thorndike, lynn. a history of magic and experimental science,1923,1024p,t2
TRANSCRIPT
AHISTORY OF MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEVOLUME
II
A HISTORY OF MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEDURING THE FIRST THIRTEEN CENTURIES OF OUR ERA
BY
LYNN THORNDIKE
VOLUME
II
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
First published
Copyright 1923 Columbia University Press by The Macmillan Company 1923
ISBNManufactured
0-231-08795-0
in the
United States of America
10 9 8 7
CONTENTSBOOKCHAPTER35.
IV.
THE TWELFTH CENTURYPAGE
The Early
Scholastics: Peter Abelard and OF St. Victor
Hugh3
36.37. 38.
Adelard of Bath William of Conches
14 50
39. 40.
Some Twelfth Century Translators, Chiefly of Astrology from the Arabic Bernard Silvester; Astrology and Geomancy Saint Hildegard of Bingen.
66 99124155
.
41.42.
John
of Salisbury
Daniel of Morley and Roger of HerefordMoses Maimonides
..... .
171
43.44.
Alexander Neckam on the Natures of ThingsHermetic Books in the Middle AgesKiranidesPrester John and the Marvels of India
188
205
45.46.47.
214229
....
"Z^^d
48. 49.50.
The
Pseudo-Aristotle
246279
Solomon and the Ars Notoria Ancient and Medieval Dream-Books
290
BOOKForeword51.
V.
THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY305
52.53. 54. 55. 56. 57.
Michael Scot William of Auvergne Thomas of Cantimpre Bartholomew of EnglandRobert Grosseteste
307338 372401
436 457
Vincent of Beauvais Early Thirteenth Century Medicine: Gilbert of England and William of EnglandV
477
viCHAPTER58. 59.
CONTENTSPAGE
Petrus Hispanus
488517521
Albertus MagnusI.
Life
II.
As
a Scientistto
528
III,
His Allusions
Magicin
548
IV. Marvelous Virtues60.
Nature
560577 593
V. Attitude Toward Astrology
Thomas AquinasRoger BaconI.
61.
616 619.
LifeCriticism of and Part in Medieval Learning
11.
630 649
III.
Experimental Science.
62.63.
64.65.
Toward Magic and Astrology The Speculum Astronomiae Three Treatises Ascribed to Albert Experiments and Secrets: Medical and BiologicalIV. Attitude.
.
659 692720
.
751
Experiments AND Secrets: Chemical AND MagicalPiCATRix
.
777 813
66. 67. 68.69. 70. 71.
GUIDO BONATTI AND BARTHOLOMEW OF PaRMA Arnald OF Villanova Raymond Lull Peter of AbanoCecco d'Ascoli
.
.
.
825841
862 874 948
72.
ConclusionIndices:
969
GeneralBibliographical
985 1007.. .
Manuscripts
1027
AHISTORY OF MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEVOLUME
II
BOOKChapter 35.
IV.
THE TWELFTH CENTURYScholastics:
The Early
Peter Abelard and
Hugh"37-
of St. Victor.
Adelard of Bath.
William of Conches.
"
38.
Some Twelfth CenturyBernard SilvesterSt.:
Translators, chiefly
of Astrology from the Arabic in Spain. "39-
Astrology and Geomancy.
""
40.
Hildegard of Bingen.
41.
"
42.
43
4445
John of Salisbury. Daniel of Morley and Roger of Hereford or, Astrology in England in the Second Half of the Twelfth Century. Alexander Neckam on the Natures of Things. Moses Maimonides. Hermetic Books in the Middle Ages.;
4647 48 4950
Kiranides.Prester John and the Marvels of India.
The Pseudo-Aristotle. Solomon and the Ars Notoria.Ancient and Medieval Dream-Books.
CHAPTER XXXVTHE EARLY SCHOLASTICS: PETER ABELARD AND HUGH OFST.
VICTOR
Character of Abe The nature of the stars Prediction of natural and contingent events The Magi and the star Demons and forces in nature Magic and natural science Hugh Victor Character of the Didascalicon Meaning of Physica of The study of history The two mathematics astrology, natural and superstitious The superlunar and sublunar worlds Discussion of magic Five sub-divisions of magic De bestiis rebus.Relation of scholastic theology to our themelard's learning
Incorrect
statements of his views
St.
:
et aliis
TheHugoof the
names of Peter Abelard, 1079-1142, and Hugh orof St. Victor, 1096-1141, have been coupled as those
Relation of scholastic
two men who perhaps more than any others were
the
theologyto our
founders of scholastic theology.
Our
investigation
is
not theme.
very closely or directly concerned with scholastic theology,
hope to show did not so exclusively absorb the intellectual energy of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as has sometimes been asserted. Our attention will be mainly
which
I
devoted as heretofore to the pursuit of natural science during
and the prominence both of experimental method and of magic in the same. But our investigation deals not only with magic and experimental science, but with theirthat periodrelation to Christian thought.It is
therefore with interest
works of these two early representatives of scholastic theology, and inquire what cognizance, if any, they take of the subjects in which we are especially interAs we proceed into the later twelfth and thirteenth ested.that
we
turn to the
centuries in subsequent chapters,
we
shall also take occa-
sion to note the utterances of other leading
men
of learning
who
speak largely from the theological standpoint, like John
of Salisbury and
Thomas Aquinas.3
Let us hasten to admit
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEalso that the scholastic
chap.
method of instruction and writing
made
itself
felt in
natural science and medicine as well as
in theology, as alustrate.
In the present chapter
number of our subsequent chapters will ilwe shall furthermore beowingto the fact that a treatise of
brought again into contact with the topic of the Physiologus
and LatintoCharacterof Abelard's
Bestiaries,
this sort has
been ascribed, although probably incorrectly,
HughThere
of St. Victor.is
learning.
no more familiar, and possibly no more important, figure in the history of Latin learning during the twelfth century than Peter Abelard who flourished at itsbeginning.
His
career, as set forth in his
own
words,
illus-
trates educational conditions in Gaul at that time.brilliant success as a lecturer
His
on logic and theology
at Paris
reveals the great medieval university of that city in embryo.
His pioneer work. Sic et Non, set the fashion for the standard method of presentation employed in scholasticism. He was not, however, the only daring and original spirit of his time; his learned writings were almost entirely in those fields known as patristic and scholastic; and, as in the case of Sic et Non, consist chiefly in a repetition of the utterances of the fathers.
This
is
especially true of his state-
ments concerning astrology, the magi, and demons. To natural science he gave little or no attention. Nevertheless his intellectual prominence and future influence make it advisable to note what position he took upon these points.Incorrect statements of his views.
Although notandwriters
original,
his
views concerning the starsessential to expose, because
their influences are the
more
misinterpreted them.lard,^
upon Abelard have misunderstood and consequently Joseph McCabe in his Life of Abe-
for instance, asserts that Abelard calls mathematics
diabolical in one of his works.in
Andet
Charles Jourdain in hisI'etat
some waysla
excellent
-
Dissertation sur
de
la philo-
sophic natiirelle en Occident
principalemcnt en Francesiecle, praises
pendant'
premiere nioitie du XllePeterAbelard,
Abelardits
J.
McCabe,York, 1901.
New
' Especially considering Paris, 1838.
date,
XXXV
THE EARLY SCHOLASTICScriti-
for what he regards as an admirable attack upon and
cism of astrology in his Expositio in"It will be
Hexameron,^
saying,
hard to find
in the writers
of a later age anything
more discriminating on
the errors of astrology."
Jourdain
apparently did not realize the extent to which Abelard was
simply repeating the writers of an earlier age.Abelard's presentation possesses a certain
However,
freshness and
perhaps contains some original observations.In the passage in question^
Abelardit
first
discusses the
Thenature ofthe stars.
nature of the
stars.
He
says that
is
no small question
whether the planets are animat'^d, as the philosophers think, and have spirits who control their motion, or whether theyhold their unvarying course merely by the will and order of Grod.tional,call
Philosophers do not hesitate to declare them ra-
immortal, and impassive animals, and the Platonists
them not only gods but gods of gods, as being more excellent and having greater efficacy than the other stars.Moreover, Augustine saysin his
Handbook
that he is un-
moon, and stars with the In his Retractions Augustine withdrew his earlier angels. statement that this world is an animal, as Plato and other philosophers believe, not because he was sure it was false, but because he could not certainly prove it true either by reason or by the authority of divine scripture. Abelard does not venture to state an opinion of his own, but he at least has done little to refute a view of the nature of the heavenly bodies which is quite favorable to, and usually was accompanied by, astrology. Also he displays the wontedcertain whether to class the sun,
medieval respect for the opinions of the philosophers ingeneral and the leaning of the twelfth century toward Platoin particular.
Abelard next comes to the problem of the influence of Prediction the stars upon this earth and man. He grants that the and constars control heat and cold, drought and moisture; he ac- tingent.
.
.
events,
cepts the astrological division of the heavens into houses,^ *
Ibid., p. 119.
Cousin, Opera hactenus seorsim edita (1849-1859),
I,
647-9.
6
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE
chap.
which each planet exerts its maximum of and he believes that men skilled in knowledge of the stars can by astronomy predict much concerning the future of things having natural causes. Astronomical observationsin certain ones of
force
;
to his
medicine, and he mentions that
mind are very valuable not only in agriculture but Moses himself is believedskilful in this science of the Egyptians.
in
toIt
have been veryis onl}^ to
the attempt to predict contingentia as distinguished
from naturalia that he objects. By contingentia he seems to mean events in which chance and divine providence or human choice and free will are involved. He gives as aproof that astrologers cannot predict such events the fact
you what other persons will you openly which of two courses you yourself will pursue for fear that you may prove them wrong by wilfully doing the contrary to what they predict. Or, ifthat, while they will foretell to
do, they refuse to
tell
an astrologer is must be because
able to predict such "contingent events,"
it
the devil has assisted him,
and hence Abeis
lard declares that he
who
promises anyone certitude concern-
ing "contingent happenings" by means of "astronomy"to be considered not so
much asfronomicusI
as diaholicus.
