Ione McKerley-Geier A27, Tisch Library Special Collections
Suffering from unrequited love or a bad headache? Need rain for your garden or protection from stormy seas? Or perhaps you are interested in gaining great riches or victory over your enemies?
Look no further than the two magical spellbooks, or grimoires (grammars of magic), housed with Tisch Library Special Collections.
Magical spells have a written history stretching back to the 5th century BCE and have been found all over the world. Tisch Special Collections’ French grimoires date from the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. They were created at a time when magic was largely frowned upon by the Roman Catholic Church and the French government. They also came during a period of great political and societal upheaval in France marked by the French Revolution. Despite the uncertainty that thus surrounded these texts, they display the results of a long history of magical practice that had endured under great pressure and survive today to offer us their secrets.
Image 1: Title Page of Les Vrais Clavicules
Les Vrais Clavicules du Roy Salomon is a French manuscript transcribed in the 1770s containing spells, prayers, and conjurations along with hundreds of drawings and diagrams. Claiming to contain the magical knowledge of the biblical Solomon, this grimoire provides detailed descriptions and instructions on how and in what context to perform magical spells, with guides on astrology, pentacle drawing, rings with which to catch spirits, and more. Included on the Roman Catholic Index of Prohibited Books, early examples were systematically destroyed. Tisch Special Collections' copy, MS 44, was copied in multiple hands on sheets of paper pasted to the pages of a bound printed book, a copy of the Almanac Royal, potentially for reasons of secrecy.
Image 2: Title Page of Enchiridion Leonis Papae...
Enchiridion Leonis Papae serenissimo imperatori Carolo Magno in munus pretiosum datum : nuperrime mendis omnibus purgatum is a smaller, printed book, published in about 1810 CE, which claims to date from 1660 and to contain the prayers and magical secrets conveyed from Pope Leo III to Charlemagne the Great. Its spells are less numerous and varied than those of the manuscript, but nonetheless address uses ranging from preventing harm from one's enemies, saving a marriage, and stopping a fire. The text also contains seven biblical psalms, various letters claimed to be from historical figures, and 10 full page pentacles, figures, and illustrations for magical use dotted throughout the text.
By looking at the uses of the spells contained in these texts, we can see the ways people’s desires and fears compare to those we have today. The plethora of spells devoted to love, fidelity, riches, and invisibility reflect human’s enduring interest in romance, wealth, and whimsical trickery. The spells directed at more practical uses like curing a cold or watering one’s garden also reflect our persistent fight against illness and perhaps futile efforts at gardening.
Image 3: Two pages of Les Vrais Clavicules featuring pentacles and accompanying love spells
Image 4: Two pages of Enchiridion featuring a full page pentacle illustration and a prayer against one’s enemies.
At the same time, the presence of magical spells for these practical uses reflect a lack of other kinds of remedies that we have today, like effective medicine and garden hoses. Further, there are a number of spells in Les Vrais Clavicules devoted to protection, particularly for travelers, from natural forces like storms, rough seas, and earthquakes. While these forces are still present in our lives, their prevalence in this text represents a prominent fear that many today likely do not feel. Similarly, the spells in Enchiridion have an overwhelming focus on protection from and victory over one’s enemies. This is indicative of a concern with violent and malicious interpersonal conflict that is foreign to many people’s everyday lives today.
These books provide a window into what people desired and feared, and thus what they wished to use magic for, during this volatile period of history. Opening up these two grimoires, we can see ourselves reflected back at us and at once see how different the world has become.
See more of these books in a Special Collections online exhibit, The Secrets of King Salomon and Pope Leo III: Two French Grimoires and Their Approaches to Magic.