1 Thorndike, Lynn, A History of Magic and Experimental Science , 8 vols. (New York, 1923–58), 2 (1923): 778–82, 809–10. Thorndike's account is partly indebted to Steinschneider, M., Zur pseudoepigraphischen Literatur, insbesondere der geheimen Wissenschaften des Mittelalters. Aus Hebräischen und Arabischen Quellen (Berlin, 1862), 52–64.Google Scholar

2 Pingree, David, “Plato's Hermetic Book of the Cow,” in Il neoplatonismo nel Rinascimento , ed. Pini, Pietro (Rome, 1993), 133–45; “Artificial Demons and Miracles,” Res orientales 13 (2001): 109–22 (with a summary of the Latin text and English translation of the first book); “From Hermes to Jâbir and the Book of the Cow,” in Magic and the Classical Tradition , ed. Burnett, C. and Ryan, W. F. (London and Turin, 2006), 19–28. See also Pingree, , “The Diffusion of Arabic Magical Texts in Western Europe,” in La diffusione delle scienze islamiche nel medio evo europeo (Roma, 2–4 ottobre 1984) (Rome, 1987), 57–102, at 71–72, 80, 95–96. David Pingree prepared an edition of the Liber vaccae, but at the time of his death in 2005 this project was still in a fairly early stage. When writing this article, I had no access to his papers, which are to be deposited at the American Philosophical Society.Google Scholar

3 Liber aneguemis: Un antico testo ermetico tra alchimia pratica, esoterismo e magia nera , ed. Scopelliti, P. and Chaouech, A. (Milan, 2006), henceforth cited as Liber aneguemis. The transcription is based on Florence, Bibl. Nazionale 2.3.214. Transcription of the extant fragment in Arabic, ibid., 161–62.Google Scholar

4 Newman, William R., Promethean Ambitions: Alchemy and the Quest to Perfect Nature (Chicago, 2004), 177–81, 190–91.Google Scholar

5 Page, Sophie, “Magic at St. Augustine's, Canterbury, in the Late Middle Ages” (Ph.D. diss., The Warburg Institute, University of London, 2000), chap. 3–1, and Page, Sophie, “Magic and the Pursuit of Wisdom: The Familiar Spirit in the Liber Theysolius,” La corónica 36 (2007): 41–70, esp. 51–55.Google Scholar

6 See Boudet, Jean-Patrice, Entre science et nigromance: Astrologie, divination et magie dans l'Occident médiéval (XIIe–XVe siècle) (Paris, 2006), esp. chap. 3; Weill-Parot, Nicolas, Les ‘images astrologiques’ en Occident au Moyen Âge et à la Renaissance: Spéculations intellectuelles et pratiques magiques (XIIe-XVe siècle) (Paris, 2002); Kieckhefer, Richard, Magic in the Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1989), esp. chap. 6.Google Scholar

7 On astrology in the university setting, cf. Boudet, , Entre science et nigromance , 283–95. Boudet notes (290) that medieval masters of astrology neglected elections and interrogations, forms of astrology that were the most suspect in the eyes of the Church authorities.Google Scholar

8 On the notion of the preternatural and the medieval interpretation of the passage from Exodus, see van der Lugt, Maaike, Le ver, le démon et la vierge: Les théories médiévales de la génération extraordinaire (Paris, 2004), 16–19, 223–30, 521–25. In line with Augustine, the scholastics held that demons were behind the works of the magicians of Pharaoh. However, in the commentaries on this passage they defended the idea that demons are bound to nature. See also the discussion below.Google Scholar

9 This date is based on the attribution of the Liber vaccae to Hunayn ibn Ishâq (cf. below), who translated before 856 (probably around 840) a work to which the Liber vaccae seems to refer, and the citation of the Liber vaccae in the Jabirian Kitâb al-tajmî, which was composed in the early tenth century. Cf. Pingree, , “Plato's Hermetic Book,” 136, 138–39, and Pingree, , “Artificial Demons,” 110.Google Scholar

10 Transcription of the extant fragment in Liber aneguemis , 161–62.Google Scholar

11 Pingree, , “Plato's Hermetic Book,” 135–38. See also n. 21 and n. 130 below.Google Scholar

12 The terminus ante quem is given by the oldest extant manuscript of the Liber vaccae , Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, CLM 22292, which dates from the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century. The first citation occurs in William of Auvergne's work of the 1220s (see below). David Pingree proposed Spain as the place where the work was translated, because the author of the Ghâyat Al-Hakîm (Picatrix) quoted from the Liber vaccae, and since the Picatrix was written in Spain, the Arabic original of the Liber vaccae must have circulated there as well. Pingree, Cf., “The Diffusion,” 71–72, and “Plato's Hermetic Book,” 134–36.Google Scholar

13 Munich, , Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Hebr. 214. The index that precedes the De proprietatibus and the Liber vaccae in this manuscript has been described by Steinschneider, , Zur pseudoepigraphischen Literatur (n. 1 above), 55. It seems to indicate that the Hebrew version skips the experiments for making rational animals and starts with the one on making bees. On the other contents of the manuscript, see ibid., and Pingree, , “Plato's Hermetic Book” (n. 2 above), 135, and “The Diffusion” (n. 2 above), 71–72, who notes that it contains a Hebrew version of the Picatrix as well. The Hebrew translation of the Liber vaccae and the De proprietatibus is based on the Latin version: see Steinschneider, M., Die hebraeischen Übersetzungen des Mittelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher (Berlin, 1893): 706–7, 849, 1008 (cited by Pingree, , “The Diffusion,” 71 n. 48).Google Scholar

14 However, , according to Marwan Rashed, the anonymous author of the Arabic original of the Liber vaccae may well have used the prologue of a real work by Galen to construct the artifice. The prologue of the Liber vaccae states that Galen first wanted to write an abridgement of Plato's Laws, but finally decided to compose a full-fledged commentary on that work. Marwan Rashed argues that this part of the introduction is based on the now lost prologue of Galen's abridgement, not of Plato's Laws, but of the Timaeus. I wish to express my gratitude to Marwan Rashed for sharing with me this exciting hypothesis and the preliminary results of his analysis of the prologue of the Liber vaccae (“Le prologue perdu de l'Abrégé du Timée de Galien dans un texte de magie noire?”, to be published in Antiquorum philosophorum 3 [2009]). The scattered Dixit Hunayn passages and the division of the work into two sections (e.g., Major, and Minor, , see below) also make one wonder whether the pseudo-Hunayn might not have compiled the Liber vaccae from different recipe collections, adding comments on the way.Google Scholar

