Albertus,MagnusorMagus?Magic, Natural Philosophy, and Religious Reform in the Late Middle Ages^*

Abstract

This article analyzes the fifteenth-century attempt by the Dominican order, especially in Cologne, to win canonization for the thirteenth-century natural philosopher Albert the Great. It shows how Albert's thought on natural philosophy and magic was understood and variously applied, how the Dominicans at Cologne composed his vitae, and how the order's Observant movement participated in these developments. It situates the canonization attempt at the intersection of two significant trends in which the order was a leading participant: first, the late medieval efforts to reform Christian society beginning with the religious life of monks and mendicants; second, the increasing concerns about the practice of learned and demonic mafic that laid groundwork for the witch-hunting of the early modern period. This article aims to shed light on intersections of science and religion -- their apprehension and negotiation -- at a decisive moment in European history for both fields of human endeavor.

Early anthropological interest: Magnus Hundt’s and Galeazzo Capra’s quest for humanity

“…Together, these learned treatises are used to prove human excellence and exceptionality compared to other creatures. 9 Hundt follows Albertus Magnus's De homine in that he proposes a comprehensive doctrine of the human as a unity of body and soul, supplementing its arguments with the same author's De animalibus, where the doctor universalis had included long passages on human excellence and explanations on what distinguishes the human from other creatures (Anzulewicz 1996(Anzulewicz , 1998Collins 2010). In fact, for his text Hundt borrowed many other passages directly from Albertus, and, more often than not, without interpreting and consulting the original sources himself.…”

“…Many of Albertus's physical arguments to prove human excellence such as his members' proportions, his erectness, his head being the part of the body nearest to God and heaven (and therefore the most suitable place for the rational soul) can be already found here and will be later repeated and substantiated in the purely medical parts of the Antropologium. The extensive use of Albertus Magnus must be framed in the growing admiration that the doctor universalis received throughout fifteenth-century Germany, corroborated by a particular attention towards his natural philosophical oeuvre by most of the Italian and German humanists (Mahoney 1980;Collins 2010).…”

The Charms of Women and Priests: Sex, Magic, Gender and Public Order in Late Medieval Italy

“…17 Natural magic implied the investigation and use of the natural properties of earthly materials, involving disciplines, like alchemy, that would later come to be understood as science. 18 Demonic magic, by contrast, involved the invocation of demons or otherworldly spirits. Demonic magic, or 'necromancy', was mostly associated with clerics, whose education and inherent connection to the numinous would facilitate the use of arcane rituals.…”

Albert the Great, the Albert Legend, and the Legitimation of the Dominicans

“…30 Although Collins does not use the language of legitimation, he does discuss the great pride the Dominicans took in Albert's fame. See Collins (2010), "Albertus, Magnus or Magus? Magic, Natural Philosophy, and Religious Reform in the Late Middle Ages," Renaissance Quarterly 63.1: 1-44.…”

“…Collins does not, however, note the reasons why it was important that Peter appeal to the Speculum, only that he did so. 33 Collins (2010), p. 32. Collins points out that canonizations were far rarer prior to the nineteenth century than they later became.…”