Introduction
The Necromancy of Christendom in the Middle Ages was immersed in a multitude of different conversations regarding the nature of—and relationship between—humanity, the supernatural and the cosmos.
Briefly, it is necessary to mention that this study has limited its scope of inquiry to only areas associated with the definition and discussion of necromancy in intellectual Christendom. Consequently, it examines necromancy primarily from the perspective of intellectual Christendom.
This paper seeks to examine the original context that saw the term "necromancy" imported into Christendom from the Greco-Roman world and then explain why Islamic literature's renewed influence in Medieval Europe enabled and created concern over its practice. Moreover, it considers how—and with what—medieval necromancers sought to summon a spirit and the reasons they might have for performing necromancy.
It ultimately argues that from necromancy's origins right through to medieval Christendom, the practice comprised a diverse set of convictions that led to differing views on what it was and whether it was moral or immoral.
The Etymology of the Word "Necromancy"
The term necromancy did not originally hold the same meaning that it would later have during the High and Late Middle Ages.
Before and during the Early Middle Ages (A.D. 500–1000), a cultural collision took place between the Greco-Roman and Christian comprehension of the nature of spirits, which was relevant to the evolution of the term necromancy—one important question being whether or not spirits of the dead existed.[1]
From the Greco-Roman perspective spirits—or diamones—not only were intrinsically linked to the world of nature, but they also possessed power over it.[2] Furthermore, the diamones moral nature was neither intrinsically good nor evil—although they had the capacity to be so—and it was likewise understood that both the diamones and the spirits of the dead would serve the summoner.[3]
Early Christian writers, however, thoroughly opposed this view.[4] From their perspective, it was understood that not only were the spirits' moral beings either good or evil—they were either angels or demons. They were also incorporeal beings whose existence did not rely upon the existence of the Cosmos.[5]
This difference in views meant that when the same Christian writers were observing the soothsayers and necromancer of the pagans—who as St. Augustine (A.D. 354-430) remarks “suppose that there is a race of beings whose property is to listen to men…”[6]—they believed that the summoned spirits were demons masquerading as gods, natural spirits or the dead. Additionally, they believed the spirits appeared in order to delude the pagans into the demon's services, although the pagans themselves would have been unaware of this.[7]
And, consequently, to practice such magic was, to the early Church, abhorrent and dangerous to the practitioners' very souls, as Eligius of Noyon (A.D. 588-660) insists:
“…that no one give credence to sacrilegious pagan customs. No pretext, no illness, nothing whatsoever can permit…[you’re] approaching or questioning lot casters or seers or soothsayers or enchanters. Such wickedness will instantly deprive you of baptismal grace…”[8]
Upon the increase of influence throughout the Roman empire, the Christian worldview changed its moral landscape and once Greco-Roman terms now took on new Christian meanings.[9] Thus, necromancers no longer were summing the dead but were instead the diviners of demons.
Necromancy in the Middle Ages
Whilst necromancers in Christendom appear throughout the Middle Ages, its practice became far more of a concern to the Ecclesia (or Church) during the High and into the Later Middle Ages (A.D. 1100-1500).
One significant difference from the preceding Early Middle Ages was the growth out of the clerical schools and into the early university institutes during the twelfth century.[10] Mainly teaching the Liberal arts during the twelfth century, by the fourteenth century, other subjects were added—such as law, medicine and theology. It was generally the case that occult sciences were not taught at these institutions.
