#medievalmanuscripts

A detail from a Coptic papyrus, showing a magical text and an illustration of the Crucifixion.

Egyptian papyri written in the Greek and Coptic languages preserve unique survivals of ancient magical practices.

A number of these 3rd to 6th-century documents attest to a significant use of magic in the already province of Egypt.

Important note: I will attach 28 pens from which this spell was made on the papyrus.

These pens are from the sciences of Important note: I will attach 28 pens from which this spell was made on the papyrus.

These pens are from the sciences of alsiymya' (السمياء) (It is a great magic used by the Pharaohs in ancient times) They are specially designed pens for the sciences of talismanship, spirituality, the seven planets, the phases of the moon, the seasons of the year, and the servants of astronomy.

Source: Medieval manuscripts

Abn Iiblis

A bird breathing gold fire

Add MS 62925 f.32r 

From: Tymms, William Robert. The art of illuminating as practised in Europe from the earliest times. London : Day and Son, 1860

by Rachel Hiser Remmes

The transition from the papyrus roll of late antiquity to the codex, akin to the modern day book, paralleled the rise of Christianity in the first few centuries of the Common Era. The correlation between these two events is widely documented in medieval scholarship and a number of factors have to be considered when discussing this switch. Two variables that drove this transition were the need for a format more suitable to recording the longer narrative text of the New Testament and a more durable materiality that would allow for the preservation of the written word and the intercontinental travel undertaken by early Christian missionaries.

With the change in format, there were more opportunities to depict images alongside their relevant text, as each page, or folio, presented a single confined space in which an illustrator and scribe could work. This is opposed to the long, continuous format of the scroll where the text could progress unencumbered by page divisions. One of the earliest extant Bibles produced in the codex format, the Quedlinburg Italia (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS Theol. lat. fol. 485), exemplifies the proliferation of images. This manuscript was produced in Rome in the early fifth century and, as can be seen in the images, organized pages dominated by images. This manuscript is believed to have been made in the same scriptorium of the famous Vatican Vergil (Rome, BAV, Vat. lat. 3225) where images also came to play an important literary function.

The transition from roll to codex communicates the interdependence between materiality and functionality that underlies so many medieval objects. It is a relationship that we will continue evaluate in our study of Medieval Materiality.

Lowden, John. “The Beginning of Biblical Illustration.” Imagining the Early Medieval Bible, ed. John Williams (University Park: Penn State Press, 1999): 8-59.

Quedlinburg Italia (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, ms theol. lat. fol. 485)

Vatican Vergil (Rome, BAV, Vat. lat. 3225)

The magic ring, from a handbook of magic, Egypt, 4th century: Papyrus 46, f 5v

The other important way to harness the demon's power was to connect them physically with the victim.

A 4th-century Greek magical handbook, Papyrus 46, currently on display in Harry Potter: A History of Magic, provides an excellent illustration of how this might be achieved.

This handbook records detailed instructions on how to compel the demons to bind someone not to do something, by using an iron ring to establish a physical bond with the target of the magic.

The curious recipe reads as follows:

'Take a papyrus and an iron ring, put the ring on the papyrus and draw the outlines of the ring with a pen, inside and outside.

On the area outside the ring write the name and invocation of the demon, on the inside the following: “Let whatever I wish not take place OR let so-and-so not get married forever”.

Then put the ring on its outline, wrap it up with the papyrus until it is completely covered.

Bind the package with cords and throw it into an unused well or dig it into the grave of someone untimely dead and say the following, “Spirit of the dead …”'

We don't know anyone who has ever tried this spell, and we can't guarantee its success.

It's fascinating, nonetheless, to see this practical application of 4th-century magic.

The papyrus itself is presently on view in London.

Source: Medieval manuscripts