Secrets and Marvels
Albertus Magnus, the thirteenth-century polymath known as the Universal Doctor, had a problem. To some, he was the greatest natural philosopher of his age. To others, he was a dangerous sorcerer who built talking automatons, disguised himself as a midwife to learn forbidden secrets, and wrote books on summoning demons. Was Albertus Magnus a saint, or was he a sorcerer? The answer to this question would help define the very boundary between science and magic. In this episode, I bring you the story of Albertus Magnus and the Mirror of Astronomy.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
Cover image: Manuscript illumination of a necromancer controlling demons, from British Library, Royal 6 e.vi f.396v.
Music
Purple Planet - Daybreak
Purple Planet - Ossuary
Purple Planet - Reverie
Purple Planet - True Faith
Purple Planet - Sense of Loss
Purple Planet - Shadowlands
Sources
Primary
Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great) (attributed). Libellus De Alchimia: Ascribed to Albertus Magnus, edited by Heines, Virginia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2022.
Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great). On Union with God. New York: Continuum, 2000.
Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great). The Secrets of Albertus Magnus. London: T. Cates, 1637
Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great) (attributed). Speculum Astronomiae, edited by S. Caroti, M. Periera, and S. Zamponi, under the direction of Paola Zambelli. Quaderni di Storia e Critica della Scienza 10. Pisa: Domus Galilaeana, 1977.
Petrus de Prussia (Peter of Prussia). Legenda venerabilis domini Alberti Magni. Cologne, 1486/87.
Pseudo-Albertus. De Secretis Mulierum. Translated by John Quincy, M.D. London: E. Curll, 1725.
Rudolphus de Novomagio (Rudolph of Nijmegen). Legenda litteralis Alberti Magni. Cologne, 1490.
Secondary
Adair, Aaron. “The Star of Christ in the Light of Astronomy.” Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 47, no. 1 (2012): 7–29.
Collins, David J. “Albertus, Magnus or Magus? Magic, Natural Philosophy, and Religious Reform in the Late Middle Ages.” Renaissance Quarterly 63 (2010): 1–44.
Hendrix, Scott E. “Albert the Great, the Albert Legend, and the Legitimation of the Dominicans.” Religions 12, no. 11 (2021): 992.
Hendrix, Scott E. Albert the Great’s Speculum Astronomiae and Four Centuries of Readers. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2010.
Hendrix, Scott E. “Albertus Magnus and Rational Astrology.” Religions 11, no. 10 (2020): 481.
Hendrix, Scott E. “The Power of a Name: Albert the Great, the Speculum Astronomiae, and Legitimization of Astrology and Astrological Magic in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries.” In Astrology and Western Society from the First World War to Covid-19, edited by Burns, William, 73-99. Switzerland: Springer, 2023.
Hendrix, Scott E. “Reading the Future and Freeing the Will: Astrology of the Arabic World and Albertus Magnus.” Hortulus 1 (2006): 30–49.
Miteva, Evelina. “Intellect, Natural Philosophy, Finality: Albertus Magnus’ Attempt at a Universal System of Sciences.” Philobiblon 22, no. 2 (2017): 37-49.
Resnick, Irven M. and Kenneth F. Kitchell Jr. Albertus Magnus and the World of Nature. London, England: Reaktion Books, 2022.
Rutkin, H. Darrel. “Imagines Astronomicae (Talismans) in the Speculum Astronomiae, Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.” In Sapientia Astrologica: Astrology, Magic and Natural Knowledge, Ca. 1250-1800, 275-315. Cham: Springer, 2019.
Zambelli, Paola. The Speculum Astronomiae and Its Enigma: Astrology, Theology and Science in Albertus Magnus and His Contemporaries. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science 135. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992.
