Necromancy – Explicitly Demonic

Necromancy – explicitly demonic Women – access to herbs, use of natural remedies in healing which also involved magic Divination – hidden information and past, present and future Natural magic – often used for healing, divination, etc Healing magic Astrological magic – protective talismans and amulets None of these types are explicitly demonic Necromancy – people know what they are doing is illicit, involves engaging with demons – that’s why they remained secret among men, relating to learned culture Relationship between magic and religion? Complex opinion on whether things are religion on magic Changing concerns over time – concerns move from paganism to Arabic magic Church struggled to define the boundaries of magic Later, there was an idea that people should know better Relationship between magic and science? Difficulty deciding difference between magic and early science Problems with the term magic in our contemporary use of it when studying this period At the time, things were not distinguished in this way Difference between consciousness of what is being done and not considering it to be magic, or demonic – contrast with outside perceptions of it What is a demon? Fallen angels Working with the devil Demons taking on physical forms – likeness and appearance of a person Pre C12 – most demonic stories were psychological battles – after this there was a new trend of demons physically interacting with people Demons are genderless – male-appearing is incubus, female-appearing is succubus Tricksters, servants of Satan Kieckhefer – Necromancy and the Clerical Underworld Cleric – anyone who was ordained – more similar to the English word clerk – could be a member of a minor order – some form of church education o All university students were ordained too – so may never serve the church, but were technically clerics Anyone who was learned and had been ordained – most books were produced by university men Preachers – members of the mendicant orders – Dominicans, Franciscans (Dominicans were key in the inquisition) – would go to university and manage courses in theology o Public preaching was required to complete degree People using this magic and justifying it Magic appears in medical texts – these would have been written by religious men Rituals and instructions in necromantic texts suggest an education – also similar to exorcisms o Detailed, specific knowledge – required a higher level of learning and knowledge, related to other religious rituals o Timed to a monk’s schedule – rituals would be said at the same time as prayers would be in monasteries Use of readily available equipment – private space, not references to herbs and spices, use of holy water/oil, parchment, Bibles (often placed inside the circle to prevent demons from entering the personal space), mirrors Use of Hebrew (or Arabic) rather than Latin – clear sign that this was demonic Looked like conjuring angels going wrong – but the texts being written not in Latin was a problem o 5 pointed star associated with Judaism and with Venus Nigromancy vs. Necromancy Nigromancy – black magic, magic done for evil purposes, only for causing ill Necromancy – a specific type of magic – can be magic done for evil, but more specific than nigromancy Dialogue on Miracles and necromancy Phillip the clerk as the necromancer – not the recipient of necromancy, but the person people go to if they wish for necromancy to be carried out – a practitioner who does magic on behalf of others o Necromancy used by those not skilled in the art, but who wished for it to be performed Scholars – students of necromancy who are not yet skilled in it o Wanted a visible demonstration of it Sense that people were taught necromancy on the side of their other studies, in more secrecy Idea that Phillip was unkeen to engage in necromancy – idea that something bad was going to happen o Ignoring the master results in death – because he disobeyed the rules of the circle (idea that this is what happens when people disobey their masters) Person who misbehaves has to atone for the rest of his life – must repent for sins Description of hell – to warn people not to sin and to prove the existence of hell and the fact that sin would be punished an you had to care for your soul Subjects in the story are looking for proof that demons exist and that necromancy works – people had heard about it, but wanted to see the existence of it Linked to idea of the afterlife and heaven and hell Condemning necromancy, but proving orthodox belief by proving the existence of hell Necromancy pays student loans Necromancy takes place at crossroads Circle protects people from the demons and harm Demon’s appearance – is a large man, cloaked, dark, hideous, masculine – supporting theological beliefs held by the orthodox church Demon implied to be serving the master, who summoned him Necromancer must be male – as a woman could not control a human man, let alone the devil Clients of necromancers could harm necromancers Necromancers could be killed by the devil Designed to dissuade people from engaging in necromancy, whilst affirming theological views of the time Used within sermons – lacks value in what it can tell us about how necromancy was actually carried out Vagueness – didn’t want to reveal specific details? But probably some underlying accuracy – needed to be believable Wishing to distance self from the necromancers Often necromancers are said to be Jewish Necromancy used to increase wealth and status R. Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, Ch. 7. In this chapter, Kieckhefer discusses the idea of a ‘clerical underworld’ in the later medieval period. Within his discussion of this concept, he suggests that it is often hard to define what a cleric was in the medieval world, as the boundaries of this were unclear. However, there was certainly a sense of the kind of person who performed necromancy at this time. Kieckhefer then discusses necromancy again, talking about how this was an important aspect of ritual magic. He breaks this down into its several features, such as the use of magic circles and conjuration. Following this, he looks at the other kinds of magic to which necromancy was related, such as astral magic and exorcisms, and explains how it combined features of the two. Another interesting angle from which to study necromancy that Kieckhefer is well aware of is in exempla – here, he discusses the methods preachers used to discourage their congregations from engaging in it, though draws attention to possible historiographical concerns here: shouldn’t preachers really have been saying this to clerics? 151: John of Salisbury’s Politicraticus talks about the use of learned magic which was characterised by divination and the use of reciting the names of demons o John suggested he was exploited by his teacher’s doing so of this, saying that using such magic resulted in issues in later life – unless you repented There are other books, such as the Munich handbook, which similarly discuss how to conjure demons to gain information 152: Kieckhefer uses this to support his argument that there was a clear ‘clerical underworld’ of magic during the later Middle Ages, with magic being enacted by churchmen o A further example of this which he cites is the charges assembled by Anselm of Besate against his cousin (which may have been rhetorical), but highlight the practice of magic by clerics, using ‘diabolical words’ to perform necromancy Necromancy: originally meant divination by conjuring the spirits of the dead, but later involved the idea of demons taking on the appearance of dead people – so necromancy came to be the conjuring of demons (explicitly demonic) 153: He suggests that most of the people accused of necromancy were clerics (which could mean anyone in the lower orders, or bound to become a monk) – all steps on the ladder to priesthood o So, a ‘clerk’ was someone who had not been ordained but who helped the priest in many different ways However, he stresses that the term is highly difficult to define – some of these people went to university, others did not – but they were usually expected to know something of Latin, ritual and doctrine 154: Sometimes these people could do other jobs, whilst still claiming to be clerics and enjoying the benefits of the clergy Kieckhefer outlines the different rolls people could do in the church – such as ‘chantry priests’ who would say masses for people’s souls after death, but would only have to do so for a certain amount of time each day and would then have free time o Perhaps necromancy was a foolish use of their free time Monks could also be in the clerical underworld, he argues 155: Sometimes monks from monasteries which needed reform could enter such practices, such as John of Vallombrosa, who learned the art of necromancy and carried it out in secrecy; in a similar way, friars could also do so – we have evidence of many different figures doing this o Of course, some people who were not clerics may engage in this magic, but for the most part, they were clerics In terms of their similarities, these groups all had a little learning (of things like exorcism) and were an organised group 156: Some saw necromancy as something performed by the young, who later outgrew it, but this was not always the case 157: Nicholas Eymericus read books about necromancy and then had them burned in public, saying that they were sinful – but he also therefore had a wide understanding of necromancy compared to some o The books he read also discussed

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