Magic in the Cloister: Pious Motives, Illicit Interests, and Occult Approaches to the Medieval Universe (Magic in History)

During the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries a group of monks with occult interests donated what became a remarkable collection of more than thirty magic texts to the library of the Benedictine abbey of St. Augustine’s in Canterbury. The monks collected texts that provided positive justifications for the practice of magic and books in which works of magic were copied side by side with works of more licit genres. In Magic in the Cloister, Sophie Page uses this collection to explore the gradual shift toward more positive attitudes to magical texts and ideas in medieval Europe. She examines what attracted monks to magic texts, in spite of the dangers involved in studying condemned works, and how the monks combined magic with their intellectual interests and monastic life. By showing how it was possible for religious insiders to integrate magical studies with their orthodox worldview, Magic in the Cloister contributes to a broader understanding of the role of magical texts and ideas and their acceptance in the late Middle Ages. In this original, provocative, well-reasoned, and thoroughly documented book, Frank Klaassen proposes that two principal genres of illicit learned magic occur in late medieval manuscripts: image magic, which could be interpreted and justified in scholastic terms, and ritual magic (in its extreme form, overt necromancy), which could not. Image magic tended to be recopied faithfully; ritual magic tended to be adapted and reworked. These two forms of magic did not usually become intermingled in the manuscripts, but were presented separately. While image magic was often copied in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, The Transformations of Magic demonstrates that interest in it as an independent genre declined precipitously around 1500. Instead, what persisted was the other, more problematic form of magic: ritual magic. Klaassen shows that texts of medieval ritual magic were cherished in the sixteenth century, and writers of new magical treatises, such as Agrippa von Nettesheim and John Dee, were far more deeply indebted to medieval tradition—and specifically to the medieval tradition of ritual magic—than previous scholars have thought them to be. During the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries a group of monks with occult interests donated what became a remarkable collection of more than thirty magic texts to the library of the Benedictine abbey of St. Augustine's in Canterbury. The monks collected texts that provided positive justifications for the practice of magic and books in which works of magic were copied side by side with works of more licit genres. In Magic in the Cloister , Sophie Page uses this collection to explore the gradual shift toward more positive attitudes to magical texts and ideas in medieval Europe. She examines what attracted monks to magic texts, works, and how they combined magic with their intellectual interests and monastic life. By showing how it was possible for religious insiders to integrate magical studies with their orthodox worldview, Magic in the Cloister contributes to a broader understanding of the role of magical texts and ideas and their acceptance in the late Middle Ages. "During the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, a group of monks with occult interests donated what became a remakable collection of more than thirty magic texts to the library of the Benedictine abbey of St. Augustine's in Canterbury. The monks collected texts that provided positive justifications for the practice of magic and books in which works of magic were copied side by side with works of more licit genres. In Magic in the Cloister, Sophie Page uses this collection to explore the gradual shift toward more positive attitudes to magical texts and ideas in medieval Europe. She examines what attracted monks to magic texts, in spite of the dangers involved in studying condemned works, and how the monks combined magic with their intellectual interests and monastic life."--Flap of dust jacket Utilizes The Collection Of Magic Texts From The Late Middle Ages At St. Augustine's, Canterbury, To Examine The Orthodoxy Of Magical Approaches To The Medieval Universe And To Show How It Was Possible To Combine Magical Studies With A Monastic Vocation--provided By Publisher. Monks And Their Magic Texts At St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury -- Natural Magic : The Basilisk And The Lodestone -- The Liber Vaccae : Magical Uses Of Monstrous Creations -- Image Magic : Harnessing Power In The Harmonious Universe -- The Liber De Essentia Spirituum : Magic, Revelation, And Fellowship With Spirits -- The Ars Notoria And Its Monastic Audience. Sophie Page. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 215-224) And Index. List of Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction 1 Monks and Their Magic Texts at St. Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury 2 Natural Magic: The Basilisk and the Lodestone 3 The Liber vaccae: Magical Uses of Monstrous Creations 4 Image Magic: Harnessing Power in the Harmonious Universe 5 The Liber de essentia spirituum: Magic, Revelation, and Fellowship with Spirits 6 The Ars notoria and Its Monastic Audience Epilogue John Dee, St. Augustine’s Manuscripts, and Renaissance Magic Appendix 1 Translation of the Glossulae super Librum imaginum lunae Appendix 2 Translation of the Liber de essentia spirituum Notes Selected Bibliography Index "Explores two principal genres of illicit learned magic in late Medieval manuscripts: image magic, which could be interpreted and justified in scholastic terms, and ritual magic, which could not"--Provided by publisher