As Richard Kieckhefer notes:
“If magic had any place in the university curriculum, it was only indirectly. Astrology was one of the liberal arts, and could be taught in such a way as to include astrology, which traditionally was included among the branches of magic…”[11]
Hence, astrology appears to have been an exception—albeit perhaps an unintentional one as the line between astronomy and astrology was somewhat flexible and not always distinguishable.[12]
Nevertheless, under these conditions, a fever for inquiry into texts outside of the traditional texts of Christendom was also felt, and the universities—though not providing access to Eastern literature until much later into the Middle Ages—furnished people with the skills to be able to examine them themselves.[13]
This period was the beginning of the Renaissance and although the sentiments between Christendom and the Islamic world were generally less than cordial,[14] there were still places where the two would intellectually interact.[15] However, perhaps the most important transfer of literature came from the reconquest of Spain in the twelfth century after several centuries of Islamic occupation.[16]
Upon its recapture, much of the literature was translated and dispersed amongst the European countries and into the universities, political courts and, most intriguingly, into the Church cloisters.[17]
If someone previously had asked a theologian during the twelfth century what magic was, the response likely would have echoed the early Church writers.[18] However, throughout the Later Middle Ages, the scholastic interest in magic among clergy grew to an apparently alarming extent.[19]
This would lead to an increase in inquiries into and prosecution against suspected necromancers.[20] Hence, an inquisitive attitude within the institutions throughout Christendom spread and encouraged the practices of magic.
Mediaeval Necromancy Rites
How did the necromancers of the Middle Ages understand the rites they needed to perform to summon a demon? Like Greco-Roman forms of necromancy, a multitude of items and materials would be used to conjure a demon.
A common image that might come to mind when thinking of any kind of conjuration would be the summoning circle and, although the shape did not have to be a circle as there are examples of hexagrams and squares, they always included inscription of spirits’ names from Eastern deities, spirits to recognisable Christian angels or demons.[21]
Further objects often cited as having been used were jewellery such as amulets and talismans—both of which additionally, involve various uses of alchemy with crystals and herbal materials in often complex inventions.[22]
Suffice it to say that covering all the formulas these rituals could take is beyond the breadth of this essay. However, one fundamental consistency appears throughout the majority of rites performed by necromancers:
“You have often seen me exercise at your court the art of summoning banquet-bearers. First one must invoke fifteen spirits…At the outset[,] one must go outside town, under the waxing moon, on a Thursday or Sunday, at noon…kneel [and] turn east[ward], take the sword in both hands, and say, ‘Oymelor, Demefin, Lamair [and others]…Come, O aforementioned spirits, come to me, come, for I command you by the eternal glory of God. Amen’…”23
Additionally, these words are found in a recipe for creating a certain talisman: “[draw] this symbol on a tin plate at the rise of the third phase of […]. Place it in the location to be off limits for flies. This symbol is […]. ”[24]
Another similar example:
“Inscribe a set of markings or talismanic signs on a piece of linen under the proper astrological conditions, and name of a person, and set fire to the clothes, and the person named will be compelled to go wherever you want.”[25]
It should be immediately clear that the commonality between these three parts of separate necromantic spells is that they each involve the use of astral magic.[26]
Abundantly more than most other occult science, astral magic appears more often than not when it comes to either the timing of the ritual or the creation of the object. Notably, when compared to the first and last examples, the astrological symbol was carved into the talisman, and thus, it gained its effectiveness.[27]
Nevertheless, why the stars are so often related to the necromancy is a more complex question. The foremost source which sheds light on this is the Picatrix. A mixture of astrology, astronomy and philosophy, it lays the framework of the diamones being at their “purest” in the celestial bodies—in other words, the stars.[28]
Intrinsically, the formulas used for necromancy contained a mixture of invocation, alchemy and geomancy, but most prominently astrology.
The Nature of the Supernatural Realm
However, to summon the aid of a spirit, those performing the rituals needed to know who they were calling upon.
Developed over the Early Middle Ages and under the influence of the Celestial Hierarchy, authored by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite during the sixth century[29], by the Renaissance period, Christendom had a fully formed impression of the spiritual functions and orders within which the angelic and demonic operated.