This
is
the nearest approach that
have been able to find
The Magi^ g"Jr^
McCabe's assertion that he once But possibly I have overcalled mathematics diabolical. looked some other passage where Abelard calls mathematica, In any case Abelard in the sense of divination, diabolical.^ in part and accepts it with certain rejects astrology only qualifications. His attitude is about the average one of his own time and of ages preceding and following. Abelard speaks of the Magi and the star of Bethlehem in a sermon for Epiphany.- This familiar theme, as we have seen, had often occupied the pens of the church fathers, soin Abelard's writings to
that Abelard has nothing
new
to say.
OnHis
the contrary, he
exhausts neither the authorities nor the subject in the passages which he selects for repetition.*
first t)oint is
that
I
have, however, searched for such in vain.
*Migne,
PL
178, 409-17.
XXXVthe
THE EARLY SCHOLASTICSfittingly the first
7
Magi were
of the Gentiles to become
Christian converts because they before had been the masters
of the greatest error, condemned by law with soothsayers todeath, and indebted for their "nefarious and execrable doctrine" to demons.
In short, Abelard identifies them with
magicians and takes that word in the worst sense.(malefici)
He
is
aware, however, that some identify them not with sorcerersbut with astronomers.
He
repeats the legend
from the spurious homily of Chrysostom which we have already recounted ^ of how the magi had for generations watched for the star, warned by the writing of Seth which they possessed, and how the star finally appeared in the form of a little child with a cross above it and spake with them. He also states that they were called magici in theirtongue because they glorifiedpearing to note that thisis
God
in silence,
without ap-
contrary to his previous use of
magi in an evil sense. Abelard believes that a new star announced the birth of Christ, the heavenly king, although he grants that comets, which we read of as announcing thedeaths of earthly sovereigns, are not
new
stars.
Hewhy
alsothis
discusses without satisfactory results the question
new
star
was seen only by
the Magi.
In a chapter
"Onte
the Suggestions of
Demons"
in his
Demonsj"^^^nature,.
Etkica sen Scito
ipsnm~ Abelard attempts
to a certain
extent a natural explanation of the tempting of
men by
demons andwithin us.
the arousing of lust and other evil passions
In this he perhaps makes his closest approachis
to the standpoint of natural science, although he
simply
repeating an idea found already in Augustine and other
church fathers.
In plants and seeds and trees and stones,
Abelard explains, there reside many forces adapted to arouse or calm our passions. The demons, owing to their subtleingenuity and their long experience with the natures ofthings, are acquainted withall
these occult propertiesevil ends.
and
maketimes,*
use of them for their
own
Thus they someMigne,
by divine permission, send men into trances or give20,
See above, chapter
page 474.
'
Cap.
4,
in
PL
178, 647.
8
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE
chap.
remedies to those making supplications to them, "and often
when such
cease to feel pain, they are believed to be cured."
Abelard also mentions the marvels which the demons worked in Egypt in opposition to Moses by means of Pharaoh'smagicians.Magic andnaturalscience.
Evidently then Abelard believes both in the existence of
demons and of
occult virtues in nature
by which marvels
may
Magic avails itself both of demonic and natural forces. The demons are more thoroughly acquainted with the secrets of nature than are men. But this does notbe worked.
prove thatthat
scientific
research
is
necessarily
diabolical
or
anyone devoting himself to investigation of nature is giving himself over to demons. The inevitable conclusion is rather that if men will practice the same long experimenand will exercise the same "subtle ingenuity" as the demons have, there is nothing to prevent them, too, from becoming at last thoroughly acquainted with the naturaltation
powers of things.
Also magic, since
it
avails itself of natu-
ral forces, is akin to natural science,
while natural science
may hope some daymons andto
to rival both the
the marvels of magic.
knowledge of the deAbelard does not go on
draw any of theseto
conclusions, but other medieval writers
were
do so before very long.of St. Victor Vincent of Beauvais in the
Hugh ofSt. Victor.
Upon Hughknowledge oftime inlard'sskill
century following looked back as "illustrious in religion andliterature"in
and as "second to no one of his Hugh was Abethe seven liberal arts." ^later
younger contemporary, born almost twenty yearsin
in
Saxony
1096 but dying a year before Abelard in 1141.
His
uncle, the bishop of Halberstadt,
had preceded him
at
Paris as a student under William of Champeaux.
When
Hugh,St.
as an Augustinian canon, reached the monastery of
Victor at Paris, William had ceased to teach and bebishop.
come a
Hugh was
himself chosen head of the schoolliterarum scientia clarus et in peritia artium liberalium nulli sui temporis secundus fuit."et
^Speculum doctrinale (1472?), XVIII, 62, "Hugo Parisiensissancti victoris canonicus religione
VII
:
:
XXXVin1
THE EARLY SCHOLASTICS
He is famous as a mystic, but also composed exand dogmatic works, and is noted for his classification of the sciences. Edward Myers well observes in this133.egetical
connectionsee thatit
:
"Historians of philosophy are
now coming
to
betrays a lack of psychological imagination to be
unable to figure the subjective coexistence of Aristoteliandialectics
and evennot,lative
with mysticism of the Victorine or Bernardine typetheir compenetration.be, isolated
Speculative thought
was
and could notit
from
religious life lived with
such intensity as
was
in the
middle ages, when that specuin
thought was active everywhere,^
every profession,
in every degree of the social scale."St.
Later, in the case ofstrik-
Hildegard of Bingen, we
shall
meet an even more
ing combination of mysticism and natural science.
Of Hugh'swhose"^
writings
we
shall be chiefly
concerned with Charactera briefin
the Didascalicon,six
or Eruditio didascalica,-
work
Didalcali2y,
famosissimo opus suum."
bernardus
silvestris
Clerval (1895), pp. 173-4Ex16246, 15th century. tracts from it are printed by Cousin, Fragments philosophiques, II, 348-52. John of Salisbury in 1159 used it in the Polycraticus, ed. Webb (1909) I. x^x, xlii-xliii.*
BN
113-26.
'B. Haureau, Le Mathematicus Paris, Silvestris, Bernard de1895, p.*
II.
Many at Paris, 3195, 5698, 6395, 6477, 6480, 7054, 8299, 8513, and probably others. catalogues often ascribe it to''
MSS
BN
MSS
'Clerval (1895), pp. 158, 173. BN 6415, f ol. 74V, "Terrico veris scientiarum titulis doctori
Bernard. Attention was first called to it Langlois, Maitrc by BernardSt.*
:
XXXIXrative
BERNARD SILVESTERpoem whoseplot
lOI
hinges upon an astrologer's pretitleis
diction
and whose very
Mathematicus}universitate,
work, variously entitledet
De mundi
The third Megacosmusto say of theis
stars
Microcosmus, and Cosmographia - has much and their rule over inferior creation.^as
It
written
shows that Bernard form in his scientific or pseudo-scientific v/orks as in those on rhetoric and meter. Sandys says of it, "The rhythm of the hexameters is clearly that of Lucan, while the vocabulary is mainly that of Ovid" but Dr. Poole believes that the hexameters are modelled upon Lucretius.^ He would date it either in 1145 or about 1147partly in prose and partly in verse,^ andlaid
much
stress
on
literary
;
ii48.
The manuscripts of1893.It
these three
ous, indicating that they
works are fairly numerwere widely read, and no condi philosophia,
Theirinfluence.
has not been printed. some of the MSS of it will be found in Appendix I at the close of this chapter.
A
description of
Additional 35112, Liber de munauthor not named. Sloane 2477 and Royal 15-A-
XXXII.Trinity century, fols.Silvestris
^
B. Haureau,
Le Mathematicus
CU
de Bernard Silvestris, Paris, 1895, contains the text and lists the following MSS: BN 3718, 5129, 6415; Tours 300; Cambrai 875; Bodleian A-44; Vatican 344, 370, 1440 de la Reine; Berlin Cod. Theol. Octavo 94. Printed in Migne PL 171, 1365-80, among the poems of Hildebert of Tours. ' Ed. by Wrobel and Barach, inBibl. Philos.
1335, early 13th Bernardi 1-25V,
Cosmographia.
Trinity (II), late 1368 I2th century, 50 leaves, BernardiSilvestris
CU
Megacosmus(1895)pp.
et
Mi-
crocosmus.'Clerval'ster,"
"Le systeme de Bernard
259-61, Silves-
mediae
aetatis, Inns-
bruck,
1876,
Vienna 526 CLM 22,^^A. HL XII (1763), p. 261 et seq., had already listed six MSS in thethen Royal Library at Paris (now there are at least eight, BN 3245, 6415, 6752A, 7994, 8320, 875 1 C, 8808A, and 15009, I2-I3th cenlury, fol. four at the 187), Vatican, and many others elsewhere. The following may be
from and
two
MSS,
is limited to the De mundi universitate and says nothing of his obvious astrological doctrine, although at p. 240 Clerval briefly states that in that work Bernard takes over many figures from pagan astrology. XII (1763) p. 261 et seq., besides the De nvundi universitate mentioned "two poems in elegiacs written expressly in defense of the influence of the constella-
*HL
tions."