15 According to Pingree, , “From Hermes,” 22–23, and “Artificial Demons” (n. 2 above), 110, the word nâmÛs in the Arabic title Kitâb al-nawâmîs is a transliteration of the Syriac word namÛsâ and not of the Greek nomos. NamÛsâ means “secrets” and was also used in the title of a Syriac book on Harrânian magic written by Thâbit ibn Qurra and translated into Arabic by his son. Pingree used this argument to back up his theory that the Liber vaccae was written by a Syrian, in the Syrian city of Harrân. Pingree, , “Plato's Hermetic Book,” 134, 142. The explicit references to Plato and the likelihood that the author of the Liber vaccae attributed it to Hunayn because the latter wrote a summary of Plato's Laws (cf. Pingree, , “Artifical Demons,” 110), suggest that a Syrian meaning of nâmÛs can at most be secondary. It supposes rather than proves that the author of the Liber vaccae was a Syrian.Google Scholar

16 However, one manuscript (Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, 120 [olim C. V. 15], fifteenth century) and several printed versions of the De mirabilibus read tegimenti rather than regimenti. I thank Antonella Sannino for this information (for a list of manuscripts of the De mirabilibus mundi, see n. 74 below). The variant tegimenti is most likely a corruption, but may have been suggested by the following comment attributed to Hunayn, : “Inquit Hunayn: Galienus dixit quod iste phylosophus scilicet Plato non nominat librum suum hunc librum aneguemis, nisi (ms. non) propter eam quam ego narrabo post horam hanc et rememorabor eius in loco suo. Dico ergo quod plato non intendit per id nisi (ms. non) tegumentum” (Liber aneguemis, 60).Google Scholar

17 In the manuscript transcribed in Liber aneguemis, Florence, Bibl. Nazionale 2.3.214, the Major and Minor comprise forty-five and forty-one experiments, respectively. According to Pingree, “Artificial Demons,” 110 n. 12, Montpellier, faculté de médecine, MS 277 is, however, the most complete.Google Scholar

18 The manuscript transcribed in Liber aneguemis omits this, but it is found in others, such as London, BL, Arundel 342 and Montpellier, faculté de médecine, MS 277.Google Scholar

19 The manuscript transcribed in Liber aneguemis reads “bone.” In practical terms this would seem to make more sense, but grammatically it is not satisfactory either. As suggested by Newman, , Promethean Ambitions (n. 4 above), 178, something has probably been mistranslated here.Google Scholar

20 Liber aneguemis , 1.28. For this experiment, see also Page, , “Magic and the Pursuit of Wisdom” (n. 5 above), 52–53.Google Scholar

21 Picatrix 2.12.59 (ed. Pingree, David, Picatrix: The Latin Version of the Ghâyat Al-Hakîm [London, 1986], 88–89): “Et omnia predicta que diximus fiunt potenciis et virtutibus figurarum et propter attractionem fortitudinum spirituum ut nobis sint obedientes et propter eorum composicionem fortitudinum cum figuris corporum materiei istius inferioris mundi compositorum. Ideo ex istis erunt spirituales motus omnia corpora moventes, quibus motibus effectus mirabiles fiunt necnon et opera que non sunt hominibus usitata, sed quasi de miraculorum genere apparencia.” Jâbir ibn-Hayyân disapproved of the Liber vaccae, and may also have considered it as demonic; cf. Pingree, , “Plato's Hermetic Book,” 138.Google Scholar

22 Pingree, , “Artificial Demons,” 109.Google Scholar

23 Pingree, , “Plato's Hermetic Book,” 138, 141, and especially “Artificial Demons,” 115. Sophie Page casts doubt on some aspects of Pingree's argumentation, but in “Magic and the Pursuit of Wisdom,” she accepts the idea that the magic of the Liber vaccae relies on both natural and demonic powers and that the homunculus is inhabited by a demon. Newman, William, Promethean Ambitions, 179 n. 16, rejects the demonic interpretation of the homunculus outright. See also below.Google Scholar

24 For instance Liber aneguemis 1.1 and 1.37. Page, Sophie, “Magic and the Pursuit of Wisdom,” 52 n. 35, notes that the Picatrix (2.12.59 [ed. Pingree, David, 89]) mentions conversing with the dead as one of the goals of the Liber vaccae. However, as she points out as well, no experiments on this topic are present in the surviving copies of the work.Google Scholar

25 Liber aneguemis , after experiment 1.33 (82).Google Scholar

26 See n. 15 above.Google Scholar

27 Pingree, , “Plato's Hermetic Book” (n. 2 above), 142–43.Google Scholar

28 The ingredients prescribed by the Liber vaccae also include precious stones. However, in medieval cosmology there is no sharp distinction between the organic and the inorganic realm. Plants, animals, stones, and metals are all considered products of generation.Google Scholar

29 Page, , “Magic at St. Augustine's” (n. 5 above), chap. 3.Google Scholar

30 See Kieckhefer, Richard, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century (Phoenix, 1997), 42–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

31 Liber aneguemis 1.1 (63). However, in 1.28 (77–78), the transformation is explicitly presented as permanent: “Si volueris convertere formam hominis ad formam symii aut porcii aut aliarum ex formis bestiarum et remaneat secundum habitudinem suam tempore toto.” See also 1.29 (78–79).Google Scholar

32 Pingree, , “The Diffusion” (n. 2 above), 72.Google Scholar

33 Such an alchemical interpretation has been proposed by Scopelliti, Paolo, Liber Aneguemis (n. 3 above), 40–54.Google Scholar

34 David Pingree termed the magic of the Liber vaccae “psychic magic” because of this reliance on the transmission of functions of the soul.Google Scholar

35 Newman, , Promethean Ambitions (n. 4 above), 168–69, 178.Google Scholar

36 On Aristotle's theory of generation and the role of male and female, see Cadden, Joan, Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Age: Medicine, Science, and Culture (Cambridge, 1993), 21–26, and Van der Lugt, , Le ver, le démon et la vierge (n. 8 above), 44–46.Google Scholar

37 Avicenna claimed that all life forms can be generated spontaneously, thanks to the influence of the stars and the dator formarum. This theory was rejected by Averroes and by the vast majority of scholars in the Latin West. On this debate, and on the importance of the distinctions between higher and lower animals, and between generation with and without seed, see Van der Lugt, , Le ver, le démon et la vierge , 131–87.Google Scholar

