Spiritual beings in medieval learned magic
How did practitioners of learned magic in the late Middle Ages think they could summon spiritual beings and how did they believe they could create safe spaces for interactions with these beings? These are a couple of the research questions that Andrea Franchetto answers in his recently published thesis "Rituals of perceptual presence".
When Andrea Franchetto defended his doctoral thesis on 18 October, there was great interest in his dissertation. Among the visitors to the defence event were students from the international course Magic in the European History of Religions, in which Andrea teaches.
Andrea Franchetto also has a Master of Science in Architecture, in addition to his PhD in the history of religions. In his thesis he studies history of medieval magic with theories and methods from the field of religious studies. This enables him to pose new questions about the medieval sources, from the stance of a historian of religions. He also investigates the materiality of the ritual space and the ways in which materials and tools acquire a sense of efficacy in the ritual context of learned magic.
Interacting with spirits
Andrea Franchetto studies descriptions in magical handbooks from the Middle Ages, of how to perform rituals to summon demons, angels and spirits. And the construction of a ritual space, a place of interaction between the human body and the summoned being.
These spaces enabled the practitioners to safely experience spiritual beings, angels and demons in a corporeal form, to see, hear, touch, and smell them, and even to exchange objects between the worlds.
"They created what I call imaginal architectural devices, where either the practitioner or the spirit could be contained, to interact verbally or to exchange objects," Andrea Franchetto explains.
The ritual texts for example describe how to draw circular traces with knives or swords, uttering invocations. One of Andrea’s findings is that magical circles were templated from cosmological diagrams of the celestial spheres, from the medieval cosmology. The practitioner usually stood in the middle of the circle, which placed him at the center of the universe, a place of power from which to call forth the spiritual beings.
An elite practie
To practice learned magic, you had to be able to read the texts written in Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Arabic, which means the practitioners were predominately scholars from universities or monasteries, in other words an elite group of men. The practitioners were mainly monks, priests, clerics and scholars.
Women who practiced magic during the time period often did so from an oral tradition. However, the women that could read Latin could potentially have been readers and even practitioners of learned magic, although there is yet no historical data of this. There is the example of the sister of the monk John of Morigny (end 13th century - 14th century), who practiced magic assisted by John.
An illicit practice
The practice of summoning super human beings went against the church dogma. It also draws on non-Christian sources (e.g. Arabic, Jewish and Persian). In spite of this, the clergy who practiced magic thought that if they were pious enough, God could grant them permission. The rituals started with lengthy purifying preparations.
However, the practitioners who practiced necromancy, which meant summoning of demons, did not necessarily think that they did something good. Yet again, some practitioners claimed that even necromancy was a legitimate practice.
It was very much banned and forbidden.
Andrea Franchetto points out.
Debates about illicit forms of magic and licit ones occupied many theologians. One topic discussed was whether angels and spiritual beings could actually be summoned. Or were those who believed they could just deceived by demons?
Did magic work?
“There are only a few firsthand accounts from learned magic practitioners in the late Middle Ages,” says Andrea Franchetto, “so what we are left with is the ritual instructions.”
The ritual procedures were usually lengthy and involved an intense regime of bodily and mental preparations.
"These kinds of rituals could in fact produce an altered state of consciousness, such as visions or bodily sensations, like goosebumps or chills. And perceptions like these were clues letting the practitioners know that a spirit was present," Andrea Franchetto explains.
Experiences ranged from internal visions to external and corporeal apparitions.
You had to be alert on the signs of the demon or the angel that manifests, in order to understand if what you were seeing was a genuine angelic apparition.
Those who purposedly summoned demons often did so to ask for favors, with pragmatic aims such as gaining love, money, or status. And who is to say if they succeeded?
About Andrea Franchetto
Andrea Franchetto is a PhD in History of Religions with a Master of Science in Architecture and a research Master of Arts in Religious Studies.
He teaches the course "Magic in the European History of Religions: Texts and Traditions" at the Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies, Stockholm University.
Learn more about the researcher
Andrea Franchetto's thesis investigates an under-researched aspect of learned magic: The construction of ritual spaces for interaction with spiritual beings. He finds out why medieval practitioners designed the ritual spaces like they did, why they used certain objects and materials, and why they thought these arrangements could be effective. But also, where the layouts that they used originated.
Text: Jenny Rosen
Last updated: October 30, 2024
Source: Områdeskansliet för humanvetenskap