These were very probably
added Cotton Titus D-XX, fols. iioviiSr, Bernardi Sylvestris de utroque mundo, majore et minore. Cotton Cleopatra A-XIV, fols. 1-26, Bernardi Sylvestris cosmographia proso-metrice in qua demultis
the Matheniaticus and Experimentarius, or the two parts or versions of the latter. ^ History of Classical Scholarship (1903) I, 515; Illustrations of Medieval Thought (1884) p.118.
"EHR
(1920)
p. 331.
rebus physicis
agitur.
102
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE
chap.
temporary objection appears to have been raised against As was well their rather extreme astrological doctrines. observed concerning the De mundi unwersitate over one
hundred and
fifty
years ago, "These extravagances and some
other similar ones did not prevent the book from achieving
a very brilliant success from thepearance," asis
moment
of
its
first
ap-
shown by
the
contemporary testimony of
Peter Cantor in the closing twelfth century and Eberhart
de Bethune in the early thirteenth century,
who
says that the
De mundi
nnirersitate
was
read in the schools.it.^
Gervaise of
Tilbury and Vincent of Beauvais also cited
Indeed in
our next chapter wewriter,
shall find a Christian abbess, saint,
and
prophetess of Bernard'sit
own
time chargedit
is
true
with
by a modernher visions.
making use ofin
in
Passages from Silvester are includedtury collectionwriters,^
a thirteenth cen-
of
"Proverbs"
from ancient and recent
and more than one copy of the
De mundi
universiSt.
tafe is listed in such a
medieval monastic library as
Au-
gustine's, Canterbury.^Disregardtianthe-' ology.
In the
De mundi
imiversitate
we
see the
same
influence
^^ Platonism and astronomy, and of the Latin translation of the Timaeiis in especial, as in the Philosophia of William
of Conches.
At
the
sameits
time,
its
abstract personages andits
personified sciences,
Nous and Nat lira,
Urania and
Physis with her two daughters. Theoretical and Practical,
remind us of the pages of Martianus Capella and of Adelard The characterization by of Bath's De eodem et diverso.
pagan complexion," and that Bernard's scheme of cosmology is pantheistic and takes no account of Christian theology,^ is essentially true,Dr. Poole that theentirely
work "has an
although occasionally some utterance indicates that the writeris*
acquainted with Christianity and no true pagan.
Per-
XII (1763) p. 261 et seq. ^Berlin 193 (Phillips 1827), fol. 25V, "Proverbia." ^Indeed, the 15th century catalogue of that abbey lists one MS, which contains both the 1482,
HL
Afcgacosmus and Mathcvujticus, with the treatise of Valerius to Rufinus on not getting married sandwiched in between. * Poole (1884) pp. 1 17-18.
..xxxix
BERNARD SILVESTERis
103
haps
it
just because
a theologian, that at a timeretracting in hishis
Bernard makes no pretense of being when William of Conches wasin
Dragmaticon some of the views expressed
Philosophia and the Sicilian translator was conscious of
a bigoted theological opposition, Bernard should display neither fear nor consciousness of the existence of any such opposition.
AndwhoAt
yet
it
does not appear that the Sicilian trans-
lator engaged in theological discussion.
of thosethe starsjection.
Yet he complains astronomy idolatry; Bernard calmly calls gods, and no one seems to have raised the least obcall
least Bernard's fearless
outspokenness and
its
subsequent popularity should prevent our laying toostress
much
upon the timidity of other writers in expressing new views, and should make us hesitate before interpreting their attitude as a sure sign of real danger to freedom of thought and speech, and to scientific investigation.
What
especially concernsspirits
concerning stars and
our investigation are the views The divine ^^^"' expressed by Silvester. Likespirits in
William of Conches, he describes the world ofdiffersall
a
Platonic or Neo-Platonic, rather than patristic, style.
He
from Williamin
in
hardly using the
and
according the stars,
higher place in his hierarchy.
word "demon" at like Adelard of Bath, a much "The heaven itself is full ofits
God," says Bernard, "and the sky hasreal fires,"^
own
animals, side-
just as
man, who
is
in part a spiritual being,call
inhabits the earth.stars
Bernard does not hesitate to
the
"gods
who
serve^
God
in person," or
"who
serve in
God's very presence."
There
in the region of purer ether
which extendseternal, free
as far as the sun they enjoy the vision of blissdistraction,all
from all care and peace of God which passeth''
and resting
in the
understanding.^
He
also
De mundi.
universitate,
II,
6,
10, est.^
"Caelum ipsum Deo plenum Sua caelo animalia ignes..
siderei.
."..
Ibid., I, 3, 6-7,
"Motus
circuitus
numina
_
praesentia servit." II, 4, 39, "deos caelumque." ^ Ibid., II, 6, "Qui quia 49, aeternae beatitudinis visione perfruuntur, ab omni distrahentis
Also
turba
deumDice deos
quorum ante Deum
curae sollicitudine feriati in pace Dei quae omnem sensum superat conquiescunt."
104
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEmindit
chap.
repeats the Platonic doctrine that the
is
from the skyto the
and that the human"will return toits
soul,
when^
at last
lays aside the body,
kindred
stars,
added as a god
num-
ber of superior beings,"Orders ofspirits.
Between heaven and earth, between God and man, comes the mediate and composite order of "angelic creation."
"Withthis in
the divinity of the stars" the
members
of this order
share the attribute of deathlessness; with
man
they have
common,
to be stirred
by passion and impulse.-
Be-
moon are benevolent angels who act as mediums between God and man. Other spirits inhabit the air beneath the moon. Some of them display an affinity to the near-by ether and fire, and live in tranquillity and mentaltween sun andserenity, although dwelling in the air.
A
second variety are
the genii to
who
are associated each with some
man from
birth
warn and guide him.
But
in the
lower atmosphere areoften are divinely
disorderly and malignant spirits
who
commissioned to torment
evil-doers, or
sometimes torment
men of their own volition. Often they invisibly invade human minds and thoughts by silent suggestion again they;
assume bodies and take on ghostly forms. These Bernard But there are still calls angelos desertores, or fallen angels. left to be noted the spirits who inhabit the earth, on mountains or in forests and by streams Silvani, Pans, and Nerei.:
They are of harmless character
(innocua conversatione)
and, being composed of the elements in a pure state, are longlived but in the process of time will dissolve again. ^classification of spirits
This
seems to follow Martianus Capella.
The
stars rule nature and reveal the future.
is accomwould naturally expect, by a belief in their control of nature and revelation of the future. From their proximity to God they receive from His mind the secrets of the future, which they "establish through the lower spe-
Bernard's assertion that the stars are gods
panied, as one
^De mundi49-50.
univcrsiiate,
II,
4,
'Ibid.,
II,
6,
36-,
"Participat-
"Corporereibit
iamad astrain
posito
cognata
Additusdeus."
numero
superum
enim angelicae creationis numerus cum siderum divinitate quod non moritur cum homine, quod passionum aflFectibus incitatur.";
'
Ibid.,
II, 6,
92
et
scq.
:
XXXIXcies
BERNARD SILVESTER^
105
of the universe by inevitable necessity."
Life comes
from God, and the move from their tracks, did they not absorb vivifying motions from the sky,^ Nous or Intelligence says to Nature, "I would have you behold the sky, inscribed with a multiform variety of images, which, like a book with open pages, containingto the world of nature the sky asif
from
creatures of the earth, air, and water could not
the future in cryptic letters,thethat
I
have revealed to the eyes of
more
learned."
^
In another passage Bernard affirms
God
writes in the stars of the sky
what can come "fromstars control all ages,
fatal law," that the
movements of theis
that there already
latent in the stars
a series of events
which long timethe stars."Scribit
will unfold,
tory, even the birth of Christ,
and that all the events of hishave been foreshadowed by
enim caelum
stellis
totumque figuratqualique tenore
Quod
de fatali lege venire potest,
Praesignat qualique
modo
Omnia
sidereus saecula motus agat.stellis series
Praejacet in
quam
longior aetas
Explicet et spatiis temporis ordo suis
Sceptra Phoronei, fratrum discordia Thebae,
FlammaeInInstellis
Phaethonis, Deucalionis aquae.
Codri paupertas, copia Croesi,
Incestus Paridis, Hippolytique pudor;stellis
Priami
species,
audacia Turni,
Sensus Ulixeus, Herculeusque vigor.In Instellis
pugil est Pollux, et navita Typhis,rhetor, et
Et Cicerostellis
geometra Thales;
lepidus dictat
Maro, MiloNero.
figurat,
Fulgurat in
latia nobilitate
Astra notat Persis, Aegyptus parturitGraecia doctalegit, praelia
artes,
Roma
gerit.
Exemplar specimenque Dei virguncula Christum Parturit, et verum saecula numen habent." * ^ Ibid., II, i, 23-. ^ De mundi universitate, II, 6,47-. 'Ibid.,*
Ibid., 1, 3,
33 et seq.
I,
4,
5-.
io6
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEis
chap.
Yet Bernard urges man to model
his life after the stars,^
and once speaks of "whatnecessity."
free in the will
and whatand
is
of
He
thus appears, like the author of the treatiselike a hpst
on
fate ascribed to Plutarch, like Boethius,
of other theologians, philosophers, and astrologers, to believe in the co-existence of
free will, inevitable
fate,
and
"variable fortune."