38 Liber aneguemis , 61.Google Scholar

39 See Van der Lugt, , Le ver, le démon et la vierge. Google Scholar

40 See van der Lugt, Maaike, “L'humanité des monstres et leur accès aux sacrements dans la pensée médiévale,” in Monstres et imaginaire social: Approches historiques , ed. Caiozzo, A. et Demartini, A.-E (Paris, 2008), 135–62. Fuller text at http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00175497/.Google Scholar

41 Page, Sophie, “Magic at Saint Augustine's” (n. 5 above), pointed out this similarity. Cf. Pliny, Naturalis Historia 8.23. Admittedly, the Liber vaccae speaks of one foot (pes), rather than one leg.Google Scholar

42 Sophie Page also criticized this aspect of Pingree's argumentation in “Magic at Saint Augustine's.” Google Scholar

43 However, , scholastics believed that demons and angels could temporarily associate themselves with bodies made out of air, or with a human corpse, apparently vivifying it. Significantly, they never link this theory with the Liber vaccae. On scholastic demonology, see Van der Lugt, , Le ver, le démon et la vierge. Google Scholar

44 See Diagram 1. All these manuscripts are mentioned by Pingree, , “Plato's Hermetic Book” (n. 2 above), 144 n. 57. Pingree added two further manuscripts to the list: Prague, National Library X.H.20 and Florence, Biblioteca nazionale Pal. 945. However, neither of these contain the Liber vaccae. In the Prague manuscript, its last item, on fols. 230–38 erroneously bears the title Liber vaccae. I wish to express my gratitude to Joseph Ziegler and Charles Burnett, respectively, for examining the Prague and the Florence manuscripts for me.Google Scholar

45 Munich, , Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, CLM 22292. It bears the shelf mark “Windberg 92,” indicating that it formerly belonged to the Bavarian monastery of Windberg of the Order of Prémontré. Several manuscripts and early prints from this monastery ended up in the CLM collection in 1803. It is not clear when Windberg acquired the manuscript.Google Scholar

46 Munich, , Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, CLM 615. The Liber vaccae is part of a self-contained unit. The manuscript contains several texts that are distinctly German, such as two different lists of Latin plant names with German translations and a treatise on agriculture with many references to Germany.Google Scholar

47 New Haven, Yale, Medical Library, Codex Fritz Paneth. See Sudhoff, Karl, “Codex Fritz Paneth,” Archiv für Geschichte der Mathematik, der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik 12 (1929): 1–32.Google Scholar

48 Oxford, Corpus Christi college, 125. Pingree associated the manuscript with Montpellier because its first item is the Latin translation from the Hebrew of Maimonides' De medicinis contra venena. This translation was made by Ermengaud Blasius, Arnau of Villanova's nephew, at Barcelona in 1305, a few years before the manuscript was copied. Cf. Pingree, , “The Diffusion” (n. 2 above), 95.Google Scholar

49 London, British Library, Arundel 342.Google Scholar

50 Montpellier, , faculté de médecine, MS 277; Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, 2.3.124; Oxford, Corpus Christi College, 132; Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 71; Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1892. See Table 1 for provenances.Google Scholar

51 Cf. the catalogue of Richard of Fournival's library edited by Delisle, Léopold, Le cabinet des manuscrits de la bibliothéque impériale , 3 vols. (Paris, 1868–81), 2 (1874): 521, no. 142: “Epystola Ameti filii Abraham filii Macellani de proprietate, et est extracta de libro Galieni qui dicitur Anguemiz, et est ex dictis Humayni.” However, as suggested by Benedek Láng (private conversation), the word “extracta” seems to indicate that Richard's manuscript contained the De proprietatibus only (on the relationship between this text and the Liber vaccae, see below). Richard left his library to Gerald of Abbeville, who in turn left it to the Sorbonne, but the manuscript containing the Liber vaccae was not found among the bequest.Google Scholar

52 For indications that Richard de Bury owned a copy, see further below.Google Scholar

53 The medieval catalogue of St. Augustine's, which was drawn up at the end of the fifteenth century, probably between 1491 and 1497, classed these manuscripts as numbers 1275 and 1277. No. 1275 is lost. No. 1277 is now Oxford, Corpus Christi, 125. Cf. James, Montague Rhodes, The Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover. The Catalogues of the Libraries of Christ Church Priory and St Augustine's Abbey at Canterbury and of St Martin's Priory at Dover. Now first Collected and Published with an Introduction and Identifications of the Extant Remains (Cambridge, 1903): 348–49. For the date of the catalogue, ibid., lviii.Google Scholar

54 Erfurt, , Amplon, 4. 188. See also below.Google Scholar

55 New Haven, Yale Medical Library, Codex Fritz Paneth. It is described in detail by Karl Sudhoff, “Codex Fritz Paneth.” As early as 1326, the manuscript had made its way to Bohemia, cf. Sudhoff, , “Codex Fritz Paneth,” 3, 24.Google Scholar

56 As is the case in Oxford, Corpus Christi College, 125. In addition, the sheets in this manuscript are of different sizes.Google Scholar

57 Oxford, Corpus Christi, 125 (1277 in the library of St. Augustine's).Google Scholar

58 James, Cf. (who does not mention no. 1277), The Ancient Libraries, 348–49, and Emden, A. B., Donors of Books to St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, Occasional Publications 4 (Oxford, 1968), 16, 19. Did Wyvelesberghe receive his copy from Sprott when they were both monks at St Augustine's? If so, it would appear that at St. Augustine's books were considered part of the daily necessities monks could privately own.Google Scholar

59 Knorr, Wilbur, “Two Medieval Monks and Their Astronomy Books: Mss Bodley 464 and Rawlinson C. 117,” Bodleian Library Record 14 (1993): 269–84, at 277 n. 19. Pingree, David (“The Diffusion,” 95–98) has observed that many of Michael of Northgate's titles in magic and alchemy were issued from Montpellier and suggested a possible direct link between studies in Montpellier and Canterbury, by way of Henri of Mondeville. Knorr criticizes this hypothesis, on the basis of the pattern of transmission of the kind of astronomical tracts owned by Michael of Northgate.Google Scholar

