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8/10/2019 Lynn Thorndike-Robertus Anglicus and the Introduction of Demons and Magic Into Commentaries Upon TheSphere

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ROBERTUS ANGLICUSAND THE INTRODUCTION OFDEMONSAND MAGIC INTOCOMMENTARIES

UPON THE SPHERE OF SACROBOSCOBYLYNN THORNDIKE

COMMENTARIES on standard and authoritative exts, such as the Sentences fPeter Lombard, the law books of Justinian, arious fen of Avicenna s Canon,and the works f Aristotle, layed a prominent art n mediaevaleducation,writ-ing and thought. his was the form hat most university ectures n theology,law, medicine nd the liberal arts took. While mediaeval trust n authority asoften been exaggerated, nd the theologian might go on to composea Summaa nd Quotlibeta f his own, or the lawyer nd the doctor to write Consilia andE xperimenta ased on their ctual legal and medical practice, nevertheless heirthinking, specially hat of a theoretical nd speculative character, was bound

to be profoundly ffected, f not n the main guided,by both the method nd thecontent f the questions nd arguments which had so largely ccupied their tu-dent and teaching ays and whichwere commonheritage nd possession f allintellectuals nd of western uropean Latin culture. We might add, and of thepreceding Arabic philosophy nd medicine. his scholastic method and contentwas, so to speak, n the air and in the ntellectual lood. It was reflected o andfro from very quarter. t gave the impulse and direction even to the moreoriginal hinking f the time, which was not usually creative along new linesbut started with mere contradiction f, or proceeded t a tangent from, he ac-

cepted enets. his indeed ontinued o be the casewith much of so-called modernphilosophy.Even in the commentary pon a standard text, however, here were degrees

of dependence.A distinction was drawn between the Expositio,whose aim wasmerely o repeat and expound the meaning of the authority, nd Questiones,where more iberty was enjoyed in discussing problems raised by reading thetext. The same commentator might composeboth an Expositio nd Questioneson a given text of Aristotle. ivergence of viewsfurther evelopedbetween dif-ferent nterpreters. ome went to such daring engths s to incur the charge of

heresy. Others arried o far afield heir development f the question raised byPeter Lombard, whether harity ncreases by degrees, hat in the opinion ofPierre Duhem,l they ed on to the production f a special literature n the nten-sity nd remission f forms r latitude of forms, hich aid a foundation ormod-ern scientificmeasurement.

This important roblem, o what extent may a new advance in thought r theintroduction f new and foreign material be traced in the literature f themediaevalcommentators, as hitherto een mooted nd touched upon chiefly nthe domain of theology nd of commentaries pon the works of Aristotle n the

field f natural philosophy. rather nstructive xamplemay be added from heterritory f astronomy nd cosmology,where the Sphereof Iohannes de Sacro-1 Pierre Duhem, Etudes sur leonard de Vinci, II (1913), Les Precurseurs Parisiens de Galilee,

pp. 314-346.

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242 Robertuusnglicus

bosco(John f Holywoodor Halifax) was the favorite lementary extbook n thesubject from he time of ts composition n the early thirteenth entury n intothe seventeenth entury ongafter Copernicus.

This brief nd extremely ellwritten nd lucid little manual consists f fourchapters which the author thus describes n the prooemium r opening para-

graph:We divide he reatise n the phere nto our hapters, tating irst hat sphere s,

what ts center, hat he xisof the phere, hat hepole,howmany pheres here re,andwhat he hape f he world s. n the econd hapter ttention s directed othe irclesofwhich hismaterial phere scomposed,nd that upercelestialnewhich s portrayedby this. n the third hapter, herisings nd settings f the igns, he varying ength fdays nd nights or hose nhabiting ifferentocalities,nd the divisionnto even limes.In the fourth, he ircles nd movementsf heplanets nd the auses f clipses.

Anyonewho still cherishes he notion hat men before Columbusbelieved the

earth to be flat hould read Sacrobosco s arguments n the first hapter hat theearth s a sphere ike the universe nd his estimate f its circumference nd di-ameter. The circles istinguished n the econd chapter re the equinoctial, odiac,two coluri,meridian nd horizon, ropics f Cancerand Capricorn, nd arctic ndantarctic ircles.The third hapter reats of the rising nd setting of the con-stellations irst ccording o the poets, then according o the astronomers. hesequotations from he Latin classics Virgil nd Ovid are also quoted elsewhere- add a literary ouch to the work, while at the very close a religiousnote issoundedby holding hat the darkening f the sun at the time of the Passion was

miraculous, ot natural, ince the moon was full nd so could not have eclipsedthe sun. Otherwise he Sphere s strictly osmological nd astronomical. No as-trology s introduced, xcept for he brief eneral tatement hat all life n nferiorthings epends on the movement f the planets beneath the zodiac. Not a wordis said of the existence f demons nd a world f spirits. ven Aristotle s ntelli-gencesthat move the heavens are not mentioned.

