
Unlocked Books
Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe
Benedek Láng
Unlocked Books
Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe
Benedek Láng
“Unlocked Books demonstrates the rich possibilities of research in this field. . . . the unknown plains of Central European medieval science are truly exciting territory.”
- Description
- Reviews
- Bio
- Table of Contents
- Sample Chapters
- Subjects
Láng 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. Láng gathers magical texts that could have been used by practitioners in late fifteenth-century central Europe.
“Unlocked Books demonstrates the rich possibilities of research in this field. . . . the unknown plains of Central European medieval science are truly exciting territory.”
Benedek Láng is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: In Search of Magician Schools
Part One: Magic
1. Definitions and Classifications
Part Two: Texts and Handbooks
2. Natural Magic
3. Image Magic
4. Divination with Diagrams
5. Alchemy
6. Ritual Magic and Crystallomancy
Part Three: Readers and Collectors
7. Magic in the Clerical Context
8. Magic in the Courtly Context
9. Magic in the University Context
Conclusion: Seven Questions
Epilogue: When Central Europe Was Finally Close to Becoming a Center for Magical Studies
Appendixes
Selected Bibliography
Description of Selected Manuscripts
Index
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Also of Interest
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