquotations;norisitsimply are-hashof whatothershadsaidadozentimesbefore.Itisindeedpartlyan exhaustivesurveyofmaterialrelatingtomagicandalliedbeliefs,practices,and theories, but it is also a record of one man’s quirky, but carefully-considered meditationuponaninteractionbetweenthephysicalandnon-physicalworlds which seemed to be growing rapidly out of control and posing a an existen- tialmenacetohumanity.ItisperhapsnoaccidentthatDelRíowasaJesuit, a member of God’s shock-troops whose task was to fight the forces, human or not, which threatened to subvert God’s plan for the well-being and salva- tionofHiscreation.Awarisnotwonbytacticsalone.Strategyisessentialand strategydependsonasfullanunderstandingaspossibleoftheenemyinallhis strengths,weaknesses,andlikelyintentions.HenceDelRío’sthoroughness.He sawhimself notonlyasaspokesmanfortheCatholicChurch,butalsoasher doughtydefenderandprincipalstrategist,sincehisworkwaslayingthefound- ationsof herfutureinvincibilityinherstrugglewiththeforcesof evilinthe secularworld.Hisintentions(andindeedachievement)inthe Disquisitiones thus go well beyond those of any other contemporary writer on the subject- matter,whoseaimswereingeneralmorelimitedandlessgrandiose,andhis voice,whichnotonlyinformsthewholework,butbreaksthroughhistextover andoveragain,isnotmerelycombative,butassuredanddistinctiveinaway whichcommandsthereader’scloseattention. © P.G.Maxwell-StuartandJ.M.G.Valverde,2022 | doi:10.1163/9789004441538_002 2 introduction MartínAntoniodelRíowasbornon17thMay1551inAntwerpwhichwas then a bustling trading-centrein the Duchyof Brabantin the Spanish Neth- erlands. Nomenclature can be misleading. During the sixteenth century, for example,‘theNetherlands’includedterritoriesremarkablydifferentincharac- ter,language,andgovernment,nottomentionreligionlateron,owingpolit- ical allegiance to rulers as disparate as the Spanish Habsburgs, the Church, theSpanishCrown,andindependentDutchauthorities.‘Belgium,’too,aterm whichappearsquitefrequentlyinDelRío’swork,ineffectreferredtotheSpan- ish Netherlands during his life-time, that is, territories governed de facto by PhilipiiofSpainasaresult,firstofCharlesv’sdeclarationin1549thatthesev- enteenprovincesofwhichtheywereconstitutedwasaHabsburgfiefdomand then,from1556onwards,afterCharlesv’sabdicationasHolyRomanEmperor andthesuccessionof PhilipiitotheSpanishthrone.1Itwasnotlongbefore this led to a revolt and in 1568, in part at least because of a growth of rad- icalformsofProtestantism,especiallyCalvinism,whichmadethemselvesfelt throughouttheNetherlands,andthestrongcounter-measuresadoptedbythe Spanishauthorities,theopeningsalvoeswerefiredinaconflictwhichwould laterbetermed‘theEightyYearsWar.’AsignificantpartofDelRío’slife,there- fore,sawhisnativecountry(althoughhemaynothavevieweditinquitethose terms)rivenbypoliticalinstabilityandreligioustension.Indeed,thisinstabil- ity and tension affected him and his family personally, and it was not until hejoinedtheSocietyof Jesusin1580—notintheNetherlands,butinSpain, the land of his parents’ birth—that politics moved from the forefront of his mind to the back and were replaced, perhaps not entirely, but certainly for the most part, by religion and the battle, as he saw it, for higher truth. His father,AntonioDelRío,wasaSpanishmerchant,originallyfromCastile,and his mother, Eleonora López deVillanova, also came from merchant stock in Aragon.2Antwerphaddevelopedintoamajorportconcentratingonthecom- merceof fairlyexpensiveitemsandattractedalargenumberof Spanishand Portuguese traders. Friso Wielenga succinctly expresses its situation at this time: 1 TheyconsistedoftheDuchiesofBrabant,Limberg,Luxembourg,andpartofGuelders,the CountiesofArtois,Flanders,Namur,andHainaut,theLordshipofMechelen,cityofTournai, andthesurroundingarea,andthePrince-BishopricofCambrai. 