Items related to Unlocked Books: Magic in the Medieval Libraries of...
Unlocked Books: Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe (Magic in History Magic in History): Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe - Hardcover
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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Review:
"We should be impressed by Benedek Lang's linguistic skills. In all, Unlocked Books is a pleasant, informative read that illuminates magical texts, manuscripts, and social uses in Central Europe and well beyond."-Juris G. Lidaka, The Medieval Review "Unlocked Books demonstrates the rich possibilities of research in this field. . . . the unknown plains of Central European medieval science are truly exciting territory."-Anke Timmermann, Ambix
About the Author:
Benedek Lang is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
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- PublisherPennsylvania State University Press
- Publication date2009
- ISBN 10 0271033770
- ISBN 13 9780271033778
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages352
- Rating
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