60 Knorr, , “Two Medieval Monks,” 279–80. Knorr demonstrated that the technical works on astronomy were donated by only four people, including Michael of Northgate. No book was donated after 1325. Once published, Sophie Page's research on the magical manuscripts at St. Augustine's will tell whether it is possible to extrapolate from astrology and astronomy to magic.Google Scholar

61 The association between the De proprietatibus and the Liber vaccae was already pointed out by Pingree, , “The Diffusion” (n. 2 above), 71–72. According to Pingree, only eight manuscripts contain the De proprietatibus, but he gave no further information.Google Scholar

62 These nine manuscripts include the earliest one, and also Richard of Fournival's early lost copy, or, more likely, its Vorlage (see Table 1). London, BL, Arundel 342 does not contain the De proprietatibus. On Ibn al-Jazzâr, see Pingree, , “The Diffusion,” 70–71.Google Scholar

63 For instance Munich, , Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, CLM 615. Pingree, (“The Diffusion,” 71) pointed out that the order is the same in the Hebrew translation made from the Latin. Cf. also Steinschneider, , Zur epigraphischen Literatur (n. 1 above), 51–64. Steinschneider's descriptions suggest that the two works are presented as a single one.Google Scholar

64 The manuscript in Richard de Fournival's library may have contained the De proprietatibus only (see n. 51 above). If so, the term extracta indicates that it was copied, directly or indirectly, from a manuscript which contained both the De proprietatibus and the Liber vaccae. Google Scholar

65 al-Jazzâr, Ibn, De proprietatibus , MS Oxford, BL, Digby 71, fol. 36r–v.Google Scholar

66 James, Cf., The Ancient Libraries (n. 53 above), 348–49, and Pingree, , “The Diffusion,” 95–96.Google Scholar

67 At the end of the fifteenth century, Pico della Mirandola rejected the attribution to Plato. See below. According to Thorndike, ( History of Magic [n. 1 above], 4:531) Pierre d'Ailly already recognized the artifice. Unfortunately, Thorndike did not provide a reference, and I have not been able to locate this idea in Pierre d'Ailly's works.Google Scholar

68 Of course this separation was never complete. Although rational medicine eliminated recourse to charms and blessings and inscribed its pharmacology into the general theory of qualities and complexional balance, there was room in mainstream medical theory for medical properties for which the theory of qualities could not account, and that were ascribed to the “specific form” or to “hidden qualities.” Since these forms and qualities could only be discovered by experience, their justification strongly resembled the justification of the kind of medical magic found in the De proprietatibus. Google Scholar

69 Munich, , CLM 615.Google Scholar

70 Munich, , CLM 22292. After the prologue of the Liber vaccae, the scribe left several lines blank and then added two experiments of the Liber vaccae Major. The first (Liber aneguemis, 1.15) proposes a procedure to make rain cease; the second (Liber aneguemis, 1.16) describes the construction of a magical house in which people faint or die. This morally charged experiment breaks off at the end of the page.Google Scholar

71 The index cites the Liber vacce nigromanticus as the last item. A modern hand erroneously inscribed the title Liber vacce at the beginning of a series of natural questions which are now the last item in the manuscript and not accounted for by the medieval index. This series of natural questions breaks off in the middle of a sentence. Of course, it is difficult to pinpoint the motivations of the person responsible for the disappearance of the Liber vaccae. It cannot be excluded that the text was stolen by someone who was attracted, rather than repelled, by the adjective nigromanticus. Google Scholar

72 Venice, , Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, lat. Z. 539 (= 1594). The thirteenth-century manuscript referred to by Thorndike contains, in reality, the De imagine mundi of Honorius Augustudonensis. Cf. Sannino, Antonella, “Facere cessare mirabilia rerum. Magia e scienza naturale nel De mirabilibus mundi,” Studi Filosofici 30 (2007 [2009]): 37–52, esp. 40.Google Scholar

73 Sannino, Cf., “Facere cessare mirabilia rerum ,” 38–39.Google Scholar

74 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, lat. 7287 (fifteenth century); Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1248 (1470–1511, incomplete); Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, lat. Z. 539 (= 1594) (fourteenth century); Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Pal. lat. 719 (fifteenth century); Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, 120 (olim C. V. 15) (fifteenth century); Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, 62.4 Aug. 8° (1495, incomplete); Los Angeles, University of California Libraries, Biomedical Library, Benjamin 1 (after 1488). I am grateful to Antonella Sannino for this list: her critical edition of the text will soon be published in the series Micrologus' Library.Google Scholar

75 This citation seems to be a reference to a rather obscure passage in the prologue of the Liber vaccae ( Liber aneguemis , 60).Google Scholar

76 I borrow this formulation from Emilie Guilhen who speaks of recettes-autorités in her Master's thesis “Secrets et merveilles. Les experimenta et le De mirabilibus mundi. Deux traités apocryphes d'Albert le Grand,” Université Paris 10, 2002, 32.Google Scholar

77 On the Liber ignium, see Partington, J. R., A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder (Cambridge, 1960). Emilie Guilhen has identified around thirty experiments taken from the Liber ignium (“Secrets et merveilles,” Annexe 2).Google Scholar

78 William of Auvergne, De legibus , 12 (MS Paris, BNF lat. 15755, fol. 44v^b; Opera omnia [Paris/Orléans, 1674], 1:43B), and 24 (MS, fol. 72ra; Opera omnia, 1:70A). On several points the manuscript reading is better than the edition. However, the chapter numbering differs between manuscripts. Therefore, for practical reasons I adopt the numbers of the edition.Google Scholar

79 William of Auvergne, De universo 2.3.25, Opera omnia (Paris/Orléans, 1674), 1:1071.Google Scholar

80 Roland of Cremona, Summa (MS Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticano, Barb. lat. 729, fols. 43v^b and 55v^b; MS Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, 795, fol. 29r^b). I have not seen Florence, Bibl. naz, conventi soppresi, da ord. Vallombrosa, 27, indicated by Hasselhoff, Görge K., ‘Dicit Rabbi Moyses:’ Studien zum Bild von Moses Maimonides im lateinischen Westen vom 13. bis zum 15. Jahrhundert (Würzburg, 2004), 62 n. 10.Google Scholar

81 William of Auvergne, De legibus , cap. 25 (Opera omnia, 78): “Et haec omnia in libris judicorum astronomiae et in libris magorum atque maleficorum tempore adolecentiae nostrae nos meminimus inspexisse.” Google Scholar