^
Bernard Silvester'strologyis
interest
and
faith in the art of as-
further exemplified by his
poem Mathcmaticus,Haureau showedis
a narrative which throughout assumes the truth of astrological prediction
concerning
human
fortune.
that
it
had been incorrectly included among the works of
Hildebert of Tours and Le Mans, and that the theme
suggested in the fourth Pseudo-Quintillian declamation, butthat Bernard has added largely to the plot there briefly outlined.
A Roman
knight and lady were in every respect well
endowed both by nature and fortune except that their marriage had up to the moment when the story opens been a childless one. At last the wife consulted an astrologer or mathematiais, "who could learn from the stars," we are told, "the intentions of the gods, the mind of the fates, and theplan of Jove, and discover the hidden causes and secrets ofnature."
He
informed her that she would bear a son who
would become a great genius and the ruler of Rome, but who would one day kill his father. \\'hen the wife told her husband of this prediction, he made her promise to kill thechild in infancy.
But when the time came, her mother love
prevailed and she secretly sent the boy
away
to be reared,
while she assured her husband that he w^as dead.
She named
her son Patricida in order that he might abhor the crimeof patricide the more.intellectual capacity.
The boy
early gave signs of great
Among
other studies he learned "thefatum Fortunaeque vices
31-50; and
universitate, II, 4, 30-32. ^ Ibid., II, I, 33-35^ , "Parcarum leges et ineluctabileII,I,
^
De mundi
Quae
sit
in
guidve
variabilis arbitrio res libera necesse."
xxxix
BERNARD SILVESTER
107
orbits of the stars and how human fate is under the stars," and he "clasped divine Aristotle to his breast." Later on, when Rome was hard pressed by the Carthaginians and her
king was
in captivity,
he rallied her defeated forces and
ended the war
in triumph.
"And because the fatal order demands it so shall The fates gave him this path to dominion..
be,.
.
Blind chance sways the
silly toiling
of men;
Our world
is
the plaything
and sport of the gods."
The king thereuponthereis
abdicated in favor of Patricida,
whomif
he addressed in these words,
"O
youth, on whose birth,
any power
in the stars, a favorable
horoscope looked
down."
The mothermarveledbut was
rejoiced to hear of her son's success, and
at the correctness of the astrologer's prediction,
now
the
more troubled as
to her husband's fate.tell
Hehim
noticed her distraction and at last induced her toits
But then, instead of being angry at the deception which she had practiced upon him, and instead of being alarmed at the prospect of his own death, he, too, rejoicedcause.in his son's success,
and said that he would die happy,
if
he
could but see and embrace him.self
He
accordingly
made him-
known
to his son
and
told
him how he had once ordered
had been thwarted by the eternal predestined how some day his son would slay him, not of evil intent but compelled by the courses of the stars. "And manifest is the fault of the gods in that you cannot be kinder to your father."his death but
order of events, and
The son thereupon determinesas soliloquizing as follows:
that he will evade the
decree of the stars by committing suicide.
He
is
represented
"HowIfit
is
our mind akin to the ethereal
stars,
suffers the sad necessity of harsh Lachesis?
In vain
we
possess a particle of the divine mind.
If our reason cannot
make
provision for
itself.
xo8
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEGodso
chap.
madeis
the elements, so
made
the fiery stars,
That man
not subject to the stars."
Patricida accordingly
summons
all
the
Romans
together,
and, after inducing them by an eloquent rehearsal of hisgreat services in their behalf to grant
him any boon;
that he
maypoem
ask, says that his
wish
is
to die
and
at this point the
ends, leaving us uninformed whether the last part of
the astrologer's prediction remained unfulfilled, or whetherPatricida's suicide caused his father's death, or whether possibly
Patricida.
some solution was found in a play upon the word Haureau, however, believed that the poem isit
complete asDifferent interpretations put upon the
stands.
The purpose ofdifferent scholars.
the poet
and
his attitude
towards
astrol-
ogy have been interpretedtribute the
in diametrically oppositeit
ways byto at-
Before Haureau
was customary
Mathematicus.
and to upon astrology. The early editors of the Histoire Littercdre de la France supported their assertion that the most judicious men of letters in the eleventh and twelfth centuries had only a sovereign scorn for the widely current astrological superstition of their time byto Hildebert, archbishop of Tours,
poem
regard
it
as an attack
citing Hildebert as ridiculing the art in his Mathematiciis}
A
century later Charles Jourdain again represented Hilde-
bert as turning to ridicule the vain speculations of the astrologers.^
Bourasse, the editor of Hildebert's works asfelt
they appear in Migne's Patrologia Latina, seems to havethat the
poem was
scarcely an outspoken attackit
trology and tried to explain
as an academic exercise
was not
to be taken seriously,
upon aswhich but regarded as satire upon
judicial astrology.
Haureau not only denied Archbishop
Hildebert's authorship, but took the
commonIt
sense view
that the poet believes fully in astrology.
would, indeed,
be
difficult
to detect
any suggestion of
ridicule or satireit
about the poem.ten inall
Its plot is a tragic
one andde
seems writ-
seriousness.p. 137.
Evensur
Patricida, despite his assertionI'etatetc.,
*HL'
VII (1746)Jourdain,
la
philosophic naturelle1838,p.
C.
Dissertation
Paris,
116,
note.
:
:
XXXIXthat
BERNARD SILVESTERis
109
"man
not subject to the stars," does not doubt thatfather conformably to the learned astrologer's
he will
kill his if
prediction,
he himself continues to
live.
It
is
only by
the tour de force of self-slaughter that he hopes to cheatfate.
Even Archbishop Hildebert shows a tendency towardsastrology in other poems attributed to him; for example,in his Nativitv of Christ
Hilde-
Hermaphrodite's
and
in a short
poem, The Herfulfill-
horoscope.
maphrodite, which reads as follows, representing the
ment of a horoscope"While
my
pregnant mother boredeliberated
me
in the
womb,
'tis
what she should bring forth. Phoebus said, 'It is a boy' Mars, 'A girl' Juno, 'Neither.' So when I was born, I was a hermaphrodite. When I seek to die, the goddess says, 'He shall be slain by asaid the gods;
;
weapon'
;
Mars, 'By crucifixion'
;
Phoebus, 'By drowning.';
So it turned out. A tree shades the water I climb it the sword I carry by chance slips from its scabbard I myself fall upon it; my trunk is impaled in the branches; my head falls into the river. Thus I, man, woman, and neither, suffered flood, sword, and cross." ^; ;
This poem has always been greatly admired by students ofLatin literature forness,its
epigrammatic neatness and conciseto be the
and has been thought too good
work of
a
medieval writer, and has been even attributed to Petronius.
Another version, by the medieval poet, Peter Riga, entitled De ortu et morte pueri nwnstruosi, is longer and far less elegant. Haureau, however, regarded the Hennaphrodiieas a medieval composition, since there are
of
it
earlier than the twelfth century; but heit
no manuscripts was in doubt
whether to ascribe
to Hildebert or to
dome,*
who
in listing his
Matthew of Venown poems mentions hie et haecother passages cited by Bouchegrecque, Leclercq, L'Astrologie 1899, p. 99, note 2. ']. B. Haureau, Les melanges poetiques d' Hildebert, 1882, pp.
hermaphroditiis homo."Migne,
PL
171,
1446.
JunoVene-
here stands for the planet Venusseeris,
HyginusLucifer
II, 42,
"Stella
nomine, quam nonnulli .Tunonis esse dixerunt"; and
noThe artof
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE
chap.
We
turn to the association of the
name
of BernardIt
geomancy.
Silvester with the superstitious art of geomancy.
may
be briefly defined as a method of divination
in
which, bv
marking down a number of points at random and then connecting or canceUing them by Hnes, a number or figure is obtained which is used as a key to sets of tables or toastrological constellations.
The only reason
for calling this
geomancy, that is, divination by means of the element earth, would seem to be that at first the marks were made and figures drawn in the sand or dust, like those of Archimedes during the siege of Syracuse. But by the middle ages, at
any kind of writing material would do as well. Although a somewhat more abstruse form of superstitionleast,
than the ouija board,in the
it
seems to have been nearly as popularis
medieval period as the ouija boardof Bernard Silvesteris
now.
Prologueof the
The namein thetariits,
persistently associatedtitle
Ex perimentarius.
_
manuscripts with a work bearing the
Experimen-
which seems
to consist of sets ofIts
geomantic tablesis
translated
from
the Arabic.
prologue
unmistakable,it
but
it is
less
easy to
make
out what text should go with
Sometimes the proand the text which accompanies it in others varies in amount and sometimes is more or less mixed up with other similar modes of divinaThe prologue is sometimes headed, Ezndencia operis tion. subseqitentis, and regularly subdivides into three brief secthe text should be arranged.
and howlogueis
found alone
in the manuscripts,^
tions.libelli,
The
first,
opening with the words, Materia ludus
describes the subject-matter of the text as "the effect
and
efficacy of the
stellations,
moon and other planets and of the conwhich they exert upon inferior things." Theis
writer's opinion
that
God
permits mortals
who make
sane
and sober inquiry
to learn by subtle consideration of the
In Digby 53, a poetical 138-47. miscellany of the end of the 12th century, no author is named for the "De Ermaphrodito" nor for some other items which appear in the printed edition of Hildebert's poems, although Hildebert's
namein'
is
attached to a few pieces
the
MS.
Ashmole 345, late 14th century, fol. 64. Bodleian Auct. F. 3. 104V. For a summary fol. 13, of the see Appendix I at the close of this chapter.
