MEDIEVAL RITUAL MAGIC in the RENAISSANCE Frances

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 an- cient texts, particularly hermetic and neoplatonic works. At the same time, Yates argued, the principle point of continuity between medieval and Renais- sance magic could be found in several areas: common astrological supposi- tions; 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 framework 1. Thus when she spoke of Ficino’s 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 Ficino’s debt to the Picatrix2. Subsequent scholars have continued along these paths. The most significant in the case of Ficino would be Brian Copenhaver’s studies of Ficino’s debts to Plotinus, Proclus, Iamblichus, and Thomas Aquinas, and more recently, Nicholas Weill-Parot’s 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 right 4. The importance 1 Yates, Giordano Bruno , 80-1. 2 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 for- tunes 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 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2003 Aries Vol. 3, no. 2 MEDIEVAL RITUAL MAGIC IN THE RENAISSANCE 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 magic5. 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 Nauert’s lead, admitting a probable influence but focusing instead upon other sorts of sources 7. 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. How- ever, 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 ignore8. 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 disa- reactions 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 Augustine’s . 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 Gösta Hedegård 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 Rational- ity of Medieval Magic’, ‘Erotic Magic in Medieval Europe’, and ‘The Devil’s 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 Monk’s 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 Transfor- mations of Magic ..

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