82 Roland of Cremona, Commentary on Job (cited by Dondaine, Antoine, “Un commentaire scripturaire de Roland de Crémone: le livre de Job,” Archivum fratrum praedicatorum 11 [1941]: 109–37, at 129): “dicit Ptolemeus, quod quidam sunt nigromantici, qui occulta et secreta quedam sciunt, per que faciunt mortuos loqui, spiritus malignos de loco ad locum transire; cuiusmodi scientiam dicit se Eliphaz habuisse. … Fateor me vidisse librum illum et ibi legisse. Verba ibi sunt obscura, sed multa mala ibi dicuntur, que possunt fieri ex illa scientia, et similiter multa bona. … Nec malum est scire, quamvis malum sit operari secundum illam. Scire quidem malum non est malum, et tamen facere, malum est.” Google Scholar

83 It seems most likely that Roland discovered the Liber vaccae at Paris. We cannot exclude, however, that he read it in northern Italy, before or after his stay in Paris, or even in Toulouse, where he acted for a short time as an inquisitor against the Cathars. His Summa may, in fact, have been written after his departure from Paris.Google Scholar

84 John of La Rochelle, De legibus et praeceptis = Alexander of Hales, Summa, 3, pars 2, inq. 3, tract. 2, sect. 3, q. 2, 518 (6 vols. [Quaracchi, 1924–79], 4:771–72). Many parts of the Summa, including the De legibus et praeceptis, were conceived under the editorial supervision of John of La Rochelle. The Summa was completed in 1246, shortly after Alexander's death, but it contains older material.Google Scholar

85 The Speculum Astronomiae does not refer to other works on “organic” magic either, such as Costa ben Luca's De physicis ligaturis or Albert the Great's De lapidibus. Cf. Pingree, David, “Learned Magic in the Time of Frederick II,” Micrologus 2 (1994): 39–56, at 53.Google Scholar

86 See the introduction of Graziella Federici Vesocivini to her edition of the work (n. 87 below), 27. For some important corrections to the chronology of Peter's career as presented by Federici Vescovini, see Leemans, Pieter De, “Was Peter of Abano the Translator of pseudo-Aristotle's Problemata physica?,” Bulletin de philosophie médiévale 49 (2007): 103–18, and van der Lugt, Maaike, “Genèse et postérité du commentaire de Pietro d'Abano sur les Problèmes d'Aristote: Le succès d'un hapax,” in Médecine, astrologie et magie au Moyen Âge: autour de Pietro d'Abano , ed. Boudet, Jean-Patrice, Collard, Franck, and Weill-Parot, Nicolas, Micrologus' Libary, forthcoming.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

87 Peter of Abano, Lucidator dubitabilium astronomie , dif. 1, propter primum (ed. Federici Vescovini, G., Pietro d'Abano, Trattati di astronomia: Lucidator dubitabilium astronomiae, De motu octavae sphaerae e altre opere [Padua, 1992], 121–22): “Est et quarta [type of magic], prestigium, sensuum illusio, quo festuca trax apparet et ungula serpens, lapisque aurum, ceu de magis legitur Pharaonis. … In quo siquidem Zoroastres, quem aliqui dicunt fuisse Cham, filium Noe, Hermesve sive Enoch, vel Mercurius, fuerunt famosiores, Arthefius, ambe Vace platonice ac Kyranides. Ad quod apparentia agilitatis reducitur manuum.” As indicated by the critical apparatus, the reference to the Liber vaccae is corrupt in all three extant manuscripts. The best manuscript reads vace instead of vacce, the second vace polonice, and the third vate polonice. Paolo Scopelliti has the merit of having identified the reference. Contrary to his suggestion (Liber aneguemis, 37), Graziella Federici Vescovini does not present the passage as an interpolation in Peter of Abano's original text, but as too corrupt a passage to emendate.Google Scholar

88 On the homunculus in De essentiis essentiarum, see Newman, , Promethean Ambitions (n. 4 above), 188–90, who avoids the question of authorship and sources.Google Scholar

89 Leff, Gordon, Bradwardine and the Pelagians: A Study of His De causa Dei and Its Opponents (Cambridge, 1957), and Oberman, Heiko, Thomas Bradwardine, a Fourteenth Century Augustinian: A Study of His Theology in Its Historical Context (Utrecht, 1957).Google Scholar

90 For Bradwardine's knowledge and use of hermetic philosophy, see Sannino, Antonella, “La tradizione ermetica a Oxford nei secoli XIII e XIV: Ruggero Bacon e Tommaso Bradwardine,” Studi filosofici 18 (1995): 23–56.Google Scholar

91 Molland, Cf. G., “Addressing Ancient Authority: Thomas Bradwardine and Prisca Sapientia,” Annals of Science 53 (1996): 213–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

92 Bradwardine, Thomas, De causa Dei , 1.1.37 (ed. Savile, H. [London, 1618], 90C): “Nonne etiam ars transformationum et reformationum huiusmodi traditur in Vacca Platonis, seu fingitur ibi tradi, in quo et multa alia turpia, superstitiosa et Magica continentur.” The other citation of the Liber vaccae is in De causa Dei, 1.1.32 (ed. Savile, , 47A). Many thanks to Lodi Nauta for pointing out Bradwardine's citations of the Liber vaccae to me.Google Scholar

93 Sannino, , “La tradizione ermetica,” 41–42. Sannino does not discuss the Liber vaccae. Bradwardine would not have found the Liber vaccae in the library of Merton College, which was relatively small and did not cover works on the occult sciences. Powicke, Cf. F. M., The Medieval Books of Merton College (Oxford, 1931).Google Scholar

94 Molland, , “Addressing Ancient Authority,” 213–14. Antonella Sannino does not take this fact into account in her analysis of the use of hermetic texts by Bradwardine.Google Scholar

95 On de Bury, his library, and his circle, see Brechka, Frank T., “Richard de Bury: The Books He Cherished,” Libri. International Library Review 33 (1983): 302–15; Gilbert, Neal W., “Richard de Bury and the ‘Quires of Yesterday's Sophism,”’ in Philosophy and Humanism: Renaissance Essays in Honour of Paul Oskar Kristeller , ed. Mahoney, E. P. (Leiden, 1976), 229–57; Cheney, Christopher R., “Richard de Bury, Borrower of Books,” Speculum 48 (1973): 325–28.; Courtenay, W. J., Schools and Scholars in Fourteenth-Century England (Princeton, 1987), 135–36. These studies offer some complements and corrections to two excellent older studies, i.e., those of de Ghellinck, J., “Un évêque bibliophile au XIVe siècle: Richard Aungerville de Bury (1345): Contribution à l'histoire de la littérature et des bibliothèques médiévales”Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 18 (1922): 271–313, 482–508, and 19 (1923): 157–200, and Denholm-Young, N., “Richard de Bury (1287–1345),” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society ser. 4, 20 (1937): 135–68.Google Scholar