MSS
XXXIXconstellations
BERNARD SILVESTERmany
III
things concerning the future and per-
sons
who
are absent, and that astrology also gives informa-
tion concerning
human
character, health
and
sickness, prosair,
perity, fertility of the soil, the state of sea
and
business
matters and journeys.Utilitas
In a second paragraph, opening,
autemis
huiiis lihelH, the writer states that the use
of his bookstars give
that one
may
avoid the perils of which the
God who,stars.
as the astrologer
warning by penitence and prayers and vows to Albumasar admits, controls thethrough them the Creator reveals hiswill, as in
And
the case of the three
Magi who learned from
a ?tar that a
great prophet had been born.single sentence,talis est,
Finally, in a paragraph of a
which opens with the words, Titulus verotitle is
we
are informed that the
the Experimentarius
of Bernard Silvester, "not because he was the original author
but the faithful translator from Arabic into Latin."
In one manuscript which contains the Experimentarius Picturestwice depicted, although the second time in different nard colors, a seated human figure evidently intended to repre- Silvester.thereis
of Ber-
sent Bernard Silvester.
He
is
bearded and
sits in
a chair
writing, with a pen in one
hand and a knife oris
scalpel in
the other.
Neither miniatureis
in juxtaposition to the pro-
logue in which Bernardfigurein redteris
named, but
in both cases the
is
accompanied by
five lines
of text, written alternately
and blue colors and proclaiming that Bernard Silvesthe translator and that the number seven is the basis
in this infallible
book of
lot-casting.^
It
would not be
safe,
however, to accept this miniature as an accurate representation of Bernard, since the manuscript is not contemporary^
Digbyetc.
46,
14th
IV, the first line is blue,
century, fol. the next
red,
Hie infallibilis liber incipit autem peius. At fol. 25V, the same five linesexcept thatfirst,
An
sors instabilis melius ferat ars docet eius
the
last
line
is
put
In septem stabis minus una petens nutnerabis Post septem sursuni numerandoperiice
long,
where it would seem to beand is accordingly colored
cursum
red instead of blue as before, the colors of the other four lines remaining the same as before.
Translator Bernardus Silvester
112
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEit
chap.Plato,
andProblemof a spying-tube
contains similar portraits of Socrates and
Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, and Cicero.
Both
in the
manuscript which^
we haveisis
just been de-
scribing and another of older date
a picture of
two
per-
and Hermann'srelation to the
sons seated.
In both manuscripts oneis
called Euclid, in
the older manuscript only
the other named, and desigto
Experimentarius.
nated
as
Hermann.
According
Black's
description
Euclid "uplifts a sphere with his right hand,left
and withside,
his
holds a telescope through which he;
is
observing theholds
stars
towards
whom
'Hermannus,' on the other
forth a circular instrument hanging from his fingers, whichis
superscribed 'Astrolabium.' "is
The
picture in the other
manuscript
similar, but in
view of the fact that they weresquinting,definite
written in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the rod
along which, or tube through which 'Euclid'
is
can scarcely be regarded as a telescope without moreof Galileo.
proof of the invention of that instrument before the time
Perhaps
it
is
a dioptra
~
or spying-tube of the
sort describedin
by the ancients, Polybius and Hero, and used surveying. But I mention the picture for the further^
reason that Clerval
asserted a connection between
Hermannwork onBernard
of Dalmatia, the twelfth century translator, and BernardSilvester, affirming that
Hermann
sent
Bernardit
his
the uses of the astrolabe and that he really translated the
Experimentariiis from the Arabic and sent
to
who merely versified it. But we have already proved that it was Hermann the Lame of the eleventh century whowrote on the astrolabe and that he did so a century beforeSilvester. The aforesaid picture is clearly of him and not of Hermann the Dalmatian. And whether the "B" at whose request Hermann wrote on the astrolabe be meant
Bernard
*Ashmole2V.'
304, 13th century, fol.
piorttmtione,
acI,
Microscopium Invenct
diversitate,
varictati.
In this connection the follow-
Quacstioet
might prove of interest: Trinity 1352, 17th century, neatly written, Dioptrica Practica. Fol. I is missing and with it the full title. Cap i, de Telescoing
MS
Quid sunt Tclescopia quomodo ac quando inventa.is
CU
After fol. 90 diagrams.'Clerval91.
a single leaf ofpp.169,
(1895),
190-
XXXIX
BERNARD SILVESTERit
113
for Berengarius or Bernard,for Bernard Silvester,
certainly cannot be
meant
who was
not
bom
yet.
Apparently the text proper of the Experiment arius opens Textwith the usual instructions of geomancies for the chance ^^^^ The number of mentarius. casting of points and drawing of lines.
points left over as a result of this procedure
is
used as a
guide in finding the answer to the question which one hasin
mind.
In a preliminary table are listed 28 subjects oflife
inquiry such as
and death, marriage, imprisonment,turns to the topic in which oneis
enemies, gain.
One
in-
terested and, according as the
number of
points obtained
by chance
is
over or under seven, reckons forward or backtimes from theif
ward
that
manyor,
number oppositepoints
hisleft
themeover,it.
of inquiry,takes the
exactly
seven
were
number of
the theme of inquiry as he
findsis
In one manuscript the
new number
thus obtained
that
of the "Judge of the Fates" toturn.
whom
one should nextcircle of the
There are 28 such judges, whose names are theofthe moon,is
Arabic designations for the 28 divisions of thezodiac or mansionsin
which spends a day
each of them.^
A
page
devoted to each judge, underlines containing as
whose name are twenty-eight
sponses to the twenty-eight subjects of inquiry.quirer selects a line corresponding to his
many The
rein-
number of
points
and the tables are so arranged that he thus always receives the answer which fits his inquiry. But most of the manuscripts,
instead of at once
referring the
inquirer to his
Judge as we have described, in which he is first referredof the moon.
insert other preliminary tables
to a planet
and then to a day
This unnecessarily indirect and complicated
system
is
probably intended to mystify the reader and to
emphasize further the supposedly astrological basis of the^ These 28 Judges, or mansions of the moon, are seldom spelled twice alike in the MSS, but are somewhat as follows Almazene,:
Anatha, Albathon, Arthura, Adoran, Almusan, Atha, Avian, Ana-
thia, Althare, Albuza, Alcoreten, Arpha, Alana, Asionet, Algaphar, Asavenu, Alakyal, Alcalu, Aleutn, Avaadh, Avelde, Cathateue, Eadabula, Eadatauht, Eadalana, Alga-
falmar, Algagafalui.
114
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEit
chap.lot-
procedure, whereascasting.
is
in reality purely
a matter ofI
Twoversions of the 28 judges.
NowQf^j^g
in
most of the manuscripts which
have examined
there are two versions of these twenty-eight pages of JudgesFates,
worded
differently,
although the corresponding
always seem to answer the same questions and apply to the same topics of inquiry as before. In the version which comes first, for example, the first line under the first Judge,lines
Almazene or
the belly of Aries,
is
Tuum indumentumHoc ornamentum
durabit tempore longo
while in the second version the same line reads,
decus
est et
fama ferentum}
Both versions seem to be regarded as the Experimentarius of Bernard Silvester, for in the manuscripts where theyoccur together thethe secondlatoris
first
usually follow's
its
prologue, whileline.^
preceded by his picture and the
Trans-
Bernardus Silvesterris
In one manuscript
the pro-
loguethe
immediately followed by the second version andIn some manuset of Judges does not occur. however, the second version occurs without theinis
first
scripts,^firstis
and without the prologue,it
whichfirst
cases, I think, there
nothing to indicate that
by Bernard Silvester or aversion ends in sev-
part of the Experimentarius.
The
eral manuscripts with the words, Explicit libellus de constel-
lationibus
^
rather than
perimentarius.
Furthermore
some such phrase as Explicit Exin some manuscripts where itBernardus Silvester." * Sloane 3554, fol. 13V-.*
^ In the MSS, which are very slovenly often carelessly and written, the wording of these lines varies a good deal, for instance,
Ashmole2.
342,
early
14th
cen-
tury, 1fols.
in
Digby
46, fol.
iir,
"Sum
{sic)
Ashmole54-8.
399, late 13th century,fols.
monumentumlongo,"(II),est*
and
tempore durabit Trinity 1404 in
CU
Royal 12-C-XII,
108-23.
fol.
2r,
"Hoc ornamentum;
et fama parentum." Digby 46, fol. 25V in Ashmole 304 the corresponding leaf
Trinity 1404 (II), 14- 15th century, fols. 2-16. Some of these I have not
CU
MSS
seen.
has been cut out, probably for the sake of the miniature; Sloane 3857, fol. 181V, omits the picture but has the phrase, "Translator
Digby
46,
fol.
304, fol. i8ov.
i6v;
24V Sloane
;
Ashmole3857,fol.
XXXIXoccurs alone this
BERNARD SILVESTERfirst set
"5
of Judges
is
Alchandiandus or Alkardianus.^liher alkardiani
He
book of may, however, havecalled the
been the Arabic author and Bernard his translator, and thephylosophi opens in at least one manuscripttitle,
with words appropriate to theeverything thatforitsis
Expcrhnentarms "Since,
tested
by experience
is
experienced either-
own
sake or on some other account."
