Unlocked Books: Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe (Magic in History) PDF
Preview Unlocked Books: Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe (Magic in History)
magic hisitno ry continued from front flap Láng helps chart for us how the thinkers of L during the Middle Ages, the á y that day—clerics, courtiers, and university n Western world translated the incredible masters—included in their libraries not g r Arabic scientific corpus and imported it only scientific and religious treatises but U into Western culture: Arabic philosophy, o n also texts related to the field of learned optics, and physics, as well as alchemy, l magic. These texts were all enlisted to solve o t astrology, and talismanic magic. The line c life’s questions, whether they related to k between the scientific and the magical s e the outcome of an illness or the meaning was blurred. According to popular lore, d i of lines on one’s palm. Texts summoned magicians of the Middle Ages were trained m a g i c h i s t o r y B angels or transmitted the recipe for a magic o h in the art of magic in “magician schools” Unlocked Books in o potion. Láng gathers magical texts that located in various metropolitan areas, k s e r i e s could have been used by practitioners in s such as Naples, Athens, and Toledo. late fifteenth-century central Europe. n of in the It was common knowledge that magic General editors Manuscripts Learned Magic was learned and that cities had schools richard kieckhefer and claire fanGer L M M of ibr ag an i MedievaL Libraries centraL europe designed to teach the dark arts. The ariinic usc Benedek Láng Spanish city of Toledo, for example, was es thri c so renowned for its magic training schools Benedek Láng is Assistant of cee Meopts i that “the art of Toledo” was synonymous Professor in the Department of ntr dievf Lea g wLáitnhg “’st hweo arrkt oonf mUangloicck.” eUd nBtoilo Bkse, nlietdtleek h ad Philosophy and History of Science, a a r Budapest University of Technology and L e L ne a been known about the place of magic Economics. uro d m outside these major cities. A principal aim p of Unlocked Books is to situate the role of e central Europe as a center for the study of magic. jacket illustration: Planetary figures from the pennsylvania state University press the Picatrix, BJ 793, fol. 190r. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. University park, pennsylvania www.psUpress.orG Jacket design by Regina Starace continued on back flap iIsSbBn N978 9-07-2871--003-32777-18-03377-8 90000 penn state 9 780271 033778 press 00 Front:Sample.qxd 10/10/2008 8:51 AM Page i U B 00 Front:Sample.qxd 10/10/2008 8:51 AM Page ii THE MAGIC IN HISTORY SERIES FORBIDDEN RITES A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century Richard Kieckhefer CONJURING SPIRITS Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic Claire Fanger RITUAL MAGIC Elizabeth M. Butler THE FORTUNES OF FAUST Elizabeth M. Butler THE BATHHOUSE AT MIDNIGHT An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia W. F. Ryan SPIRITUAL AND DEMONIC MAGIC From Ficino to Campanella D. P. Walker ICONS OF POWER Ritual Practices in Late Antiquity Naomi Janowitz BATTLING DEMONS Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages Michael D. Bailey PRAYER, MAGIC, AND THE STARS IN THE LATE ANCIENT AND ANTIQUE WORLD Scott Noegel Joel Walker Brannon Wheeler BINDING WORDS Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages Don C. Skemer STRANGE REVELATIONS Magic, Poison, and Sacrilege in Louis XIV’s France Lynn Wood Mollenauer UNLOCKED BOOKS Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries in Central Europe Benedek Láng The Magic in History series explores the role magic and the occult have played in European culture, religion, science, and politics. Titles in the series will bring the resources of cultural, literary, and social history to bear on the history of the magic arts, and will contribute towards an understanding of why the theory and practice of magic have elicited fascination at every level of European society. Volumes will include both editions of important texts and significant new research in the field. 00 Front:Sample.qxd 10/10/2008 8:51 AM Page iii M H U B M L M M L C E B L , 00 Front:Sample.qxd 10/10/2008 8:51 AM Page iv Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Láng, Benedek, 1974– Unlocked books : manuscripts of learned magic in the medieval libraries of Central Europe / Benedek Láng. p. cm.—(Magic in history series) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. Summary: “Presents and analyzes texts of learned magic written in medieval Central Europe (Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary), and attempts to identify their authors, readers, and collectors”—Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-0-271-03377-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Magic—Manuscripts. 2. Manuscripts, Medieval. I. Title. BF1593.L36 2008 133.4'309430902—dc22 2008013593 Copyright © 2008 The Pennsylvania State University All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA 16802-1003 The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses. It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper. This book is printed on Natures Natural, containing 50% post-consumer waste, and meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Material, ANSI Z39.48–1992. Disclaimer: Some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook. 00 Front:Sample.qxd 10/10/2008 8:51 AM Page v C L I vii A ix L A xiii I: I S M S 1 PART ONE: MAGIC 1 D C 17 PART TWO: TEXTS AND HANDBOOKS I: T S M 47 2 N M 51 3 I M 79 4 D D 123 5 A 144 6 R M C 162 PART THREE: READERS AND COLLECTORS I: T M I S 191 7 M C C 194 8 M C C 209 9 M U C 241 00 Front:Sample.qxd 10/10/2008 8:51 AM Page vi vi C C: Seven Questions 265 E: When Central Europe Was Finally Close to Becoming a Center for Magical Studies 276 A 281 S B 295 D S M 319 G I 329 I M 333 00 Front:Sample.qxd 10/10/2008 8:51 AM Page vii I 1 Magical cure against toothache. Prague, PNK XI C 2, fol. 146v. Courtesy of the Národní knihovna ČR. 66 2 Bellifortis: a military instrument. Göttingen, Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. Philos. 63, fol. 109r. Courtesy of the Universitätsbibliothek. 