The Transformat i ons of M agic

Klaassen_FM.indd 1 11/26/12 6:07 PM

 T HE MAGIC IN HIST ORY SERIES

FORBIDDEN RITES BAT TLING DEMONS

A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the
Richard Kieckhefer Late Middle Ages
Michael D. Bailey
CONJURING SPIRITS
Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic PRAYER, MAGIC, AND THE STARS IN THE
Edited by Claire Fanger LATE ANCIENT AND ANTIQUE WORLD
Edited by Scott Noegel, Joel Walker,
RITUAL MAGIC and Brannon Wheeler
Elizabeth M. Butler
BINDING WORDS
THE FORTUNES OF FAUST Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages
Elizabeth M. Butler Don C. Skemer

THE BATHHOUSE AT MIDNIGHT STRANGE REVELATIONS

An Historical Survey of Magic and Magic, Poison, and Sacrilege in
Divination in Russia Louis XIV’s France
W. F. Ryan Lynn Wood Mollenauer

SPIRITUAL AND DEMONIC MAGIC UNLOCKED BOOKS

From Ficino to Campanella Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval
D. P. Walker Libraries of Central Europe
Benedek Láng
ICONS OF POWER
Ritual Practices in Late Antiquity ALCHEMICAL BELIEF
Naomi Janowitz Occultism in the Religious Culture of Early
Modern England
Bruce Janacek

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 bring the resources of cultural, literary, and social history to bear on
the history of the magic arts, and contribute to 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.

Klaassen_FM.indd 2 11/26/12 6:07 PM

 history

T h e T r a n s f orma Tions
o f m agic
in

illiciT learned Magic in the

laTer Middle ages and renaissance
f ra n k k l a a s s e n
magic

T h e p e n n sy lva n i a sTaT e u n i v e r s i T y p r e s s
u n i v e r s i T y pa r k , p e n n sy lva n i a

Sample.indd 3
Klaassen_FM.indd 3 7/20/12 5:54
11/26/12 6:07 PM
PM
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Klaassen, Frank F.
The transformations of magic : illicit learned magic in the later Middle
Ages and Renaissance / Frank Klaassen.
p. cm. — (The magic in history series)
Summary: “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.
Magic and natural philosophy—Scholastic image magic before
1500—Some apparent exceptions: image magic or necromancy?
The ars notoria and the sworn book of Honorius—The magic of demons
and angels—Sixteenth-century collections of magic texts—Medieval
ritual magic and Renaissance magic.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-271-05626-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Magic—Manuscripts—History.
2. Manuscripts, Medieval.
3. Manuscripts, Renaissance.
4. Magic—Religious aspects—Christianity.
5. Magic—England—History.
I. Title.

BF1593.K56 2012
133.4’309—dc23
2012028139

Copyright © 2013 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. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences—­Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Material, ANSI Z39.48–1992.

This book is printed on Nature’s Natural, which contains

30% post-consumer waste.

Klaassen_FM.indd 4 11/26/12 6:07 PM

 For my parents
Ruth and Walter Klaassen

Klaassen_FM.indd 5 11/26/12 6:07 PM

Klaassen_FM.indd 6 11/26/12 6:07 PM