#1000s

The Enchiridion of Pope Leo - This book is technically not a grimoire: It offers no instructions for magical rituals but is a collection of charms turned into prayers, accompanied by mysterious figures supposedly taken from rare old manuscripts.

According to the story of the book's alleged origins, Pope Leo III (r. 795-816) gave the Emperor of the West Charlemagne a collection of prayers after his coronation in Rome in 800. The collection had special properties:

Whoever carried it about on his person with the proper attitude—respect for the Scripture—and recited it daily in the honor of God would have divine protection for his entire life. He would never be defeated by his enemies and would escape all dangers without harm. The text claims that Charlemagne, who enjoyed great fortune, wrote a letter of thanks in his own hand to Pope Leo III, which is still preserved in the Vatican Library.

This collection of prayers was published as the Enchiridion for the first time in Rome in 1523. A second edition is said to have been issued in 1606 and a final edition in 1660. The book was probably composed in the 17th century and given the legend to lend it authenticity. Charlemagne may not have been literate, and no letters of his are extant.

The Enchiridion's charms are dressed up as prayers, but few are spiritual in nature; they are instead concerned with material things such as acquiring wealth, happiness, and advantage and protecting ones self against all kinds of dangers, misfortunes, natural disasters, and evils. The text denies any association with magic, but in the fashion of magic, it describes a ritual for its proper use. The book must be kept clean in a bag of new leather. It must be carried on the person, and at least one page of it must be read with devotion every day. Specific pages can be read for various needs. To read from the book, one must face east and kneel, for this, claims the Enchiridion, is what Charlemagne did.

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