There are so many treatises of this type in medieval Other manuscripts and they are so frequently collected in one divination codex that they are liable to be confused with one another. Thus in two manuscripts a method of divination ascribed to the physician of King Amalricus ^ is in such juxtaposition to the Experimentarius that Macray takes it to be partof the Experimentarius, while the catalogue of the Sloane
Manuscripts combines the two as "a compilation 'concerningthe art of Ptolemy.' "
Macray
also includes in the Experiis
mentarius a Praenostica Socratis Basilei, whichdivination
of fre-
quent occurrence in the manuscripts, and other treatises on
which are either anonymous or ascribed to
Pythagoras and, judging from the miniatures prefixed to them, to Anaxagoras and Cicero, who thus again is appropriately punished for having written ation.I
work against divinamodes of divination are parts of the Experimentarius, which often is found without them, as are some of them without it. But they are so much like it in general form and procedure that we may consider themdoubtif
these other
now, especially as they are of such dubious date and authorship that it would be difficult to place them more exactly.^Additional 15236, English handofI3-I4th century,fols.;
of the Experimentarius.
i30-52r,
Alchandiandi" 7486, century, fol. 30V, "Incipit liber alkardiani phylosophi. Cum omne quod experitur sit experiendum propter se vel propter ali." ud. And see above, the latter pages of Chapter 30. ^ See the preceding note. ' Sloane Digby 46, 3554, fol. ifols. 3r-5v, and fol. gor. But in both it precedes the prologue"libellus
BN
Macray was probably induced to regard everything in Digby 46 up to fol.
14th
92r as Experimentarius by the picture of Bernard Silvester which occurs at fol. iv with the accom-
panyingis
.
.
;
five lines stating that he the translator of "this infallible book." But the picture is probably misplaced, since it occurs again at fol. 25V before the second version of the 28 Judges.
MSS
ii6Divination of the physician of King
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEThetreatise
chap,
Amal-
which is assigned to the physician of King and which is said to have been composed in Amalricus memory of that monarch's great victory over the Saracens and Turks in Egypt, obtains its key number by revolution of a wheel ^ rather than by the geomantic casting of points,
and introduces a trifle more of astrological observance. If on first applying the inquirer receives an unfavorable rep]y, he may wait for thirty days and try again, but after the **It is not allowed to third failure he must desist entirely. thing more than three times." The inquire concerning onetwenty-eight subjects of inquiry are divided in groups of
four
among
the seven planets,
and the inquirer
is
told to
which must further his query falls. determine with the astrolabe when the hour of the same planet has arrived, and not until then may the divination by means of the wheel take place, as a result of which the inquirer is directed as before to one of 28 Judges who in this case, however, are said to be associated with mansions of At the close of the treatise the sun ^ rather than moon.return on the weekdayafter the planet under
namedday
On
the
set the astrologer
of the physician of King Amalricus in both manuscriptsthat I have
examined
is
inserted
some
sceptical
person's
opinion to the effect that these methods of divination aresubtle trifles
which are not
utterly useless as a
means of
di-
version, but that faith should not be placed in them.
The
more apparent the more waryPrenostica SocratisBasilei.
the devil's nets are, concludes the passage,
the
human
bird will be.
In
the
Prenostica or Prenosticon Socratis Basilei
to
Prognostic of Socrates the Kingnineis
a number
from one
obtained by chance either by geomancy or by re-
volving a wheel on which an image of "King Socrates"points his finger.
The
inquirer then consults a table
where
sixteen questions are so arranged in compartments desigInset inside the thick cover of two interlocking wooden cogwheels for this purpose, with 28 and 13 teeth re*^ In Digby 46 diagrams showing the number of stars in each are given.
Digby 46 are
^
DigbyI2r.
46, f ol.
5v
;
Sloane 3554,
spectively.
fol.
XXXIX
BERNARD SILVESTER
117
is found two compartments. Say that the inquirer finds his quesHe then consults another table where 144 tion in A and E. names of birds, beasts, fish, stones, herbs, flowers, cities, and other "species" are arranged in nine rows opposite the numbers from one to nine and in sixteen columns headed by the
nated by letters of the alphabet that each questionin
sixteen possible pairs of letters such as thequirer.
AE
of our in-
Looking in the row corresponding to his number and the column AE he obtains a name. He must then find this name in a series of twelve circular tables where the aforesaid names are listed under their proper species, each He now is referred on to table containing twelve names.one of sixteen kings of the Turks, India, Spain, Francia, Under each king Babylonia, the Saracens, Romania, etc.nine answers are listed and here at last under his original
number obtained by
lot
he finds the appropriate answer.^
In the Prenostica Pitagorice
we
are assured that
we may
Further3iv?nat?on
rest easy as to the integrity of the Catholic Faith being ob-
served, "for that does not happen of necessity
caution forewarned, can avoid."
It
which human answers any one of a
list of thirty-six questions by means of a number obtained by chance between one and twelve. The inquirer is referred
have described the Prenosit is found in Digby 46, fol. 4or-, with a picture at fol. 41V of Socrates seated and Plato standing behind him and point*
I
cratis
basilii."
tica
as
similar
methods
ing. Ashmole 304 has the same text and picture; and the text is in Sloane practically the same 3857, fols. 196-207, "Documentum subscquentis considerationis quae
beginning at fol. or col. 440), "Si vis operare de geomancia dehes facere quatuor ." Evidently the follineas. lowing is also our treatise: CU Trinity 1404 (IV), I4-I5th cen.
it are divination, of i2iv (or clxxxxii
Preceding
.
tury, Iste
Socratica dicitur." In Additional 15236, I3-I4th century, fols. gsrio8r, the inquirer is first directed to implore divine aid and repeat a Paternoster and Ave Maria^ and some details are slightly different, hut the general method is identical. The final answers are given in French. In 7420A, 14th century, fol. I26r- (or clxxxxvi, or col. 451), "Liber magni solacii socratis philosophi" is also essentially the same indeed, its opening words are, "Pronosticis So-
liber dicitur Rota fortune in qua sunt 16 qiiestiones determinate in pronosticis sen-
tentiat'.
BN
(sic) basilici que sub sequentibus inscribuntur et sunt 12 spere et 16 Reges pro iudicibus constittiti et habent determinare veritatem de questionibus antedictis cum auxilio sortium. James (HI, 423) adds, "The questions,tables,
spheres,.
and
Kingsis
fol-
low.listed
.
."
Our
treatise
also
in
John
;
catalogue of Priory, No. 409,
Why tef eld's 1389 MSS in Doverfol. 192V,
Pronos-
tica socratis phi.
;
ii8
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE
chap.
to one of 36 birds whose pictures are drawn in the margins Other with twelve lines of answers opposite each bird. schemes of divination found with the Experimentariiis in
some manuscripts
differ
from
the foregoing only in the
num-
ber of questions concerning which inquiry can be made, the
number of Judges andlines
the
names given them,
the
number of
under each Judge, and the number of intermediate directory tables that have to be consulted before the final
Judge
is
reached.
As Judges we meet
the twelve sons of
Jacob, the thirty-six decans or thirds of the twelve signs,
Experimental
char-
acter of
geomancy.
and another astrological group of twenty made up of the twelve signs, seven planets, and the dragon.^ In one manuscript ^ the directions for consulting this last group of Judges are given under the heading, Dociimentiim experivienti retrogradi, which like Bernard's Experimentariiis suggests the experimental character of the art of
geomancy or
the arts of divination in general.in the
Later
we
Speculum astronomiae shall call treatises of aerimancy,^ pyromancy ,and hydromancy, as well as of geomancy "experimental books."Variousother geoinancies.
hear Albertus Magnus
Geomancies are of frequent occurrencemedieval manuscripts.'*bear the
in libraries of
anonymous ^ but others names of noted men of learning. The art must havearecenturv, fols. 62-79, five treatises Qu. 365, fol. 83; Qu. 368, 14th century, fol. 30; Qu. 374, 14th century, fols. 1-60; Qu. 277, 14th century, fols. Amplon. 70-76; Octavo 88, 14th century, fols. 510; Amplon. Duodecimo 17, 14th century, fols. Harleian 27-35. 671; 4166, 15th century; Royal 12-C-XVI, 15th century; Sloane 887. i6th century, fols. 3-59; 1437, i6th century; 2186, 17th century; 3281, I3-I4th century, fols. 25-34, "Liber 28 iudicum" or "Liber parsiz'c fatorum." Additional 9600 is a geomancy in Aral>ic, and Addit. 8790, La Geomantia del S. Christoforo Catianeo, Genonese. I'inz'entore di dctta Ahnadel Arabico.^
Many
had great currency among the Arabs,^ for not only are^ These tracts of divination are found in Digby 46, fols. 52r-92r, and partially in Ashmole 304, Sloane 3857, and Sloane 2472. * Sloane 2472, fol. 22r. * The word seems to be regularly so spelled in the middle ages, although modern dictionaries give only aeromancy. * For instance, at Munich the following MSS are devoted to
192, 392, 398, 421, 436, 456, 458, 483, 489, 541. 547, 588, 671, 677, 905, 1 1 998, 24940, 26061,196,
works of geomancy:240,
CLM
242,
276,
carum
26062.*
For174,
to
instance, Amplon. Quar14th century, fol. 120,
Geomancia parva: Qu. 345, 14th century, fols. geomancia 47-50, cum theorica sua; Qu. 361, I4tb
;
XXXIX
BERNARD SILVESTER
119
treatises current in
Latin under such names as Abdallah/al-
Albedatus,^ Alcherius,^ Alkindi,^ and Alpharinus,^ but
most every prominent translator of the time seems to have In the manuscripts we find tried his hand at a geomancy. attributed to Gerard of Cremona,** Plato of geomanciesTivoli,'^*
Michael Scot,*
Hugo
Sanctelliensis,^
William ofcentury,392,fols.
Vatic. Urbin. Lat. 262, I4-I5th gcomantiae Abdallah century, fragmenta. Amplon. Folio 389, 14th century, fols. 56-99, Geomantia Abdalla astrologi cum figuris; perhaps the same as Math. 47, Geomuncia cum egregiis tabulis Abdana astrologi, in the 1412 catalogue. Amplon. Quarto 380, early 14th century, fols. 1-47, geomancia op-
borrowed?