96 Only a handful of manuscripts have been traced back to it. Denholm-Young, , “Richard de Bury,” 162, and Cheney, , “Richard de Bury.” The Liber vaccae is not among them.Google Scholar

97 Oresme, Nicole, Tractatus de configurationibus qualitatum et motuum 2.31 (ed. Clagett, M. [Madison, Milwaukee, and London, 1968], 358–60). The reference to the Liber vaccae is probably an addition because it is not in all of the manuscripts. If so, it is an early addition, likely by Oresme himself, because the passage is cited with the reference to the Liber vaccae by Henry of Langenstein.Google Scholar

98 Henry of Langenstein, De reductione effectuum , cap. 23 (MS Paris, BNF lat. 14887, fol. 85r–v).Google Scholar

99 William of Auvergne, De legibus , cap. 12: “Ut nefanda opera et maleficia, que de fetibus ex huiusmodi commixtione procreatis fiebant declinarentur. Et hec opera leguntur in libro qui dicitur Neumich, sive Neumuch, et alio nomine vocatur leges Platonis; qui libertotus est de huiusmodi commixtionibus et vocatur leges Platonis, quia contra leges nature est” (MS Paris, BNF lat. 15755, fol. 44v^b; see also Opera omnia, 1:43B). The edition and another manuscript (Paris, BNF lat. 14311, fol. 2v^b) read “fecibus” instead of “fetibus.” However, “fetibus” makes better sense and is confirmed by John of La Rochelle. Moreover, on many other occasions, lat. 15755 is of better quality than lat. 14311.Google Scholar

100 Grosseteste, Robert, De cessatione legalium (ed. King, E. B. and Dales, R. [London, 1985]).Google Scholar

101 See Smalley, B., “William of Auvergne, John of La Rochelle and St. Thomas Aquinas on the Old Law,” in St. Thomas Aquinas, 1274–1974: Commemorative Studies , 2 vols. (Toronto, 1974), 2:11–71.Google Scholar

102 John of La Rochelle, De legibus et praeceptis (n. 84 above), 4:768: “Dicendum quod aliquid dicitur faciendum simpliciter ex ratione, quod secundum se bonum est et semper et apud omnes, secundum quem modum praecepta evangelica sunt ex ratione facienda. … Faciendum vero ex ratione secundum quid est quod secundum se bonum non est, sed tamen ex causa et pro tempore sive aliquibus bonum est, hoc est, utile vel expediens, secundum quem modum caeremonialia legis ad litteram facienda erant, quia causa revocationis ad latriam Conditoris tempore, quo vigebat idolatria, illi populo, qui ad idolatriam pronus erat, utilia et expedientia erant.” Google Scholar

103 For example, Comestor, Peter, Historia scholastica , ad Lev. 18–23 (PL 198: 1212–13).Google Scholar

104 As first shown by Kluxen, Wolfgang, William of Auvergne used a Latin translation of a small section of the Guide , not the full text. Cf. Kluxen, , “Literargeschichtliches zum lateinischen Moses Maimonides,” Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 21 (1954): 23–50, at 41–45. This fragment, entitled Liber de parabola, was not attributed to Maimonides, which explains why neither William nor John of La Rochelle mentioned his name. For a recent account of the reception of Maimonides in the Latin Middle Ages and further bibliography, see Hasselhoff, , ‘Ut dicit Rabbi Moses’ (n. 80 above). Smalley (“William of Auvergne”) did not take Kluxen's findings into account.Google Scholar

105 See n. 109 below.Google Scholar

106 See n. 109 below.Google Scholar

107 See Hadot, Pierre, Le voile d'Isis: Essai sur l'histoire de l'idée de Nature (Paris, 2004), 77–78.Google Scholar

108 Hadot, , Le voile d'Isis , 150–54.Google Scholar

109 Oresme, Nicole, Tractatus de configurationibus qualitatum et motuum 2.31: “Et quoniam multi appetunt scire et uti aut admirantur utentes ista radice quantum ad duo prima membra eo quod est naturalis, ideo prudenter animadvertendum est quod de occultis efficatiis lapidum, plantarum, seminum, et aliarum rerum naturalium illa dumtaxat expedit scire que humane necesitati aut utilitati seu ad bene vivere sunt acommodata. Et cognitione talium contentari debemus cuiusmodi sunt ea que sciunt medici, cyrurgici, aurifabri et alii. Alia enim secretiora ipsa natura ut ita dicam veluti mater pudica non vult detegi; sed propter inhonestatem vitandam et ad cavendum abusum celanda sunt, sicut sunt vires vel activitates quas haberent spermata, venena, et quedam alia in aliquibus mixtionibus abhominandis et applicationibus abusivis; hec namque potius dicenda sunt veneficia seu malificia quam bona experimenta, ut sunt quedam posita in libro qui dicitur vacca Platonis et in pluribus aliis. Propter quod leges humane que sunt nature conformes iuste talia prohibent tanquam periculosa et que nimis possent obesse sed prodesse parum vel nichil. Quedam enim istorum propter latentiam et difficultatem plus habent curiositatis quam afferant utilitatis. … Omnes quoque qui se de hoc intromittunt sine instantia male finiunt dies suos, quoniam fine perverso tanquam filii inverecundi nituntur caste parentis nature violare secreta. Ideoque digne maledicti sunt ab auctore nature” (ed. Clagett, , 358–60).Google Scholar

110 Collard, Franck, “Veneficiis vel maleficiis: Réflexions sur les relations entre le crime de poison et la sorcellerie dans l'Occident médiéval,” Le Moyen Âge 109 (2003): 9–57. Collard does not mention Oresme. See also Collard, , The Crime of Poison in the Middle Ages (Westport, CT, 2008), translation of Le crime de poison au Moyen Âge (Paris, 2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

111 Oresme does not mention alchemy. One may suppose that it is not subsumed under the “art of the goldsmith” but classed, rather, with magic.Google Scholar