It was generally understood that the angelic order was split into three distinct internal groups; the high, middle and lower order.[30]
The lower order was primarily responsible for the protection of humanity against their demonic counterparts since they guided men in the ways of God and had spiritual dominion over the physical kingdoms of Christendom.[31]
“…Each Order is the interpreter and herald of those above it, the most venerable being the interpreter of God who inspires them, and the others in turn of those inspired by God. For that superessential harmony of all things has provided most completely for the holy regulation and the sure guidance of rational and intellectual beings by the establishment of the beautiful choirs of each Hierarchy…”[32]
Opposed to the angelic hierarchy was the demonic order, which was considered to be a parody of the angelic hierarchy with Satan as the Chief leader.[33]
Irrespective of the precise functional similarities or differences between the Celestial forces, what was most important to the necromancers and theologians was that both Celestial hierarchies stood superior in power and knowledge to that of humanity—and whether they could be called upon to submit under the name of God.[34]
Here there must be a little reiteration since, under the influence of the Islamic literature, Kieckhefer remarks, “one notion found in these sources had…the idea that each of the planetary spheres is moved by what Aristotle called an intelligence, which the Muslim and Christians took to be angels.”[35]
This was, however, an unorthodox view and one which St. Augustine had condemned early on—expressing distrust for astrology and those who sought to summon angels, for that was really necromancy.[36]
It was these issues that would lead men such as Peter of Abano and Cecco d’Ascoli into conflict with the Inquisition.[37] As such, the High Middle Ages contained multiple and various views about humanity’s ability to control the demonic forces.
The Aims of Necromancers
Finally, the aims of a necromancer were not merely to divine a demon but also to obtain something desired through or from them.
In an often-recounted incident, John of Salisbury, in his treatise, Policraticus, recites an incident whilst he and another student were under the tutelage of a certain priest. According to John, this priest was skilled in the art of divination through crystal-gazing and anointed the boys’ nails with a substance while incanting names that John believed to be demonic.
Whilst John says he saw nothing, the other boy was said to have seen “certain misty figures” reflected.[38] In this instance, it appears that the reason for divining demons was supposed to be either education or entertainment for his pupils.
Similarly, in another account, a necromancer gives an account of his summoning a demon in the form of a horse and thereby travelling at a supernatural pace between Alexandria and India.[39]
Furthermore, others in the Munich handbook provide examples of summoning cloaks of invisibility to hide from the physical eye, or to create illusions of banquets, castles and armies.[40]
Others, moreover, sought hidden or obscured knowledge such as the future or the catching of a thief or cure for illness.[41] Likewise, and more intrusively, were the rites used to call for aid and subvert someone’s will by causing madness; unbridled passion or love; the severing; the creation of friendships or gaining favour.[42]
However, besides the element of summoning demons, it is easy to see that the more intrusive rites would have been condemned as immoral and why those like Heinrich Kramer, who admonished all those who believed such rites did not work, had such a strong reaction against its practice.[43]
Consequently, the reasons for practising necromancy appear to have been to obtain more benign results but also for the possession of power, prominence or any object that one desired.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the diverse understanding of what necromancy was in the Middle Ages, grew out of a myriad of intellectual discussions over the nature of the spirits, the cosmos and humanity.
This essay has shown that the foundations of Christendom’s early convictions regarding necromancy grew out of the conflict between Greco-Roman paganism and the Early Christian writers.
Furthermore, it has explained how this traditional view again found itself in conflict—this time with Eastern occult science, which flowed throughout Western Europe and into its most influential places.
After this, the paper discussed how necromancers used multiple physical versions of rituals that were based upon underlying principles in the occult sciences.
Whilst the Ecclesia understood the necromancer to be attempting to contact demonic forces, the necromancers themselves considered their activity to be conjuring demons under God's authority. There was a plethora of reasons a necromancer might turn to using necromancy from the more benevolent to the pernicious.
Thus, necromancy was a highly disputed subject during the entire Middle Ages.
Footnotes
Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, 3rd edn, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2022, p.48-54.
trans. by Georg Luck, ‘Love magic in Antiquity’, in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, Brian P. Levack (ed.), New York, Routledge, 2004, p.25-26.