73 3 Bellifortis: a military instrument. Göttingen, Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. Philos. 63, fol. 38v. Courtesy of the Universitätsbibliothek. 74 4 Bellifortis: summoning of spirits. Göttingen, Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. Philos. 63, fol. 94r. Courtesy of the Universitätsbibliothek. 75 5 De septem quadraturis planetarum.Kraków, BJ 793, fol. 60r. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 84 6 Geomantic divination.Kraków, BJ 793, fol. 67r. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 86 7 Geomantic divination.Kraków, BJ 793, fol. 71v. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 87 8 Geomantic divination.Kraków, BJ 793, fol. 73v. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 88 9 Geomantic divination.Kraków, BJ 793, fol. 75r. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 89 10 Sphera Pythagorae.Kraków, BJ 793, fol. 86r. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 90 11 Picatrix: planetary figures.Kraków, BJ 793, fol. 190r. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 99 12 Picatrix: planetary figures.Kraków, BJ 793, fol. 191v. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 100 13 Picatrix: decanic figures.Kraków, BJ 793, fol. 193v. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 101 14 Picatrix: decanic figures.Kraków, BJ 793, fol. 197r. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 102 15 Liber runarum: magical runes. SLB N 100, fol. 198r. Courtesy of the Sächsische Landesbibliothek. 111 00 Front:Sample.qxd 10/10/2008 8:51 AM Page viii viii L I 16 Liber runarum: magical runes. BAV Pal. Lat. 1439, fol. 348r. © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican). 112 17 Rota runarum.BAV Pal. Lat. 1439, fol. 199r. © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican). 113 18 De imaginibus septem planetarum by Belenus: karacteres planetarum. BAV Pal. Lat. 1375, fol. 270v. © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican). 117 19 Chiromantia delineata.Kraków, BJ 551, fol. 117r. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 127 20 Ciromantia ex diversis libris collecta. BAV Pal. Lat. 1396, fol. 91r. © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican). 129 21 Sphera Pythagorae with a cryptographic title. BAV Pal. Lat. 1375, fol. 44r. © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican). 131 22 Cryptographic alphabets. BAV Pal. Lat. 1375, fol. 19r. © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican). 132 23 Sphera Pythagorae. Prague, PNK I F 35, fol. 60v. Courtesy of the Národní knihovna ČR. 133 24 Magical mirror. Dresden, Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen. Photo by Peter Müller. 139 25 Drawing on Solomon’s rings. Prague, PNKI F 35, fol. 466v. Courtesy of the Národní knihovna ČR. 141 26 The Holy Spirit as the supervisor of the alchemical process.Kraków, BJ 837, fol. 9v. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 153 27 Alchemical retort.Kraków, BJ 837, fol. 10r. Courtesy of the Biblioteka Jagiellońska. 154 28 Magical mirror from Rostock. Drawing by W. L. Braekman (Societas Magica Newsletter, Winter 2001). Reproduced with the kind permission of W. L. Braekman. 171 29 The prayer book of Wladislas: the king and the crystal. Oxford, Bodleian Library,Rawl. liturg. d. 6, fol. 15r. Courtesy of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. 176 30 The prayer book of Wladislas: the king and the angels. Oxford, Bodleian Library,Rawl. liturg. d. 6, fol. 72r. Courtesy of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. 177 00 Front:Sample.qxd 10/10/2008 8:51 AM Page ix A Completing a long-term project offers the pleasure of acknowledging the gener- ous help of all those scholars and friends who participated in the process of its preparation and provided scholarly and personal help, support, and encouragement, and without whom the final version would be less worthwhile to read. Looking at the long list of the names, one might think that this work is more of a communal effort than the fruit of individual res earch. Indeed, the following book was born— more than most scholarly achievements—as a result of collective work, without implying, of course, that any conscious plagiarism has been committed. I am first of all indebted to Gábor Klaniczay, not only because he was the super- visor of the doctoral dissertation on which this book was based, but also because it was in his seminars where I first read in the secondary literature that medieval magicians (whoever they were) actually produced written material. I am no less grateful to Paolo Lucentini, who introduced me to the complicated tradition of Hermetic texts, letting me consult his library and giving me access to the unpub- lished material of the “Hermes Latinus” editorial project. My third guide in the labyrinth of medieval sources was Charles Burnett from the Warburg Institute, who supplied me with a great number of unpublished articles and microfilms. My chapters on the notion of magic and the Central European use of the ars notoria—a medieval genre of ritual magic—owe enormous debts to Claire Fanger, who made an exciting discovery in my own field, a “trouvaille” that I hope I would have made, had I been more thorough in my research (see my chapter on the royal prayer book of King Wladislas). Much scholarly advice was offered by Richard Kieckhefer, who also provided me with helpful instructions on how to restructure the book to make it accessible to an audience that extends beyond a modest circle of specialists. No less helpful and useful were the kind suggestions and corrections of György Endre Szőnyi, who helped me over a number of years, by reading and improving my writings and by introducing me to the vast secondary literature per- taining to Renaissance magic. The approach to magical sources shown in my work rests on the conviction that no meaningful account can be given on learned magic unless we situate it in the framework of the history of science of that period. This conviction is the fruit of long and regular consultations with the philosopher Márta Fehér, who provided me with philosophical training that has always had a profound influence on my work.
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