Societas Magica - SMN Spring 2010 Issue 23

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Issue 23 Spring 2010

Clerical

Magic in

IcelandicFolklore

Thomas B. de Mayo

J. Sargeant Reynolds Community

College

Iceland, which converted to Christianity only around the turn ofthe millennium, lay far from the center of Latin Christian culture.Nevertheless, stories from Iceland connect various church figures withnecromancy, Latin magic, and the devil. For Icelanders, it was not Arabiclearning, but their own heathen past which stirred anxiety. By examiningtales in which clerics demonstrate unholy supernatural power, I hope todemonstrate how continental ideas about magic blended with local ones

in reflecting the conditions of Icelandic society.

1

I will begin with arecapitulation of the tale of Gerbert told by William of Malmesbury, sincethis forms a touchstone for the Icelandic material.

William of Malmesburys Tale of Gerbert

The twelfth-century historian William of Malmesbury (d. c. 1143)recounts the tale of Gerbert, the notorious Pope Sylvester II (d. 1003).2According to the tale, Gerbert studied in Spain where the Christianshave Toledo for their capital and the Saracens Hispalis commonly calledSeville; there they devote themselves to divination and witchcraft, as theirnational custom is.3 From the Saracens, Gerbert learns a variety of arts:

There he surpassed Ptolemy in knowledge of the astrolabe, Al-handreus in that of the relative positions of the stars, and JuliusFirmicus in judicial astronomy. There he learnt to interpret thesong and flight of birds, to summon ghostly forms from the netherregions, everything, in short, whether harmful or healthful, thathas been discovered by human curiosity; for of the permitted arts,arithmetic, music, astronomy, and geometry, I need say noth-ingby the way he absorbed them he made them look beneath the


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Clerical Magic contd

level of his intelligence,and re-established in Gaulthrough his untiring efforts.He was the first to seizethe abacus from the Sara-cens, and he handed downthe rules which calculators

for all their efforts hardlyunderstand.4

The association of Arabicknowledge, astrology, and magic ishere clear, as is the use of spirits.Such knowledge takes on a dualcharacter, desirable in part, andexecrable beyond certain bounds,which seem embodied in thedivision of Spains principal cities

into Saracen and Christian capitols.Gerberts studies among theSaracens clearly proceeds beyondthe bounds of acceptable. Hetakes one particular master,whom he hires to teach him andto provide books. This master,however, keeps back one book towhich he had committed all hisart and which Gerbert could by nomeans get out of him.5 Gerbertseduces the masters daughter, andwith her help, he steals the bookand makes his escape. When theSaracen uses astrology to trackhim, Gerbert avoids detection byhiding suspended under a bridgeso that he touches neither earthnor water.6 To complete his get-away, Gerbert summons the devilto whom he covenanted to payhim perpetual homage if he would

protect him from the Saracen and convey him overseas. 7

We can see the lineaments of thenecromancer in Williams tale: hepossesses forbidden knowledge,contained in secret books, iscapable of making (and foiling)

divinations, and of commandingspirits. Moreover, even forWilliam, Gerbert represents theprototype of a branch of learningwhich (for good or ill) is alreadywell-advanced throughout Europe.

Saemundur the Learned

Williams tale of Gerbert formsthe earliest bridge between Latinnecromancy and Iceland. Thethirteenth-centuryJns SagaHelga about the early Icelandicbishop Jn contains the earliestrecorded version of the story ofSaemundur the Learned (d.1133), a priest-magician of mostlybenevolent character. This accountso closely resembles Williams

that the two presumably have acommon source.8 Saemundursgreat learning and his foreignstudies provide a figure to whichnecromantic material couldalso be attached in an Icelandiccontext. Jns Saga9 recountsthat the Icelander Saemundurstudied in Europe with a certainunderstanding magister, thereacquiring such unknown wisdom

that he had abandoned everythingthat he had learnt in his youth, evenhis baptismal name.10 Instead, hewent by Kol (Coal).