It was hard to improve pon the presentation y Sacrobosco, nd his text wasso clear and rapid that t scarcely eededany further xplanation xcept perhapsby geometric nd astronomical igures. ut its general doption n the curriculum

as the elementary ext n astronomy equired he teacher o do something withit, and commentators orthwith ndertook o try to gild the lily. Some of theadditions which weremade seemto have been intended o divert nd amuse thestudents, nd add nothing f astronomical r cosmological mportance. Othercomments ave the more erious urpose f supplementing he text s depiction fheaven nd earth by someexposition f the strological elations etweenheavensand earth. Elsewhere have years since given omeaccount of he commentarieson the Sphereby Michael Scot soon after t appeared and by Ceccod Ascoli al-most a century ater.2 would now supplement his and perhaps throw more

light on the continuity nd development f the tradition y considering he un-published commentary f Robertus Anglicus which falls midway between theother two in 1271. Duhem discussed ts astronomical heories n the basis of aParis manuscript,3 hile have called attention o its clear forecast f the ap-

2 A uistoryf Magicand Experimental cience, i, 332-333,955-966.3 Pierre Duhem, Lesystmer u monde, II (1915),291-298. bid., pp. 246-248 for hecommentary y

Michael Soot; iv (1916), 263-9265, or hat by Ceccod Ascoli.




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Robertus nglicus 243

proaching nvention f the mechanical lock,4 which Duhem failed o note. WhatI would further oint out now s that the commentary f Robertus Anglicus on-stitutes transition nd halfway ousebetween he astrology n the commentaryof Michael Scot and the astronomical ecromancy nd diabolical magic in thecommentary f Cecco d Ascoli.

Robertus Anglicus not only discusses the influence f the planets and fixedstars, the properties f the planets and their conjunctions nd relation to theweather nd to the seven metals, macrocosm nd microcosm, he triplicitates ndfacies of the signs of the zodiac and their relation o the members f the humanbody, the twelve astrological houses, and the influence f the moon in the dif-ferent igns. He not merely ites Alcabitius, Albumasar, Zael on elections,Mes-sahala on astrological medicine.He not only ntroduces world oul for he uni-formmotion f the heavens nd a separate ntellligence r mover or ach planet.He also tells of spirit nnouncing o the GreekBrutus hat the sland of Britain,formerly nhabited by giants, was now ready for human habitation, nd that, fBrutus established his seat there, his descendants would become kings to whomthe entire arth wouldbe subject.5 r, n order o demonstrate hat the equatorialregions re habitable, Robert repeats tale told him by an English age. A spiritwho had been invokedby an incantation sserted hat he could bring ipe figs tany time of the year. When the enchanter nquired how that could be, the spiritreplied hat there was a place on earth which was thought o be uninhabitablewhere fruit rew ll the year round, nd that he would bring him some the nextday, whichwas about Christmas ime.He duly brought he figs, nd Robert con-cludesthat t surely eemsthat that region must be at the equator.6In the commentary f Cecco d Ascoli not only are such stories of demonsparalleled by others concerning spirit named Floron,7 but various books ofmagic and necromancy, scribed to Apollonius, Hipparchus, Solomon andZoroaster,8 re cited regarding pirits n different arts of the heavens. t mightbe interesting o examine ther ommentaries n the Sphere9 nd see to what ex-tent they followed his tendency. ohannes de Fundis, who ectured t length nthe Sphere t Bologna n 1437, t the start mitated Cecco s commentary n istingother rts of divination esides astrology nd later on showed something f thesame leaning owardsmagic and necromancy. 0 ut the burning f Cecco at thestake in Florence n 1327may have had a discouraging ffect pon the furtherdevelopment f this particular ine of thought.

COLUMBIAUNIVERSITY.

4 Invention of the Mechanical Clock about 1271A.D.,SPECULUM,VI 1941), 242-243. I have dis-cussedthe question f the dentity f Robertus Anglicus n another rticle: sis, XXIV1843),467-469.

5Basel MS. F. IV. 18, fol. 14va, De qua terra dixit spiritus Bruto Greco ; University f ChicagoMS. 3, fol. 16va;Bodleian Library, DigbyMS. 48, fol. 81v.Cf. Geoffery f Monmouth, listoria egum

Britanniae, d. Acton Griscom, 929,p. 239.6Basel F. IV. 18, fol. 15rb; ChiCago , fol. 17-, Digby48, fol. 83r.7A History f Magic and Experimental cience, i, 965.8 Cecco s citations re listed at pp. 154-159 by G. Boffito, I1 De eccentricis t epicyclis e Cecco

d Ascoli novamente coperto illustrato, l Bibliofilia, ii (1905-06),150-167.8 Cf. Thorndike nd Kibre, A Catalogue f ncipits of MediaevalScientificWritings n Latin, 1937,

eol. 906, under Sacrobosco,Sphera, comm.10A History f Magic and Experimental cience, v (1934), 937-240.



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