Unlocked Books: Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe (Magic in History)

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Last edited by MARC Bot
November 29, 2023 | History

Unlocked Books: Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe (Magic in History)

  • 0 Ratings
  • 2 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

"Presents and analyzes texts of learned magic written in medieval Central Europe (Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary), and attempts to identify their authors, readers, and collectors"--Provided by publisher.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
312

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Unlocked Books: Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe (Magic in History)
Unlocked Books: Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe (Magic in History)
2008, Pennsylvania State University Press
Hardcover in English

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Book Details


Table of Contents

Introduction: in search of magician schools
Definitions and classifications
Natural magic
Image magic
Divination with diagrams
Alchemy
Ritual magic and crystallomancy
Magic in the clerical context
Magic in the courtly context
Magic in the university context
Conclusion: seven questions
Epilogue: when Central Europe was finally close to becoming a center for magical studies.

Edition Notes

Based on the author's thesis (doctoral).

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

Published in
University Park, Pa
Series
Magic in history series

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
133.4/309430902
Library of Congress
BF1593 .L36 2008, BF1593.L36 2008

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Number of pages
312

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL16752348M
ISBN 10
0271033770
ISBN 13
9780271033778
LCCN
2008013593
OCLC/WorldCat
218188540
Library Thing
7530616
Goodreads
5046389

Work Description

During the Middle Ages, the Western world translated the incredible Arabic scientific corpus and imported it into Western culture: Arabic philosophy, optics, and physics, as well as alchemy, astrology, and talismanic magic. The line between the scientific and the magical was blurred. According to popular lore, magicians of the Middle Ages were trained in the art of magic in 'magician schools' located in various metropolitan areas, such as Naples, Athens, and Toledo. It was common knowledge that magic was learned and that cities had schools designed to teach the dark arts. The Spanish city of Toledo, for example, was so renowned for its magic training schools that 'the art of Toledo' was synonymous with 'the art of magic.' Until Benedek Lang's work on Unlocked Books, little had been known about the place of magic outside these major cities. A principal aim of Unlocked Books is to situate the role of central Europe as a center for the study of magic. Lang helps chart for us how the thinkers of that day clerics, courtiers, and university masters included in their libraries not only scientific and religious treatises but also texts related to the field of learned magic. These texts were all enlisted to solve life's questions, whether they related to the outcome of an illness or the meaning of lines on one's palm. Texts summoned angels or transmitted the recipe for a magic potion. Lang gathers magical texts that could have been used by practitioners in late fifteenth-century central Europe.

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
November 29, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
December 20, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
July 12, 2014 Edited by Francesca Fiore Edited without comment.
December 3, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Added subjects from MARC records.
December 11, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page