Daniel Ogden, Greek and Roman Necromancy, Princeton University Press, 2001, JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvs32rs3, accessed 24 January of 2024, p. p.3-16, 149-160, 191-201, 263-268; Richard Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century, Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997, Internet Archive, https://ia800700.us.archive.org/21/items/pdfy-4Rxf8pz0BPZve9E5/_lcsyIJwV.pdf, accessed 24 January 2024, p.184-185; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.48-49; An account of ritual divination of spirits for the purpose of causing Roman Charioteers to be smashed and killed, trans, by Unknown, from Inscriptiones Latinae Seclectae, ‘Curse Tablets against Roman Charioteers’, in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, Brian P. Levack (ed.), New York, Routledge, 2004, p. 14-15; Trans. By Georg Luck, ‘Love magic in Antiquity’, p.25-26.
Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.48-52; H. J. Klauck, ‘With Paul in Paphos and Lystra: Magic and Paganism in Acts of the Apostles’, Neotestamentica, vol. 28, no. 1, 1994 , JOSTR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43048126, accessed 29 January 2024, p.93-105.
Ibid, p. 48-52.
Early Christians insisted that as summoning dead men’s spirits was not possible, if someone was manifested, it would have been a demon; trans. by M. Dods, from St Augustine, The City of God, ‘St Augustine: Demonic Power in Early Christianity’, in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, Brian P. Levack (ed.), New York, Routledge, 2004, p. 26.
Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.48-50; St. Augustine, ‘The Divination of Demons’ in Treaties on Marriage and Other Subjects, trans. Ruth Wentworth Brown, Roy J. Deferrari (ed), Catholic University of America Press, 1955, JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt32b2f1.11, accessed 24 January of 2024, p. 415-440; Theodore Otto Wedel, The Mediaeval Attitude Toward Astrology, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1920, Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/mediaevalattitud00wedeuoft/page/n7/mode/2up, p. 24-25.
Valerie I. J. Flint, ‘The Magic That Persisted: Condemned Magical Agencies’ in The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe, Princeton University Press, 1991, JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvx5wb8j.9, accessed 24 January 2024, p.89.
Daniel Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds : A Sourcebook, Oxford University Press, 2002, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/une/detail.action?docID=439071, accessed 29 January of 2023, p. 285; Johannes Roldanus The Church in the Age of Constantine: The Theological Challenges, Taylor & Francis Group, 2006, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/une/detail.action?docID=356209, accessed 29 January 2024, p.26-28,34-44.
Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p. 140.
Ibid, 140.
Ibid, 140-155.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Norman Roth, ‘The Jews and the Muslim Conquest of Spain’, Jewish Social Studies, vol. 38, no. 2, 1976, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4466922, accessed 23 January 2024, p. 145–158.
Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p. 118-122, 140-143; Page, Sophie, ‘Monks and their Magic Texts at St. Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury’, in Pious Motives, Illicit Interests, and Occult Approaches to the Medieval Universe, 1st edn, University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/une/detail.action?docID=6224175, accessed 24 January 2024, p.5-30.
Ibid, p. 12.
Ibid. p. 208-212.
trans. by Georg Luck, ‘Heinrich Kramer: Malleus Malicarum, 1486’, in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, Brian P. Levack (ed.), New York, Routledge, 2004, p.57-68; rans. by George L. Burr, ‘Innocent VIII: Papal Inquisitors and Witchcraft’, in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, Brian P. Levack (ed.), New York, Routledge, 2004, p.119-122; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded; Richard Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century, p. 10-13; Ibid, 243- 248; there was also always the risk that many of these accusation could have been for political expediency which may bring about the accusation against someone Robert Ralley, ‘Stars, demons and the body in the fifteenth-century England’, in Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, vol. 41, iss. 2, 2010, ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2010.04.006, accessed 1 January 27 2024, p. 109-115.
Richard Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century, p. 61-62, 204-21; Andrea Franchetto, ‘Imaginal architectural devices and the ritual space of medieval necromancy’, in Endeavour, vol. 44, iss. 4, 2020, ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.endeavour.2021.100748, accessed 1 January 27 2024, p. 5-6.
