RENAISSANCE LEARNED MAGICAL TRADITION
I. "Renaissance":
14-15th C. Italy
cultural & educational movement;
recovery of
ancient Greek and Latin
texts
new
curriculum: grammar, rhetoric,
history, poetry, moral
philosophy
Dates:
1450's invention of
the printing press
1453 fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks
1460 translation of Plato by Marsilio
Ficino
(from Greek to Latin); commissioned by
Cosimo de Medici of Florence (d.
1464)
II. Learned Magical
Traditions: Key
of Solomon: handwritten medieval magical texts
The Hermetic writings: central magical text of Renaissance
Greek texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (“thrice
great”)
thought to be ancient Egyptian priest, contemporary of
Moses
prisca theologia (early theology) separate
revelation
Books: Asclepius--on magical Egyptian religion
Pimander--on creation of world
1614: Issac Casaubon correctly dates Hermetic writings
to 2-3rd C. AD Greece (i.e. not Egyptian)
Marsilio
Ficino: translates Plato & hermetic corpus
1489 Libri Di Vita (Books of Life)
hermetic theory of natural, astrological
magic
talismans: as objects reflecting astral influence
Cornelius
Agrippa von Netteshein
1510
to 1530 De Occulta Philosophia (On Hidden
Philosophy)
textbook of
Renaissance magic
Levels
of magical
power:
Natural magic--power of words and names
Celestial magic--numerology and astrology
Ceremonial magic--appeals to
spirits
III. FAUST LEGEND
Image of scholar as sorcerer from Renaissance magic
interest in "occult" topics at universities
George Faustus of Heidelberg 1540
real scholar with reputation for magic
1587: 1st FAUSTBUCH (Faust Book) published in Germany
1588-92: Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus in England
Further reading:
Frances Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic
Tradition
Ingrid Rowland,
Giordano Bruno 2008