Live-Blogging Kalamazoo - Friday 1:30
May. 9th, 2014 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjI had been thinking of going to the 10am session The Real Generic Middle Ages sponsored by the "Tales after Tolkien Society" and covering issues in adapting historic elements into historical and fantasy fiction, but instead I did my shopping in the bookroom (which will be catalogued in detail later).
Session 239: Visualizing Learned Magic and Popular Magic through Talismans, Images, and Objects
Sponsor: Societas Magica; Research Group on Manuscript Evidence Organizer: David Porreca, Univ. of Waterloo
Presider: Mildred Budny, Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
The Musical Hand of Knowledge
John Haines, Univ. of Toronto
"Guidonian hand", symbol of medieval music theory and considered by some as a pedagogical aid, identifing the digits of the fingers with sol fa symbols. After Guido of Artezzo (10th c.) but he wasn't actually the origin and it wasn't originally a pedagogical tool. The scale is identified on the hand-space in a spiral starting from the tip of the thumb for 20 notes in total. Spiral or wheel shape used to describe musical scale in some medieval texts. Always the left hand is used. (The speaker now leavens his talk with amusing irrelevant asides which is a good technique for the after-lunch session.) Connection made with the use of the "computus hand", similarly used as a mnemonic/tool for tracking the cycle of lunar years (primarily used to calculate the date of Easter). Contrast between location of musical knowledge on the fingers rather than the palm in diagrams, whereas in Renaissance images of the musical hand, the more hidden knowledge tracked on the fingers begins to be echoed by the representation of music with a staff on the palm of the hand.
A musical hand predating Guido focuses on the fingers as individual pieces of knowledge (in poetic form) and not the busy, detailed division into joints each with their own symbolism. The musical hand contrasts with the use of the hand for chiromancy (palmistry) where the palm is the focus for interpretation. Only 2 medieval musical hand diagrams have images in the palm, one has an image of Music personified as a lady enthroned. The 2nd palm illustration contains 4 notation symbols (ptongi), using a nontation system that never caught on successfully. With modification, these 4 symbols are expanded to 18, in theory covering all the notes necessary for music. Of course, the mnemonic is of no use without the knowledge of how to use them, which makes the musical hand a sort of secret code for knowledge as well as a means of communicating it.
The Visual Trappings of Magic: McGill Univ., Special Collections, MCG 117
Frank Klaassen, Univ. of Saskatchewan
Possible 15th c. magical treatise listed in library catalog, paper explores actual nature and whether or not magical. Book is filled with diagrams filled and surrounded with cipher texts, using 2 main systems a simple vowel-replacement (using numbers) and a vowel-replacement with null symbols.
On the surface, once deciphered, the text appears to be a simple collection of prayers and devotional meditations. Actual date is Elizabethan, with a muddle of Catholic and Protestant sources for the contents. Use of some Latin prayers and emphasis on the Ave suggests covert Catholic sympathies but Protestant materal argues against a pure secret Catholicism. Despite the use of ciphers and diagrams that lead one through the repetitions and variations of the prayers, there does not appear to be an over magical intent to the contents. Text is structured in a very repetitive fashion, working through many categories of groups of meditative objets (Christ's wounds, 12 miracles, 12 apostles, 12 saints, 7 churches of Asia, etc.).
So why use a cipher? There was a 16th c. fad for using ciphers in scientific and pseudo-scientific texts. Intent, not only to conceal the nature of the contents but to emphasize the "secret and mysterious nature of the text". Most of these ciphers are quite transparent to someone familiar with the concept. [Note that a vowel-replacement cipher is particularly transparent, cf. "disemvoweling" as an only mildly concealing technique.] But ciphers are also associated with political and religious subversion. Use in this text might be purely due to the academic fad for ciphers, but disguising the dangerously Catholic nature of the contents might be another motivation. The problem with the latter being that it simply isn't a very good concealment and actually draws attention to the contents as potentially problematic. A third possibility would be the general association of ciphers as having an inherent spiritual purpose, such that the deciphering is a part of the process of devotion. As the text gives no clue to the author's motivation, this is all speculation and very likely a blend of all these purposes was involved. There is a further connection with magic, in that the Protestant negative views of magic in the 16th century conflated magic and Catholicism to some degree.