112 In this respect, Nicolas Weill-Parot proposes a distinction between the category of the “secret” and the “occult.” Secret causes can be discovered and understood, the truly occult can only be known by experience. Weill-Parot, Cf. N., “Encadrement et dévoilement: l'occulte et le secret dans la nature chez Albert le Grand et Roger Bacon,” Micrologus 14 (2006): 151–70.Google Scholar

113 William of Auvergne, De legibus , cap. 24: “Non enim dubitandum est in novis seminum commixtionibus et ipsorum adiutoriis nova ammalia et necdum visa posse gigni sicut aperte docetur in libro Nezimich de quo superius fecimus mentionem” (MS Paris, BNF lat. 15755, fol. 72r^a. In MS Paris, BNF, lat. 14311, fol. 36r^b, the title is Liber Nezmuch. In the edition [Opera omnia, 1:70A]) it is less recognizable: Liber Emuth.) Google Scholar

114 Henry of Langenstein, De reductione effectuum , cap. 23: “Non omnes dictarum virtutum conbinaciones naturali cursui sunt possibiles vel convenientes. Probatur quia multa tales possunt fieri ingenio et subtilitate spiritum vel hominum que secundum regularitatem cursus instituti naturalium non possunt fieri nec unquam fierent, quarum quedam sunt mixtiones abhominande et applicationes abusive occultarum virium que sunt in spermatibus et ven <en> is, de quibus habetur in libro qui dicitur Vacca Platonis” (MS Paris, BNF lat. 14887, fol. 85r–v).+is,+de+quibus+habetur+in+libro+qui+dicitur+Vacca+Platonis”+(MS+Paris,+BNF+lat.+14887,+fol.+85r–v).>Google Scholar

115 For a detailed discussion of this debate see Van der Lugt, , Le ver, le démon et la vierge (n. 8 above), 189–364. For William of Auvergne, ibid., 252–63.Google Scholar

116 William of Auvergne, De universo 2.3.25: “Nec mirum cum iam attentatum sit ab hominibus et creditum ab eis homines per aliam viam efficere quam per viam consuetae generationis sicut in libris experimentorum poteris invenire. … si tamen eis de talibus creditor” (Opera omnia, 1: 1071).Google Scholar

117 A closer parallel for William's reference to books of experiments seems to be provided by the Picatrix 2.5.2 (ed. Pingree, , 46). According to this passage, Indian magicians “mirabilia operantur circa mulieres quas concipere faciunt absque coniunctione virili et hoc motibus, operibus et medicinis.” However, according to Pingree, the earliest direct citations of Picatrix date from the end of the fifteenth century, although the Latin text seems to have been present in Montpellier by 1300. Cf. Pingree, , “The Diffusion” (n. 2 above), 91, 93, 98.Google Scholar

118 Roland of Cremona, Summa , 2, dist. 8: “Et etiam de cursu, quem vocat sic vulgus, non possum credere. Vulgatum est quod currit per mundum et de nocte currunt et homines et mulieres et ungunt se unguento quodam per quod volant et invicem coeunt et cum bestiis, sicut narrant suis confessoribus, sicut a religiosis viris audivi, qui (MS quod) habuerunt tales in confessione. Et confitentes amare flebant et pro illo peccato et pro aliis parati erant satisfacere. Ista opinio magis est famosa quam quod incubi infestent mulieres et Aristoteles docet facere argumentum ab auctoritate omnium. Et Beatus Petrus in libro Clementis dicit quod opinio vulgi locum prophetie tenet, asserens quod opinio communis non debat (!) esse falsa. Credo enim quod in gente Sarracenorum et Iudeorum et Christianorum sit ista opinio. Sed hoc maxime videtur impossibile, quod dicunt qui vadunt in illo cursu quod quam cito inunguntur unguento illo quod volant velociter. Nec hoc videri debet incongrue illis qui volunt hoc credere quia arte demonum vel ingenio philosophorum inventum est unguentum, de quo si quis ungitur ferrum non potest illum incidere, sicut habetur in libro Vacce. Quia si invenitur aliquid quod attrahat ferrum ut adamas, quare et aliqua non inveniuntur que refugiant ferrum, que non latent demones. Unum enim contra unum dicit Ecclesiasticus XLII g [42:25] et omnia duplicia; quare ergo et aliqua genera rerum non sunt ex quibus possit confici huiusmodi unguentum quod suspendit (!) peruncta corpora in aere et moveat ea velociter ad quamcumque partem voluerit homo? Nonne et lapides sunt qui faciunt homines invisibiles? Quare et illud non posset fieri? Dicimus quod si aliquid est talis cursus arte demonum inventum est propter luxuriam, sicut dicunt illi qui vadunt. Unde demones incorporati sunt qui ducunt homines ad illam ludificationem. Quod ergo sit iste cursus, non assero; et quod non posset esse et quod huiusmodi unguentum possit fieri, similiter negare non possum omnino, quoniam scio quod multe sunt insidie dolosi ut dicit Ecclesiasticus XI f [11:31]” (MS BAV, Barb. lat. 729, fol. 43v^b).Google Scholar

119 Roland of Cremona, Summa (MS Paris, Mazarine, 795, fol. 99r). Cf. also Filthaut, E., Roland von Cremona OP und die Anfänge der Scholastik im Predigerorden: Ein Beitrag zur Geistesgeschichte der älteren Dominikaner (Vechta, 1936), 17.Google Scholar

120 Roland of Cremona, Summa: “Item omnes dicunt quod gladius non potuisset lesisse primos homines ante peccatum … Nec mirum, si gladius non potuisset eos incidisse cum Liber Vacce doceat facere unguentum ut dicitur quod tale est quod si homo fuit ipso inunctus non potest incidere eum ferrum” (MS BAV, Barb. lat. 729, fol. 55v^b).Google Scholar

121 Bradwardine, Robert, De causa Dei , 1.1.32: “Iudaei autem et eorum Philosophi inimici Christi et fidei Christianae dicunt Christum fecisse miracula, non vera, sed ficta, per artem Magicam et per potentiam spirituum malignorum. Quidam etiam magici in approbationem artis suae infamis dicunt Christum vsum fuisse quibusdam magisteriis ibi scriptis, sicut patet in libro quid dicitur Vacca Platonis” (ed. Savile, , 47A). Translation by Molland, , “Addressing Ancient Authority” (n. 91 above), 219, with slight modifications.Google Scholar

