The place of magic in the intellectual history of EuropeThorndike, Lynn
History
The place of magic in the intellectual history of Europe
Thorndike, Lynn
Magic -- Europe -- History
Footnote 1:
H. C. Lea, _History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages_ (1887),
vol. iii, p. 437. Mr. Lea’s chapter on “Sorcery and the Occult Arts”
is very interesting and contains much material which it is difficult
to find elsewhere.
Footnote 2:
We speak of persons as jovial or saturnine or mercurial in
temperament; as ill-starred, and so on.
Footnote 3:
The classic on the theme of magic reputations incurred by the learned
in ancient and mediæval times is Gabriel Naudé’s “_Apologie pour tous
les grands personages qui ont esté faussement soupçonnez de Magie_.”
Paris, 1625. That such reputations were often unjustly incurred was
recognized long before Naudé, however. To say nothing now of Apuleius’
_Apologia_, to which we shall refer later, attention may be called to
the fact that even William of Malmesbury, while relating with apparent
credulity the legends in regard to Gerbert, had the grace to admit
that “the common people often attack the reputation of the learned,
and accuse any one of dealing with the devil who excels in his art.”
_Gesta Regum Anglorum_, book ii, secs. 167, 168.
Footnote 4:
_République_, book iv, ch. 2, cited by W. E. H. Lecky, _History of
Rationalism_ (1900), vol. i, p. 28. The chapter upon “Magic and
Witchcraft” contains considerable material bearing upon our theme. A
similar attitude to that of Bodin is found in a political treatise of
about the year 1300, probably written by Pierre du Bois, where an
argument for the universal rule of a French monarch is based on
astrology. N. de Wailly, _Mémoire sur un opuscule anonyme_ (Mémoires
de l’Institut Impérial de France), vol. xviii, pt. ii, p. 442.
Footnote 5:
_Summa Theologica_, pars prima, quæst. 115, arts. 3 and 4.
Footnote 6:
For some data on this point see Hastings Rashdall, _The Universities
of Europe in the Middle Ages_ (1895), vol. i, pp. 240–250; vol. ii,
pp. 290, 452, 458, 459.
Footnote 7:
_Etymologiae_, bk. viii, ch. 9. In Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, vol.
lxxxii.
Footnote 8:
_Ibid._, bk. xvi, _passim_.
Footnote 9:
_Ibid._, bk. iii, ch. 71. He condemned astrology, however. See
_ibid._, and bk. iii, ch. 27.
Footnote 10:
“Liber Numerorum qui in Sanctis Scripturis Occurunt.” (Also in Migne,
vol. lxxxiii, col. 179.) “Non est superfluum numerorum causas in
Scripturis sanctis attendere. Habent enim quamdam scientiae doctrinam
plurimaque mystica sacramenta.”
Footnote 11:
_De Natura Rerum_, ch. 24; _De Temporum Ratione_, ch. 28. The
scientific writing of Bede may be found in vol. vi of his works as
edited by J. A. Giles. London, 1843.
Footnote 12:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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