Riding the Emerald: Lithic Talismans in Renaissance Visual Culture
Liliana Leopardi, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Gems and jewels in Renaissance paintings are primarily literal representations of wealth and luxury. But the depictions can also be seen as connected to the mystical associations and meanings of gems. So, for example the emerald featured in Bronzino's Venus's crown is a symbol of lasciviousness. Consider: can the painted representations of magical gems themselves be intended to have magical effect? Labidaries such as the Speculum Lapidum of Leonardi (16th century) catalog the natures and properties of gems. Leonardi was also a physician and astrologer. 250 different stones are cataloged. Book was dedicated to Cesare Borgia and reprinted numberous times in the 16th century. English translation of 1750 edits out all the references to magic and superstition. Leonardi's sources include all the standard early sources (Pliny, Isadore of Seville, Albertus Magnus, etc.) and reflects the interest of churchmen in "natural magic" which was considered a licit interest. Gems might in addition be made into talismans, carved with the names of angels and selected for their astrological connections. The use of these in rings is the prescribed method of setting. In addition to metal rings set with stones, there are examples of rings carved entirely from gems, such as a sapphire currently held in Vienna. Books with catalogs of images to engrave on gems, with specifications of which material to use. 18th century treatise by Farnesiano catalogs inscribed gems specifically identified as "magical".
Hortus Sanitatis indicates that ingested (ground) gems are also of medicinal value, in addition to applying gems externally. Bezoars are a classic example: encased in jeweled holders and worn on the body or placed on the table to neutralize poisons. Astrology and humoral theory were extensively used in the understanding and interpretation of how gems could influence the body. If disease is caused by astrological or humoral influence, then remediation via the asstrological/humoral properties of gems should produce health. Figurative (image-based) treatment used a similar understanding. Engraving an astrological symbol on a stone produces the same effect as performing things under the action of the sign. But the prescribed engraved images are far more varied than simple zodiacal signs or related symbols. These were all considered to be "natural" influences and not part of artificial magical practice. Widespread examples of vision as a means of creating effects on the body, as with extensive warnings for pregnant women against sights that might affect the fetus. Repeated viewing was considered to "impress" these effects on the body, hence the emphasis on rings which could be viewed regularly with ease. An extension of this was the idea that the repeated viewing of paintings had an influence on the viewer, hence the presence of meaningful gemstones in paintings could affect the viewer in the same way that the presence of the physical stone would.
Session 239: Visualizing Learned Magic and Popular Magic through Talismans, Images, and Objects
Sponsor: Societas Magica; Research Group on Manuscript Evidence Organizer: David Porreca, Univ. of Waterloo
Presider: Mildred Budny, Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
The Musical Hand of Knowledge
John Haines, Univ. of Toronto
"Guidonian hand", symbol of medieval music theory and considered by some as a pedagogical aid, identifing the digits of the fingers with sol fa symbols. After Guido of Artezzo (10th c.) but he wasn't actually the origin and it wasn't originally a pedagogical tool. The scale is identified on the hand-space in a spiral starting from the tip of the thumb for 20 notes in total. Spiral or wheel shape used to describe musical scale in some medieval texts. Always the left hand is used. (The speaker now leavens his talk with amusing irrelevant asides which is a good technique for the after-lunch session.) Connection made with the use of the "computus hand", similarly used as a mnemonic/tool for tracking the cycle of lunar years (primarily used to calculate the date of Easter). Contrast between location of musical knowledge on the fingers rather than the palm in diagrams, whereas in Renaissance images of the musical hand, the more hidden knowledge tracked on the fingers begins to be echoed by the representation of music with a staff on the palm of the hand.
A musical hand predating Guido focuses on the fingers as individual pieces of knowledge (in poetic form) and not the busy, detailed division into joints each with their own symbolism. The musical hand contrasts with the use of the hand for chiromancy (palmistry) where the palm is the focus for interpretation. Only 2 medieval musical hand diagrams have images in the palm, one has an image of Music personified as a lady enthroned. The 2nd palm illustration contains 4 notation symbols (ptongi), using a nontation system that never caught on successfully. With modification, these 4 symbols are expanded to 18, in theory covering all the notes necessary for music. Of course, the mnemonic is of no use without the knowledge of how to use them, which makes the musical hand a sort of secret code for knowledge as well as a means of communicating it.
