The Roman poet Virgil (70-19 BC) was much admired in the Middle Ages. Not so much for his poems, but because he had a reputation for having the wisdom and power of a magician. A few centuries later, however, his popularity was over and he was reviled and loathed for his supposed magical arts. A cover that betrays a change in thinking about magic.
Between 1500 and 1525 editions of the short story collection Virgilius . appeared in Dutch, French and English. They are old and new stories in which the Roman poet plays the leading role. The tenor of the collection is strikingly negative. Yet there is an undertone of appreciation, which ties in with what has been written about Virgil for centuries.
Through his work 'Aeneid' he was considered the most important poet of antiquity. He was also considered a prophet because in his fourth 'Ecloga(e)' (shepherd's poem) heralds the birth of a savior and the coming of a Golden Age. This could only be the birth of Christ. Moreover, with his ‘Georgica’ . he proved (country life) – a source of knowledge in the fields of agriculture, medicine, astrology, philosophy and astronomy – that he was a scholar.
Virgil was born before the Christian era, but was nevertheless regarded as a naturally Christian soul. The positive image of Virgil persists throughout the Middle Ages. For example, it is not for nothing that Dante in his Divine Comedy (first half 14 e century) as a guide chooses his journey through hell. From about 1150, another dimension was added:Virgil as a magician, who accomplished wonderful things with his knowledge.
For example, according to Alexander Neckam in his 'De naturis rerum' (On the nature of nature) Freeing Naples from a leech plague by throwing a golden leech into a well.
He also prevented meat spoilage by sealing the meat market airtight with the help of a herb and he set up a moving image group in Rome to warn the Romans about uprisings in the outer regions. In the literature of that time, such automata were very popular. They indicated craftsmanship, talent, ingenuity.
From all these stories arises the image of Virgil as a great inventor who knows how to realize something 'magical' through his inimitable knowledge and his practical application of technology. The tone is definitely positive.
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However, in German-speaking regions – why exactly here is unclear – other visions also circulated. Wolfram von Eschenbach conducts Virgil in his 'Parzifal' (c. 1210) as a relative of the evil wizard Klingsor who imprisoned forty women in his enchanted castle. In the ‘Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg’ from the middle of the 13 e century, a demon – in the guise of a trapped fly – persuades Virgil to free him. In return, Virgil gets a book written by the sorcerer Zabulon, so that he can conquer all the clerics.
Jans Enikel labels Virgil in his 'Weltchronik' (c. 1280) as a child of hell, with a devilish magical knowledge. The traditional idea of Virgil as a prophet of the birth of Christ is purposely left unmentioned. Ultimately, both streams converge in the early-16 e century Virgil. It also includes the old positive feats of arms, such as the miracles performed by Virgil for the common good and his influence on the development of Naples into a thriving commercial city in which science was promoted.
In addition, it is clear from the title page that this power belonged to Virgil. It is explicitly stated that he performed his miracles with 'behulpe des duvels' . A new story about him is explained in detail:how Virgil, through a ruse, comes into possession of the books in which the devil described his dark art, nigromance. The conclusion is that he was a haughty man who lost himself in knowledge and wrongly considered himself equal to God.
The fact that the collection is designed as an anecdotal biography also says something about Virgil's deteriorated image. This genre that was loved at the time – to which, for example, Tijl Uilenspiegel belongs – puts individual stories about the main characters in a logical order. They are about loners with no strong connection to the community in which they live. They have unsuspected and hidden powers and are afflicted with an often malevolent sense of humor that transcends the boundaries of what is still comical. It was clear to the public that they had a diabolical nature. Virgil also now belonged to these 'rogues'.
Arab influence
The change in appreciation for the wizard Virgil undoubtedly has to do with the stricter application of ecclesiastical views on magic. Virgil got in the 12 e century a status as a wizard due to the availability of Arabic scientific treatises and ancient Greek texts translated by Arabs. These dealt with astronomy, astrology, alchemy, mathematics, medicine and mechanics and were steeped in magic regardless of the subject. Alchemy, astrology and other forms of prediction and even nigromance were considered science in the Arab world.
Western European scholars such as William of Auvergne and Albertus Magnus developed a scientific, rational interest in magic and emphatically included certain forms of magic in the natural sciences. They distinguished between high (learned) and low (folk) magic, relegating the latter category to superstition, associated with illiteracy. Their own magic was high and 'white' - that is, pursued the good - had no devilish origin and made use of as yet unknown, natural forces in nature.
The 12 e Century tales of the well-meaning inventor and sorcerer Virgil are clearly a product of the Arab influence on the sciences. However, the Catholic Church has always officially rejected magic. Hence, soon, in the 13 e century, warnings also sounded that Virgil's magical powers were satanic. This vision gradually gained strength:any form of magic is superstition, and if the magic does have an effect, it is because the devil is involved.
According to this view, people could make a covenant with the devil, because the devil is actually physically present in the world. You see him at work, along with an avenging God, in great catastrophes such as the plague and famine that are a punishment for guilty and sinful humanity. Magicians (but also Jews and witches) are henchmen of the devil.
From the 14 e century, possibly under the influence of the many wars and natural disasters, including the great plague epidemic of 1348 and the thereby strengthened belief in the end times and the coming of the antichrist, the church took more forceful action against magic. The heretical and criminality of magical acts came to the fore.
The Inquisition became more and more systematic in combating magic, which it no longer regarded as a list of reprehensible pagan acts performed more or less by accident and without interrelation, but as a purposely designed and coherent system of an organized group. led by the devil.
In 1427, Bernard of Siena described prophecies and incantations in a sermon as a heretical worship of the devil, and called on the faithful to declare all witches and mages who cast spells and spells. They should all be burned at the stake and those that the wizards do not declare should be burned.
Virgil was, of course, long dead by then. He couldn't be burned at the stake, as happened to so many alleged witches. But he had to pay for his implied pact with the devil. The stories about him therefore increasingly took on a sinister character.