122 Dahan, Gilbert, Les intellectuels chrétiens et les juifs au Moyen Âge (Paris, 1990), 367, 423, 426.Google Scholar

123 Bradwardine, , De causa Dei 1.1.32 (ed. Savile, ), 47, 51. See also Molland, “Addressing Ancient Authority,” 219–20.Google Scholar

124 On this distinction and its limits, see Van der Lugt, , Le ver, le démon et la vierge , 229–30. Bradwardine did, however, use this kind of distinction in order to defend the miraculous character of Christ's healing miracles and his resuscitation of the dead (De causa Dei, 1.1.32 [ed. Savile, ], 41–42).Google Scholar

125 Bradwardine, , De causa Dei 1.1.37 (ed. Savile, ), 88–92.Google Scholar

126 Cf. Van der Lugt, , Le ver, le démon et la vierge (n. 8 above), 487–504.Google Scholar

127 Bradwardine, , De causa Dei 1.1.37 (ed. Savile, ), 90C: “Nonne etiam ars transformationum et reformationum huiusmodi traditur in Vacca Platonis, seu fingitur ibi tradi, in quo et multa alia turpia, superstitiosa et Magica continentur.” Google Scholar

128 See Newman, , Promethean Ambitions (n. 4 above), 54–62.Google Scholar

129 Roland of Cremona's neutral attitude may partly stem from the fact that he did not hint at, or did not remember, that the ointment for invulnerability was obtained from the corpse of the rational animal.Google Scholar

130 The theme of the generation of artificial life, including homunculi, is found in the Kitâb al-tajmî in the Jabirian corpus, a work which was unavailable in Latin translation. Jabir ibn Hayyân knew and cited the Liber vaccae, but disapproved of it and may have considered it to be demonic. On Jâbir's opinion on the generation of artificial life, see Kraus, Paul, Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam: Jabir et la science grecque (Cairo, 1942; repr. Paris, 1986), 97–134, and the summary of this excellent study provided by Newman, Promethean Ambitions, 181–83. On Jâbir's condemnation of the Liber vaccae, cf. Pingree, , “Plato's Hermetic Book” (n. 2 above), 138. The theme of artificial human life is also found in the tale of Salâmân and Absal. See Newman, , Promethean Ambitions, 173–77.Google Scholar

131 On the Liber Theysolius and its link to the Liber Razielis, see Page, , “Magic and the Pursuit of Wisdom” (n. 5 above), and the bibliography cited there. The following paragraph is based on Page's description of the content of the Liber Theysolius. Google Scholar

132 These attributions are baseless. For a more detailed description of these experiments, see the Appendix below and Newman, , Promethean Ambitions , 188–94.Google Scholar

133 della Mirandola, Giovanni Pico, Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatriciam (1494), 1 (ed. Garin, Eugenio [Florence, 1946], 64): “sicut libros Platonis de vacca magi circumferunt et quos vocant institutionum execrabilibus somniis figmentisque refertos et a Platone non minus alienos quam ista sint mendicabula a Platonis procul et probitate et sapientia.” Google Scholar

134 Henry Agrippa, , De occulta philosophia 1.36 (ed. Perrone Compagni, V. [Leiden, 1992], 152): “Virtus praeterea coelestis alibi quidem sopita iacet, ceu sulphur a flamma remotum; in viventibus autem corporibus saepe flagrat, sicut sulphur accensum, tum vapore suo proxima omnia complet: sic miranda quaedam opera procreantur, qualia leguntur in libro Nemith, qui et Legum Plutonis inscribitur, quia eiusmodi generationes monstrosae sunt, neque secundum leges naturae producuntur.” Google Scholar

135 Agrippa, Henry, ibid., 1.49 (ed. Compagni, Perrone, 179).Google Scholar

136 See Compagni's, Perrone introduction to her edition of the De occulta philosophia , 19.Google Scholar

137 Oxford, Christi, Corpus, 125; Oxford, Bodleian, Digby 71.Google Scholar

138 I have not been able to find confirmation for the existence of a Dominican chaplain called Thomas at the court of Robert the Wise. However, unlike Lynn Thorndike, I do not believe he is necessarily a fictitious character. Contrary to what is suggested by Thorndike, ( A History of Magic [n. 1 above], 3:136), the author of the De essentiis essentiarum did not claim to be Thomas Aquinas. This attribution is of later date and has been added in later manuscripts (as, for instance, in Oxford, Bodleian, , Digby 71, a manuscript from the fourteenth century). Modern scholars have identified the author with a lecturer at the Dominican studium of Naples evicted in 1344 for his anti-Thomist positions, but promoted to doctor of theology by Pope Clement VI. Cf. Kaeppeli, T. and Panella, E., Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum Medii Aevi, 4 vols. (Rome, 1970–93): 4 (1993): 355–56, and 1 (1970): 344. On the question of substantial forms, the author of De essentiis essentiarum adopted, indeed, a pluralist, anti-Thomistic view (see below). However, the early date of De essentiis essentiarum seems to plead against the identification.Google Scholar

139 There are at least a dozen manuscripts. Parts of the treatise were printed several times in the early modern period. I have used Venice, 1488 (unnumbered) and MS London, BL, Sloane 2156. For manuscripts and editions of the De essentiis essentiarum, see Kaepelli, and Panella, , Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum, 4:355–56. In at least one manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian, Digby 71), the De essentiis essentiarum, the De proprietatibus, and the Liber vaccae are found together.Google Scholar

140 De essentiis essentiarum , 8 (London, BL, Sloane 2156, fol. 143r^a; Venice, 1488, unnumbered): “Rasis de proprietatibus membrorum animalium ponit unum experimentum. … Dicit ergo quod si accipiatur semen hominis et imponatur in vase mundo sub caliditate fimi quod ad XXX dies erit inde generatus homo, habens omnia membra hominis et eius sanguis valet ad multas infirmitates secundum quod ibi ponit.” Google Scholar

141 See also Kraus, , Jabir ibn Hayyân , 122 n. 4.Google Scholar

142 Tostado, Alonso, Paradoxa de Christi, matrisque eius misteriis, animarum receptaculis posthumis, iucundissimae disputationes , 1.5 (Douai, 1621), 21. For Tostado's discussion, see Newman, , Promethean Ambitions (n. 4 above), 191–95.Google Scholar