The Visual Trappings of Magic: McGill Univ., Special Collections, MCG 117
Frank Klaassen, Univ. of Saskatchewan
Possible 15th c. magical treatise listed in library catalog, paper explores actual nature and whether or not magical. Book is filled with diagrams filled and surrounded with cipher texts, using 2 main systems a simple vowel-replacement (using numbers) and a vowel-replacement with null symbols.
On the surface, once deciphered, the text appears to be a simple collection of prayers and devotional meditations. Actual date is Elizabethan, with a muddle of Catholic and Protestant sources for the contents. Use of some Latin prayers and emphasis on the Ave suggests covert Catholic sympathies but Protestant materal argues against a pure secret Catholicism. Despite the use of ciphers and diagrams that lead one through the repetitions and variations of the prayers, there does not appear to be an over magical intent to the contents. Text is structured in a very repetitive fashion, working through many categories of groups of meditative objets (Christ's wounds, 12 miracles, 12 apostles, 12 saints, 7 churches of Asia, etc.).
So why use a cipher? There was a 16th c. fad for using ciphers in scientific and pseudo-scientific texts. Intent, not only to conceal the nature of the contents but to emphasize the "secret and mysterious nature of the text". Most of these ciphers are quite transparent to someone familiar with the concept. [Note that a vowel-replacement cipher is particularly transparent, cf. "disemvoweling" as an only mildly concealing technique.] But ciphers are also associated with political and religious subversion. Use in this text might be purely due to the academic fad for ciphers, but disguising the dangerously Catholic nature of the contents might be another motivation. The problem with the latter being that it simply isn't a very good concealment and actually draws attention to the contents as potentially problematic. A third possibility would be the general association of ciphers as having an inherent spiritual purpose, such that the deciphering is a part of the process of devotion. As the text gives no clue to the author's motivation, this is all speculation and very likely a blend of all these purposes was involved. There is a further connection with magic, in that the Protestant negative views of magic in the 16th century conflated magic and Catholicism to some degree.
Riding the Emerald: Lithic Talismans in Renaissance Visual Culture
Liliana Leopardi, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Gems and jewels in Renaissance paintings are primarily literal representations of wealth and luxury. But the depictions can also be seen as connected to the mystical associations and meanings of gems. So, for example the emerald featured in Bronzino's Venus's crown is a symbol of lasciviousness. Consider: can the painted representations of magical gems themselves be intended to have magical effect? Labidaries such as the Speculum Lapidum of Leonardi (16th century) catalog the natures and properties of gems. Leonardi was also a physician and astrologer. 250 different stones are cataloged. Book was dedicated to Cesare Borgia and reprinted numberous times in the 16th century. English translation of 1750 edits out all the references to magic and superstition. Leonardi's sources include all the standard early sources (Pliny, Isadore of Seville, Albertus Magnus, etc.) and reflects the interest of churchmen in "natural magic" which was considered a licit interest. Gems might in addition be made into talismans, carved with the names of angels and selected for their astrological connections. The use of these in rings is the prescribed method of setting. In addition to metal rings set with stones, there are examples of rings carved entirely from gems, such as a sapphire currently held in Vienna. Books with catalogs of images to engrave on gems, with specifications of which material to use. 18th century treatise by Farnesiano catalogs inscribed gems specifically identified as "magical".
Hortus Sanitatis indicates that ingested (ground) gems are also of medicinal value, in addition to applying gems externally. Bezoars are a classic example: encased in jeweled holders and worn on the body or placed on the table to neutralize poisons. Astrology and humoral theory were extensively used in the understanding and interpretation of how gems could influence the body. If disease is caused by astrological or humoral influence, then remediation via the asstrological/humoral properties of gems should produce health. Figurative (image-based) treatment used a similar understanding. Engraving an astrological symbol on a stone produces the same effect as performing things under the action of the sign. But the prescribed engraved images are far more varied than simple zodiacal signs or related symbols. These were all considered to be "natural" influences and not part of artificial magical practice. Widespread examples of vision as a means of creating effects on the body, as with extensive warnings for pregnant women against sights that might affect the fetus. Repeated viewing was considered to "impress" these effects on the body, hence the emphasis on rings which could be viewed regularly with ease. An extension of this was the idea that the repeated viewing of paintings had an influence on the viewer, hence the presence of meaningful gemstones in paintings could affect the viewer in the same way that the presence of the physical stone would.