2 AmarginalnotetoacopyofRosweyde’sLife,heldinthePlantin-MoretusMuseum,saysthat ‘amongserious-mindedmeninSpain,therewasdisagreementaboutwhetherthenamesDelrio andDelrío[Delrius]wereoneandthesameordifferent,adoubtwhichcausedthechangeof names,’i.e.fromDelRiotoDelRío.IamgratefultoJanMachielsenforprovidingmewitha copyofthesemarginalia. introduction 3 Athrivingeconomicandmilitarystrategicnorthernhubwasbuildingup roundAntwerp,andthiswasofkeysignificancetotheconsolidationand expansionofthepositionoftheHabsburgsinEuropeandtherestofthe world.3 AsamemberoftheSpanishinfluxwhichwascomingtodominatethehigher echelonsofAntwerpsociety,Martín,therefore,alongwithhisyoungerbrother, Jerónimo, grew up in comfortable surroundings and in what would now be called an upwardly-mobile family which had high expectations of itself and itsimmediatefutureandatonepointtheirfather,accordingtoHeribertRos- weyde,wasabletobuildanew,almostpalatialfamilyhomeinoneofthemost fashionableandexpensivepartsof thecity,wheretheDelRíosreceivedand entertainedMargaretofParmaandtheDukeofAlba,twogovernors-generalof theSpanishNetherlands,whentheystayedinAntwerp. RosweydetellsusthatMartínreceivedatleastpartof hisearlyeducation in Lier which is about eighteen miles south-east of Antwerp.Why did he go thereratherthanstayinAntwerp?Theanswermaylieintheincreasedstatus andfreshpropertyacquiredbyhisfatherAntonio.In1557heboughtthecastle andlordshipofCleydaelwhichisnearlysevenmilesduesouthofAntwerpand then, in 1561, when Martín was just over ten years old, Antonio bought him the seigniorial rights of Aartselaar which is just over seven miles due south of Antwerpandonlyaboutoneandahalf milessouth-eastof Cleydael.Lier, however,isnearlyeighteenandahalfmilesfromAntwerp,nearlythirteenfrom Cleydael, and nearly thirteen again from Aartselaar.These distances suggest it would have been too far for Martín, still a child at this time, to have trav- elled from either Antwerp or Cleydael or Aartselaar to Lier on a daily basis, andthatthereforethatitismorelikelyheeitherreceivedthemajorityof his education, at any rate, in Antwerp, or was sent away, as Erasmus was at the ageof nine,tobenefitfromaschoolparticularlyknownforitsClassicaledu- cation.4 It included a good grounding in Latin and Greek, to which he later addedHebrewandaworkingknowledgeof Chaldee[Aramaic].Hewillalso 3 AHistoryoftheNetherlands,11. 4 ErasmuswassenttoDeventer,whichisc.89milesawayfromhisbirthplaceofRotterdam. TheschooltherehadagreatreputationforitsLatinteaching.Lierhadbeensufficientlynote- worthyin1425tohavebeenofferedthechanceofhostingtheregion’sfirstuniversity,achance itturneddown,whereuponitwasseizedbyLeuvenwhichwasthengranteditsfoundationin aPapalBullofPopeMartinv.SinceeducationdoesnotseemtohavebeenoneofLier’spri- oritiesatthetime,itisthereforesomewhatdifficult(quiteapartfromthepracticaltravelling difficulties)toseewhyDelRíowouldhavegonethereatall,letalonespentanyprotracted periodthereunlessithadhadasimilarlyrenownedschool.
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