Jn convinces Saemundur to fleehis master, who like GerbertsSaracen, pursues him usingastronomia.11 Clever Saemunduroutwits his master, first by puttingwater in his shoes and his shoes onhis head. The master thinks thatJon, the foreigner, has drownedmy foster-son Kol, for there iswater round his star.12 The nextnight the Saracen again sets outin pursuit. Saemundur fills hisshoes with blood, so that his masterthinks he has been murdered.Eventually, the Saracen realizes

that Saemunder has escaped, but helets them go, noting that men willwin long-lasting benefits from his[Jns ?] good luck.13

We already begin to see importanttransformations to the tale thatproceed from its particularly

Icelandic context. AlthoughSaemundurs master remains anastrologer, most of those elementswhich reflect anxiety over Islamhave disappeared. Instead,Saemundurs master showsdistinctly heathen characteristics:he adopts his student as a foster-son, which reflects Icelandic kin-systems. His resignation, evenapproval, in the face of someonesluck, also reflects a particularlyNorse attitude towards destiny andpersonal power.

Saemundurs story continued tochange down through the centuriesBy the time Jn rnasson recordedand compiled many Icleandicfolktales in the nineteenth century,Saemundurs magical traininghad become wholly fantastic.Now Saemundur was said to

have studied at a demonic Black

ConferenceCancellation

Esotericism, Religion and Politics

Because of recent budget constraintsat the host institution, the plannedJune 2010 conference that was to beheld at Michigan State University, andwas to have been jointly sponsoredby the Association for the Study of

Esotericism, the Societas Magica, andthe Journal for Radicalism, has beencancelled. The ASE conference cyclewill be suspended until 2012. However,there was a great deal of interest inthe conference, and many proposalswere submitted. Thus, the next volumein the Studies in Esotericism series,to be titled Esoter icism, Religion,and Politics, will proceed as usual.


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Clerical Magic contd

School. Lessons appeared onthe wall, and the Devil took aspayment the soul of the last studentof each class to leave. Saemundur,of course, is this last student.14

In some versions of these tales,

Jn remains a significant figurewho helps Saemunder make hisescape. Eventually, however, Jndrops out of the legend-cycle,and only Saemundur remains as asignificant character. In these tales,Saemundur escapes the Devil,sometimes by hiding suspendedunder a bridge like Gerbert, butmore often by tricking the Devilinto grabbing his cloak or his

shadow in his place.15

We can seethat Icelanders remained concernedthat learning might be tainted withmagic, but the source of that magichas become fully demonized.

Magic in these later tales is oftenclearly associated with pre-Christian religion. In one tale,Saemundur and a rival go to theking of Norway to seek a churchappointment in Oddi, Iceland.

The king promises the beneficeto whoever can arrive there first.Saemundur summons the deviland promises him his soul, if thedevil can convey him to Icelandwithout getting him wet. Thedevil obligingly takes the form ofa seal and carries Saemundur onhis back. When they come in sightof shore, however, Saemundurstrikes the Devil on the head with

his Psalter, causing the Devil tosink. Saemundur gets wet, buthe also gets to Iceland, gains thechurch, and keeps his soul.16 Themotif of travel in an animal formhas deep roots in Icelandic religio-magical practices. In much OldNorse literature, heathen magicians

can project their spirit in an animalform and travel great distances.17

Loftur the Magician

Our final set of tales concern thepost-Reformation figure of Loftur(born c. 1700).18 A far more sin-ister character than Saemundur,

Loftur combines the figure of theclerical magician with a typicallyIcelandic concern for the revenantdead.

Loftur studied at the clerical schoolof Hlar, where he supposedlyhad access to a magical manualknown as the Greyskin.19 Magicaltexts do seem to have circulated inIcelandic schools. Legal records

from the seventeenth-centuryrecord the punishment for magicof students at Sklholt.20 We haveseveral surviving Icelandic magicalbooks, which contain elaboratecompound runes, and in somecases Solomonic and Necromanticmaterial as well.21

The most important tales aboutLoftur concerns his desire fortheRedskin, a magical booksupposedly written in runes,like other books of spells by thenotorious Bishop Gottsklk (d. ca.1522), who gathered together allthe black spells, which had neverbeen used since heathen times. 22When Gottsklk died, he had thebook buried with him in his tombso no one could read it.23 WithouttheRedskin, Loftur is damned. Ashe explains to a fellow student:

Those who have learnedas much magic as I havecan only use it for evil, andmust all be lost wheneverthey die.But if a man knowsenough, then the Devil willhave no power over him,

but must serve without payas he served Saemundur theWise, and whoever knowsas much as that is also hisown master, free to use hisarts for whatever purposehe wishes. It is not possibleto attain this degree of

knowledge nowadays, sincethe Black School closeddown, and Gottsklk theCruel had his book RedSkin buried with him.Thatis why I want to raise himup and force him by spellsto let me have Red Skin.24

Loftur and his companion enterthe church at night, where Loftursummons the spirits of the deadBishops. Gottsklk appears,bearing theRedskin. They engagein a duel of magic, which Lofturloses when his companion rings thechurch bell too soon. Despairing,Loftur leaves the school and laterdies.25

These tales combine Latin,Icelandic and Lutheran featuresinto a composite picture of the

nature and dangers of clericalmagicians. The magical use of thedead is a particularly Icelandicmotif. In Old Norse literature thedead (especially the heathen dead)often guarded treasure in theirtombs. As with Gottsklk they areprone to physical manifestations,sometimes engaging heroesin violent combat.26 Loftursmagic strongly resembles Latin

necromancy. In the magical duelhe inverts and perverts Christianritual:

He turned the penitentialpsalms of David to theDevils name, and made a

cont'd on page 5


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Page 4 Societas Magica Newsletter Spring 2010

1. Session 412, Saturday 10:00 AM, Schneider

1325

POLITICS, CONDEMNATION, AND SORCERYINTHE

FOURTEENTH CENTURY(Co-sponsored by the 14th Century Society)Presider: Claire Fanger

Trials for Sorcery in Early Fourteenth-CenturyAvignon

Robert Ticknor, Tulane Univ.

Acknowledging the Annals: A New Perspective onWitchcraft in the Alice Kyteler TrialVanessa R. Taylor, Catholic Univ. of America

Maleficae et Maledictae Feminae: Fourteenth-

Century Sources for Key Features of the LearnedInterpretation of Witchcraft in Italy at the End ofthe Middle AgesFabrizio Conti, Central European Univ.

2. Session 469, Saturday 1:30 PM, Schneider

1355LOVE MAGIC

Presider: Amelia Carr

Love and Body Parts: A Study on the Use ofCadavers in Love Magic in the PGM, the Picatrix,

and the Munich HandbookDavid Porreca, Univ. of Waterloo

Love Potion #9: Examining Tristan and Isolt forPopular Notions of Love and Magic in theMedieval British Isles

Jennifer Pluck, Univ. of North CarolinaCharlotte

Love Magic in Late Medieval English Confessionand Preaching ManualsCatherine Rider, Univ. of Exeter

What Do We Mean by Love Magic?Frank Klaassen, Univ. of Saskatchewan

3. Session 519, Saturday 3:30 PM, Schneider

1350MAGICINITS MANUSCRIPT CONTEXT

(Co-sponsored by the Research Group onManuscript Evidence)Presider: Mildred Budny

A Household Approach to Magic: Charms inCambridge, Trinity College MS 1081Laura Mitchell, Univ. of Toronto

Use of Mysterious Symbols in the Liber florum OldCompilation, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS liturg. 160Claire Fanger, Rice Univ.

Fashionable Magic: Characters and Ciphers inConrad Buitzrusss Compendium (Munich, Clm 671)Elizabeth I. Wade-Sirabian, Univ. of WisconsinOshkosh

4. Session 549, Sunday 8:30 AM, Schneider 1220CIPHERS, CODES, AND MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS I:

MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE

(Co-sponsored by the Research Group on ManuscriptEvidence)Presider: Richard Kieckhefer, Northwestern Univ.

Encoding, Decoding, and the Milieu of Virgilius MaroGrammaticusJen Reid, Univ. van Amsterdam

Angelic Alphabets: What Do They Mean?Marla Segol, Skidmore College

Outdated Cipher-Systems in Magic Texts

Benedek Lng, Budapesti Muszaki sGazdasgtudomnyi Egyetem

5. Session 588, Sunday 10:30 AM, Schneider 1220CIPHERS, CODESAND MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS II:

OBJECTSOF POWER

Presider: Richard Kieckhefer, Northwestern Univ.