*CLM207-22,
489,
i6thin
Alchindi libellus de geoalso
mantia;century.
CLM
15th
"Arundel 66, isth century, fols. 269-77, "Liber sciencie arienalis de judicis gcomansie ab Alpharino filio Abrahe Judeo editus et aPlatone de Hebreico sermoneinfol.
Latinum
translatus."1741,filii
tima Abdallah filii AH. Magliabech. XX-13, 15thtury,fols.
cendi
208-10,
"II
libra
Zaccheria ebrio il quale compuose Disse il tavole de giudici. lefamiglio di Abdalla.'.
.
."
Octavo 88, early 14th century, fols. 1-5, geomancia Albedato attributa, fols. 107-10, Albedatii de sortilegiis.
Amplon,
quaestiones geomantiae a Platone in Latinum translatae anno 1533 (which cannot be right). CU Magdalene College 27 (F. 4.27, Haenel 2^) late 14th century, fols. I20-I2SV, "Incipit liber arenalis scicncie ab alfarino
1 1998, anno 209-, Alfakini Arabici
CLM
CLM
398,
106-14,
14th century, fols. "Belio regi Persarum
abizarch editus et Platone a Tiburtino de Arabico in latinumtranslatus."*
vates Albedatus salutem."7486, 14th century, fol. 46r-, Albedaci philosophi ars punctorum: here the work is addressed to "Delyo regi Persarum" and is said to be translated by
Bologna
University
BN
Library
449,
14th century, "Geomantia ex Arabico translata per Magistrum Gerardum de Cremona. Si quis partem geomanticam I multum
bonumt-52.
signi."fol.
king and philosopher." follows another It immediately geomancy by Alkardianus, of whom we have spoken elsewhere."Euclid,965, i6th century, fol. 64-, "Incipit liber Albedachi vatis Arabici de sortilegiis ad Delium
Magliabech XX-13,
61.
Digby
74,
i5-i6th century, fols.
Sloane 310, 15th century.
Berlin
Amplon. Quartotury, 32-37fols.
373,
14th
1-3 1,
with
cennotes atfols.
regem PersarumAlgabri
I Finis adest libri de sortilegiis" similarly Amplonius in 1412 listed Math, 8, "liber subtilis valde Alga-
CLM69-75,
276,
14th
century,
Arabis
Geomantia mag. Gerardi Cremonensis lOb aU>ctoribus via
bre geomaniicus negociaciones."*
ad
futurorum
5508, I4-I5th century, 200-201V, "Ego Alcherius inter mutta prodigia I nudus postea quolibet subhumetur." Is this thefols.
Vienna
astronomice conposita. Also printed under the title Geomantia astronomica in H. C. Agrippa, Opera, 1600, pp. 540-53. ^ See note 5.
*CLM174-,
489,
i6th
century,
fol.
Michaelis Scoti geomantia.
Alcherius
mentioned
by
Mrs.
Merrifield (1849) I, 54-6 as copying in 1409 "Experiments with Color," from a which he had
'MSS of Hugo's geomancy have already been listed in chapter 38, p. 86.
MS
120
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE
chap.
Moerbeke,^ William de Saliceto of Piacenza,^ and Peter of Abano,' and even to their medical confrere and contemporary, Bernard Gordon,translator.*
who
is
not usually classed as a
however, were translator? from the Greek or the Hebrew rather than Arabic, and some of the geomantic treatises in the manuscripts claim an originofthese,
Some
from
India.'"'
But a Robert or Roger Scriptoris who comthe close of the medieval period
piled a
geomancy towardsfirst
thinks
of Moerbeke, Bartholomew and the of Parma, Gerard of Cremona, and many others." These other geomancies are not necessarily like the Experimentarius of Bernard Silvester ^ and we shall describe another588, 14th century, fols. "Incipit peomantia a fratre gilberto (?) de morbeca domini compilata penitentionario pape
among his sources wise modems, William
of "the Arabs of antiquity
*CLM
Saliceto."392, 15th century; 489, century, fol. 222, Petri de Abano Patavini modus iudicandi quaestiones; in both accompanied by the geomancy ascribed to Alkindi. Printed in
6-58,
'CLM
i6th
quatn magistro arnulfo nepoti suoconiiiiendaznt." 905, 15th
MSS
CLM
century,
fols.
1-64,
Wilheltni de
Morbeca Geo-
Italian translation,
1542.
tnantia.
*BNfol.
I53S3,
i3-i4th
century,
Wolfenbiitteltury,
hehni domininepoti.
14th cen2725, "Geomantia fratris Guildc Marbeta pcnitenciarii
Archanum magni Dei revelatum Tholomeo regi Arabum87-,
pape
dedicata Anno dofnini
Arnulphomillesimo
ducentcsimo octuagcsimo octavo. Hoc opus est scientie geomancie."
Viennafol.I-,
5508,
I4-I5th
century,
"Liber geomancie editus a fratre Wilhelmo de Marbeta. Omnipotcns sempiterne Deus Iquercnti vel in brevi."
reductione geomancie ad ortr. de Bernard de Gordon, datee de 1295. Harleian 2404, English hand, two geomancies (indeana). Sloane 314, 15th century, fols. 2-64, Latin and French, "Et est Gremmgi Indyana, que vacaturde
bem,
aiia astronomic quam fecit unus sapientum Indie."
Amplon. Quartotury,fols.
373,
14th cen-
With
the opinions of
Siger of
39-118;
Qu. 377, 62-
67; Qu. 384.
For146.
MSSfol.
in Paris see
HL
21;cen-
Brabant in 1277 was condemned a book of geomancy which opened "Estimavcrunt Indi" ; Chart. Univ.Paris,I.
Magliabech.tury,101-,
XX-13,in
isth
CU*
543.
Magdalene College 27 (F.
Italian.
Trinity 1447, 14th century, a French translation made by Walter the Breton in He states that Moerbeke's 1347. Latin version was translated from the Greek. * Magliabech, XX-13, I5th century, fol. 210-, "del detto ^acheria Albigarich," translated from Hebrew into Latin by "maestrofols.
CU
4. 27), late 14th century, fols. 7288, "Hec est geomantia Indiana."
i-ii2r,
Sloane
3487,
15th
century,
fols. 2-193,toris.
Geomantia Ra. Scrip-
fol. 2r, arabcs antiquissimi sapientes et moderni Guillelmus de morbeca, Bartholomeus de Parma, Gerardus Cre-
"...
m^onensis, et*
alii
plures."
by Ralph of Toulouse, however, preserved in
A
geomancy
XXXIXsort
BERNARD SILVESTERto speak of
121
when we come
Bartholomew of Parma
in
a
later chapter.
In the fifteenth century such intellectual statesmen as
Interest oi
of England anddSg" displayed an interest in geomancy, judging from a manu- in the art.Gloucester, and
Humphrey, Duke of
Henry
VH
de luxe of Guido Bonatti's work on astrology which was made for Henry VH and contains a picture of him, and also Plato's translation of the geomancy of Alpharinus and geomantic "tables of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester." ^script
The
interest of the clergy in this superstitious art
is
attested
not only by the translation of such a person as William of
Moerbeke,
who was
papal penitentiary and later archbishop
of Corinth, but by a geomancy which
we
find in
two
fifteenth
century manuscripts written by Martin, an abbot of Burgos,at the request of another abbot of
Paris,^
Treatises onlate
geomancy continuecially.
to be
found
in the
manuscripts as
as
the eighteenth century, that of Gerard of
Cremona
espe-
a 14th century MS, has, like Bernard's, the four pages of key twenty-eight the followed by pages of "judges of the fates," from "Almatene" to "Algaga282-, Berlin fol. lauro." 969,
compilatus per magistrum Martinum Hispanum phisicutn abbatern de Cernatis in ecclesia Vurgensi quam composuit ad preces nobilis et discreti viri domini Archimbaldi abbatis sancti Asteensis ac canonici Parisiensis." Ashmole 360-II, fols. 15-44, Explicit as above except "Burgensi," "Archtbaldi/' and "Astern."
magistri RadulU "Divinaciones de Tolosa." ^Arundel 66 (see above, p. 119, note s) the portrait of Henry is;
at
fol.
201,
at
fols.
277V-87,
Also by thecies in the
listing of
geoman-
"Tabulae Humfridi Ducts Gljiwcestriae in judiciis artissie."*
geoman-
monasticLibraries
medieval catalogues of libraries. See James, Canterbury and of
Corpus
52,
Christi 190, fols. 11"Explicit liber Geomancie
Dover,
:
APPENDIXSILVESTER
I
MANUSCRIPTS OF THE EXPERIMENTARIUS OF BERNARD
Digby 46, 14th century, fols. 7V-39V. Ashmole 304, 13th century, fols. 2r-30v.Sloane 3857, 17th century,fols.
164-95.
These three MSS are much alike both in the Experimenproper and the other tracts of divination which accompany it. Digby 46 has more of them than either oftariiis
the others and
more
pictures thanI
Ashmole 304.
Sloane
3857 has no
pictures.
have given the numbers of the folios
only for the Experimentarins proper.Sloane 2472, a quarto in skin containing 30 leaves, dated in the old written catalogue as late 12th, but in Scott's printed Index as 14th century, fols. 3r-i4v, the prologue and 22 of 28 Judgesof thefirst
version;
fols.
i5r-2iv, the last part of the
method of
divination by the 36 decans, "Thoas Index X" to "Sorab Index XXXVI"; fols. 23r-30v, divination by planets and signs as in
Digby
46.
