2021-11-25

Lack of progress report 2021.11.25

A few pages of the "Invocation of Angels" texts that are actually legible in my copies have been keyed (26 or so leaves of "Practice of the Tables" from Sloane MS. 3821 mainly), and a bit more progress made on 3824, although the condition of the final section (specifically the large amount of rubricated text that is completely unreadable in the images I'm working from) makes it unlikely that the project can be satisfactorily completed with the materials I currently have.

The final division of 3824 (fol. 131-154) has the snappy title, "The Magick and Magicall Elements of the Seven days of the week, with their Appropriate hours, and the four Annual Seasons," which, as one might suspect from the title is a rearranged and expanded (bloated, rather) English version of the Heptameron seu elementa magica of pseudo-Abano.  Certain readings (specifically the suffumigation for Sunday, which is given the double reading "Red Wheat or Red Sanders") indicate the work's redaction history involved both the 1655 and 1665 editions of Turner's translation.  The considerations and conjurations of the days of the week occupy fol. 131-139r, concluding with a table of the Angels of the hours; fol. 139v / 140r are summary tables with the names of the 7 days and four seasons, with some example figures of the circle.

The latter part of the text is the ritual rubric and general conjurations.  For an illustration of what I mean by describing this text as "bloated," consider the prayer to be said at robing (variants of which occur frequently in Solomonic magical texts).  The Vadian Lucidarium (Vad Slg MS. 334, p. 16) reads:

Ancor, amacor, amilces, theodomas, Iancor, Per merita angelorum tuorum domine induam vestimenta salutis, ut hoc quod desidero possim perducere ad effectum per te sanctissime Adonay, cuius regnum permanet per omnia secula seculorum.  Amen.

In the Latin Heptameron (ed. 1559) it runs as followeth:

Ancor, Amacor, Amides, Theodonias, Anitor, Per merita Angelorum tuorum sanctorum Domine, induam vestimenta salutis: ut hoc quod desidero, possim perducere ad effectum: per te sanctissime Adonay, cuius Regnum permanet, per omnia secula seculorum, Amen.

Turner (1665) translates this thus:

Ancor, Amacor, Amides, Theodonias, Anitor, by the merits of the Angels, O Lord, I will put on the Garment of Salvation, that this which I desire I may bring to effect: through thee the most holy Adonay, whose kingdome endureth for ever and ever, Amen.

For comparison, a 17th-century (per the BL catalogue of manuscripts) English "Key of Solomon"  version (Sloane MS. 3645, fol. 14v) has:

Antor, Anator, et Anabis, Theodomas, Ianitor, By the deserts [an obsolete usage] of the holy Angells I will put on the vesture of health that I may bring to pass my desire by thee O holy Adonay, whose kingdome hath noe end.

And the variant of the Ars Goëtia (Sloane MS. 3825, fol. 113v, roughly contemporary with 3824): 

By the figurative mysterie of these holy vestures or vestments, I will cloath me with the armour of salvation in the strength of the highest Ancor Amacor Amides Theodonias Anitor, that my desired End may be effected through the [sic] strength Adonay, to whome the praise & glory will forever & ever belong Amen. 

Compare the following, from the fifth of the nine chapters of ritual material interpolated at the start of Book XV of the 1665 edition of Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft (given the dates involved it is possible that the redactor of the Ars Goëtia used this edition of Scot: but it is also possible that both derived independently from the same English MS. tradition):

By the figurative mystery of this holy Stole or Vestment, I will cloath me with the armour of Salvation in the strength of the highest, Ancor, Amacor, Amides, Theodonias, Anitor.  That my desired end may be effected through thy strength Adonai, to whom the praise and glory will for ever belong.

In "The Magick and Magicall Elements" (Sloane MS. 3824 fol. 142r) this has become:

Ancor; Amacor; Amides; Theodonias; Anitor; by the power of the blessed Trinity wherewith we are through faith dignified with Cœlestiall Supremisie & command over all spirits of what nature, orders, office, degree, Mansions, or place of being soever they are: Grant o Lorde that I putting on this vestment of safty, may powerfully (together with these my Associats) be defended from all the Assualts, surprises, frights, feares, & Amasements of wicked, or evill spirits, and that by the virtue & efficacy of our invocations we may effectually move, call forth, & constraine those Elementall Spirits, or Spirituall Powers, as we shall thereby move or call-forthe, whether by nature, name, orders, or office, visibly & peacibly to apeare unto us & faithfully to fullfill & to performe unto us whatsoever we shall accordingly request, & command them; without the least of hurt or iniury or any other evill deed to be don unto us, or to this place, or to any other place, or person whatsoever, through thee, o holy Adonai, whose mercy Endureth for ever, Amen. 

While it is widely theorised that the authors and users of magical texts in late mediæval Europe were typically renegade monks or low-rank members of the clergy, some of the language used in the late 17th-century English writings (specifically the "Invocation of Angels" texts and the materials collected in "Longobardus") suggest the writers of the latter were rather lawyers, or possibly failed law students trying to make a living as cunning-folk, treasure-hunters and the like.

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