Symbolic Power in Traditional EthiopiaSean M. Winslow, Centre for Medieval Studies,Univ. of Toronto

Runic Books, Clerical Magicians, and the Dead inIcelandic Folklore

Thomas B. de Mayo, J. Sargeant ReynoldsCommunity College

The Hooked X, a Grail Code, and a New Translationof the Kensington RunestoneJames L. Frankki, Sam Houston State Univ.

SESSIONS SPONSOREDBYTHE SOCIETAS MAGICAATTHE FORTY-FIFTH

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSON MEDIEVAL STUDIES MAY 1316, 2010


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Page 5Societas Magica Newsletter Spring 2010

www.societasmagica.org

The Societas Magica invites proposals for essays to run in future issuesof the newsletter.

We are looking for short essays (1500-2500 words) announcing new developments deriving fromresearch in the study and teaching of magic and its related

topics. We would be especially interested to see leadarticles on modern magic, or periods other than medieval.

We are also looking for smaller pieces for our notes andqueries column. News about dissertations in progress orcompleted, manuscript discoveries, or other such items

are all welcomed.

Please contact Kathryn Laity: [email protected]

confession of all the goodhe had ever done as if werea sin. He recited theLords prayer to the Devil,and gave the blessing in theDevils name, till the wholechurch shook and rocked asif in an earthquake. 27

Gottsklks book-burialdemonstrates how thoroughlymagic was seen as a pagansurvival, made dangerous by itseruption into Christian society. AsSimpson notes, the book-burialturns its possessor into a type ofancestral figure. Thus, Gottsklk isboth pagan (in his knowledge) andChristian (as a Bishop). His powercomes from unnaturally retainingknowledge of the older era intothe new. Indeed, there is a triple-layering of the past, for Gottsklkwas a Catholic bishop in a now-Lutheran country, and Lofturtherefore has greater power overhim than over the later Bishopswho were all buried with theBible on their breasts.28

Conclusion

The stories of Loftur andSaemundur reveal the complexitiesof Icelandic clerical magic. TheArabic-inspired necromancy thatvexed the authorities of LatinEurope traveled to Iceland viathe same channels as Christianity

itself. There it blended with localideas about spirit projection, thedead, and the power of runes. Inthe popular imagination it becamemore fantastic as well as morerevealing of Icelands own culturalconcerns. Remote from fears aboutArabic learning, medieval andearly modern Icelanders insteadsaw learned magic as a dangerousreminder of the practices they had

already abandoned.Footnotes1 An earlier version of this paper wasoriginally given at the J. SargeantReynolds Community College 3rdAnnual Faculty Research Symposiumin Richmond, VA (April, 2009). Thanksto Benedek Lng for assistance with thelegend of the Black School. See alsohis Unlocked Books: Manuscripts ofLearned Magic in the Medieval Librariesof Central Europe (Penn State University

Press, 2008), 1-3.

2 William mis-identifies Gerbert as JohnXV.3 William of Malmesbury, Gesta RegumAnglorum: The History of the EnglishKings, eds. and trans. Mynors, Thomson,Winterbottom (Oxford: Oxford U Press,1998), ii.167, translated on 1:281.Et sicut Christiani Toletum, ita ipsi[Saraceni] Hispalim, quam Sibiliamuulgariter uocant, caput regni habent,diuinationibus et incantationibus moregentis familiari studentes. See also2:151 n.1.4 Ibi uicit scientia Ptholomeum inastrolabio, Alhandreum in astroruminterstitio, Iulium Firmicum in fato. Ibiquid cantus et uolatus auium portendatdidicit, ibi excire tenues ex infernofiguras, ibi postremo quicquid velnoxium vel salubre curiositas humanadeprehendit; nam de licitis artibus,arithmetica musica et astronomia etgeometria, nichil attinet dicere, quas itaebibit ut inferiores ingenio suo ostenderet,et magna industria reuocaret in Galliamomnino ibi iam pridem obsoletas.Abacum certe primus a Saracenis rapiens,regulas dedit quae a sudantibus abacistisuix intelliguntur. ii.167, 1:280-281.5Vnus erat codex totius artis consciusquem nullo modo elicere poterat. ii.167,translated on 1:281.6 pendulum et pontem amplectens utnec aquam nec terram tangeret. ii.167,translated on 1:283.7 Ibi per incantationes diabolo accersito,


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Societas Magica - SMN Spring 2010 Issue 23

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