Sloane 3554, 15th century, contains the divination of the physician of King Amalricus, the prologue of the Experimentarius, and the second set only of 28 Judges.
The followingsion:
MSS
also contain only this second ver-
Ashmole Ashmole
342, early 14th century, 52.399, late 13th century, fols. 54-8.
Trinity 1404 (II), I4-I5th century, fols. 2-16. Royal 12-C-XII, fols. 108-23, has the second version of the Experimentarius but also a few of the other items of divination
CU
found in Ashmole 304.
The
first set
of 28 Judges
is
found without mention of
Bernard Silvester
in the following
MSS
CHAP. XXXIX
BERNARD SILVESTERfol.
123
BN
7486, 14th century,
30V-,
"Incipit liber alkardiani phylosit
sophi.
Cum omne15236,
quod experiturcentury,;
experiendum propterfols.
se vel
propter aliud."
Additional"libellus
I3-I4th
English hand,fols.
i30-52r,
Alchandiandi"
and
at
95r-io8r,
Prenosticon
Socratis Basilei.
The prologue ofAshmole345, late
the Experimentariusfol.
is
found alone
in
14th century,
64,
"Bernardinus."104V, "Bernardini
Bodleian (Bernard 2177, #6) Auct. F.silvestris."
3. 13, fol.
; ;
CHAPTER XLSAINT HILDEGARD OF BINGEN:
IO98-II79
Hildegard influenced by Bernard Silvester? (Bibliographical Her personality and reputation Dates of her works Question of their genuineness Question of her knowledge of Latin Subject-matter of her works Relations between science and religion them Her peculiar views concerning winds and rivers Her suggestions concerning drinking-water The devil as the negative principle Natural substances and Stars and fallen angels the antediluvian period sin and nature Nature in Adam's time Spiritual lessons from natural phenomena Hildegard's attitude toward magic Magic Art's defense True Worship's reply Magic properties of natural substances Instances of counter-magic Ceremony with a jacinth and wheaten loaf Her superstitious procedure Use of herbs Marvelous virtues of gems Remarkable properties of Use of the parts of birds Cures from quadrupeds The unicorn, weasel, and mouse What animals to eat and wear Insects and reptiles Animal compounds Magic and astrology closely connected Astrology and divination condemned Signs the stars Superiors and inferiors effect of stars and winds on elements and humors Influence of the moon on human health and generation Relation of the four humors to human character and fate Hildegard's varying position Nativities for the days of the moon Man the microcosm Divination dreams.
Was
note)
in
evil spirits;
fish
in
in
WasHildegardinfluenced
The
by Bernard Silvester?
macrocosm and microcosm, notis and hyle, by Bernard Silvester in the De mundi universifate is believed by Dr. Charles Singer, in a recent essay on "The Scientific Views and Visions of Saint Hildegard," to havediscussion ofinfluenced her later writings, such as the Liber zntae nieri-
torum and the Liber diznnoriim operuni. He writes "The work of Bernard corresponds so closely both in form, in spirit, and sometimes even in phraseology to the Liber diznnorum opcrum that it appears to us certain that Hildegard must have had access to it." ^ Without subscribing un.,
.
^
Singer
(1917)
p.
19.
124
:
CHAP, XL
HILDEGARD OF BINGENwe
125
reservedly to this view,
pass on from the Platonist and^
geomancer of Tours^
to the Christian "sibyl of the Rhine."vol.
Migne, Patrologia Latina,
F.
ihis volume contains the account of Hildegard in the Acta Sanctorum, including the Vita auctoribus Hildcgardis sanctae197.
S.
A. Reuss, De libris physicis Hildegardis comtncntatio his-
torico-medica, VViirzburg, 1835. F. A. Reuss, Der heiligen Hildegard Subtilitatum diversarum
Godefridochis,librietc.;
et
Theodorico
nwna-
the Subtilitatum diver-
sarum
naturaruni;
crcaturarunv
novcm, as edited by Daremberg and Reuss the Scivias and the Liber divinorum opcrum simshall cite this hominis. I following chapter simply as Migne without repeating the number of the volume.plicis
in
the
naturarutn creaturarum libri noveni, die werthvolleste Urkunde deutscher Natur- und HcUkunde aus dem. Mittelalter. In Annalen des Vereins fUr Nassau. Alterthumskunde und Geschichtsforschung, Bd. VI, Heft i, Wiesbaden, 1859. in Jessen, C. Sitzb. Vienna, Math, naturw. Klasse, (1862)
Pitra,
contains printed edition of the Liber vitae mcritorutn, pp. 1-244, Heinemann, in describing a thirteenth century copy of it (MS 1053, S. Hildegardis liber meritorum vite) in 1886 in his CataWolfenbiittel logue of MSS, was therefore mistaken in speaking of it as "unprinted," an imperfect edition of the Liber compositae medicinae de aegritudinum caiists signis atqiic ciiris, and other works by Hildegard. better edition of the last(1882). the only
Analecta sacra, This volume
vol.
VIII
XLV,zig,
i.
97-
Jessen, C. Botanik in kulturhistorischer Entwickelung, LeipJessen,1862, pp. C.
124-26.in Anzciger filr deutschen Vorseit,
Kunde(1875),
derp.
175-
der Linde, Die Handschriften der Kgl. Landesbibl. in
Von
Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden,Schmelzeis,J.
1877.
Ph.
Das Leben
A
namedcausae
worket
is
:
Hildegardis
curae, ed. Paulus Kaiser, Leipzig, Teubner, 1903. Earlier editions of the Subtilitates were printed at Strasburg by J. Schott in 1533 and 1544 as
hi. Hildegardes, Freiburg, 1879. Battandier, A. "Sainte Hildegarde, sa vie et ses oeuvres," in Revue des questions historiques, XXXIII (1883), 395-425. Roth, F. W. E. in Zeitsch. fUr
und Wirken der
follows
Physica S. Hildegardis elemenfluniinum aliquot Germaniac mctcllorum leguminum fructuunt et herbarum arborutn et arbustorunt piscium denique volatilium et animantiunv terrae
kirchl. Wissenschaft u. kirchl. Leben, Leipzig, IX (1888), 453. Kaiser, P. Die Naturiinssen~ schaftliche Schriftcn der hi. Hildegard, Berlin. 1901. (Schulprogratnm des Konigsstddtischen
torum
Gymnasiumsedition,
in Berlin.) phlet of 24 pages. See
A
pamhis
also
mentioned above, of theet
Causae
curae.Clias.
Singer,
"The
Scientific
naturas
operationes IV libris mirabili experientia posteritati tradens, Argentorati, 1533. Expcrimentarius medicinae conlinois Trot u lac curandarumet.
Views
aegritudinum muliebrum item quatuor Hildegardis de
.
.
ele-
aliquot Germaniae metallorum herbarum piscium et animantium terrae.
mentorum fluminumnaturis
.
.
Visions Saint of Hildegard," in Studies in the History and Method of Science, Oxford, Dr. 1-55. 1917, pp. Singer seems unacquainted with the above work by Kaiser, writing (p. 2) "'The extensive literature that has risen around the life and works of Hildegard has come
and
et
operationibus,
ed.
G.
Kraut, 1544,
from the hands of writers who have shown no interest in natural knowledge." Yet see also
126
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCEFromtells
chap.
Her
per-
repeated statements in the prefaces to Hildegard'sexactly
^nTre^'^utation.
works, in which she
how
old she was at the time,
for
when
she wrote
them andage
not only was she not
reticent
on
this point but her different statements of her
at different timesis
are
all
consistent with one anotherin 1098.
it
evident that she
was born
Her
birthplace
was
near Sponheim.Scivias, she
From
the age of five, she tells us in the
had
been subject to visions which did not
come
to her in her sleep but in her
wakeful hours, yet were not
During her was also subject to frequent illness, and very likely there was some connection between her state of health and her susceptibility to visions. She spent her life fromseen or heard with the eyes and ears of sense.lifetime she
her eighth year in religious houses along the
Nahe
river,
147 became head of a nunnery at its mouth opposite Bingen, the place with which her name was henceforth connected. She became famed for her cures of diseases as well as her visions and ascetic life, and it is Kaiser's opinion that her medical skill contributed more to her popular reputation At any rate she befor saintliness than all her writings. came very well known, and her prayers and predictions were much sought after. Thomas Becket, who seems to have
and
in
1
been rather too inclined to pry into the future, assee later,
we
shall
wrote asking for "the visions and oracles of that
and most celebrated Hildegard," and inquiring whether any revelation had been vouchsafed her as to the duration of the existing papal schism. "For in the days ofsainted
Pope Eugenius she predicted that not would he have peace and grace in thecalled the attention of
until hiscity."^
lastIt is
daysvery
doubtful whether St. Bernard visited her monastery and
Pope Eugenius III to her visions, show her in correspondence with St. but Bernard and several popes and emperors, with numerousherletters-
Wasmann,Bingen
E.
"Hildegard von
deutsche Naturforscherin," in Biologisches Zentralblatt (1913) 278-88.als alteste
* Migne, citing Baronius, 28, Ann. 1148, from Epist. S. Thomas,
I,
171.
XXXHIin
the Kirchl. lexicon (1908), I, 1970.
Herwegen
Hand-
of them 'I have noted one in the British Museum, Harleian1725.
MS
;
XL
HILDEGARD OF BINGEN
127
archbishops and bishops, abbots and other potentates, to
whomings.
she did not hesitate to administer reproofs and warn-
For
this
purpose