Ibid, p. 61-62, 204-211; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p. 72-92; Roger Bacon, Frier Bacon his discovery of the miracles of art, nature, and magick, London, Printed for Simon Miller at the Starre in St Pauls Church-yard, 1689, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://www.proquest.com/docview/2240887893?parentSessionId=ve2AJCg6Q%2Fy%2BWzuycAGIwyUQlsZI4bHKOKH6MyxK8BA%3D&pq-origsite=primo&accountid=17227&sourcetype=Books&imgSeq=1, accessed 24 January of 2024, p. 4-9.
Ibid, p. 64-65.
trans. by Hashem Atallah, Picatrix: Ghayat Al-Hakim, 1 vols, Internet Archive, https://ia800700.us.archive.org/11/items/Grimoires_201812/PicatrixGhayatAlHakim_text.pdf, accessed 24 January 2024, p. 120; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.148-165.
Ibid, p. 157.
Ibid, p.155-158.
Ibid, p. 155-156, 185-189; Richard Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century, p. 204-300; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p. 221-227; Trans. by Hashem Atallah, Picatrix: Ghayat Al-Hakim, p.148-165.
trans. by Hashem Atallah, Picatrix: Ghayat Al-Hakim, p. 115-117; Andrea Franchetto, ‘Imaginal architectural devices and the ritual space of medieval necromancy’, p. 9-10; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.181-182.
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, The Celestials Hierarchy, Michigan State University, https://esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeII/CelestialHierarchy.html.
Ibid, p.164-178; Guiley, Rosemary, The Encyclopedia of Angels, United States, Facts On File, Incorporated, 2004, Google books, https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Encyclopedia_of_Angels/15XABtvHcEsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Guiley,+Rosemary,+The+Encyclopedia+of+Angels,+United+States,+Facts+On+File,+Incorporated,+2004.&pg=PR4&printsec=frontcover, accessed 27 January pf 2024, p. 349-353.
Richard Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century, p. 185; Juanita Feros Ruys, ‘Nine Angry Angels: Order, Emotion, and the Angelic and Demonic Hierarchies in the High Middle Ages’ in Ordering Emotions in Europe, p.14-30; Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, The Celestials Hierarchy, Michigan State University, https://esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeII/CelestialHierarchy.html, p. 164-179.
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, The Celestials Hierarchy, p. 179.
Lucifer (Satan) was thought to have originally been a part of the group of angels which after the fall make up the lower ranks before his fall, Richard Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century, p.21-30, 184-185.
Ibid, p.189-190, 187-190; Andrea Franchetto, ‘Imaginal architectural devices and the ritual space of medieval necromancy’, p. 6-7; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.17, 212-213.
Hence, why astrology was generally distrusted, Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.182.
This view dominated the church throughout the Early Middle ages and was consistently present into the Late Middle ages with the Protestant Reformation using this idea of Theurgy to condemn the Catholic Church of using demonic forces, trans. by M. Dods, from St Augustine, The City of God, ‘St Augustine: Demonic Power in Early Christianity’, p. 27; trans. by Montague Summers, ‘Love magic in Antiquity’, p.28; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p. 178-181.
Cecco d’Ascoli would be burnt for his error in 1327, Ibid, p. 212-213; Lynn Thorndike, ‘Relations of the Inquisition to Peter of Abano and Cecco d’Ascoli’, in Speculum, vol. 1, no. 3, 1926, JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2847414, accessed 28 January 2024, p.338-343; Andrea Franchetto, ‘Imaginal architectural devices and the ritual space of medieval necromancy’, p. 2-3.
Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.204-205.
Richard Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century, p. 58-29.
Ibid, p. 61-80; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.155-156.
Ibid, p. 219; Robert Ralley,‘Stars, demons and the body in the fifteenth-century England’, in Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, p. 109-115; Sophie Page, ‘Monks and their Magic Texts at St. Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury’, in Pious Motives, Illicit Interests, and Occult Approaches to the Medieval Universe, 1st edn, University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/une/detail.action?docID=6224175, accessed 24 January 2024 p.7-9; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.76-77.
Richard Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century, p. 88-113; Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages: Revised and Expanded, p.155-156.
trans. by Georg Luck, ‘Heinrich Kramer: Malleus Malicarum, 1486’, p.57-68.