Ars Notoria


The Ars Notoria is a 13th-century Latin book of magic, which claims to grant practitioners enhanced mental faculties, communication with angels, and mastery of earthly and celestial knowledge through ritualistic practices and originates from Northern Italy. Combining orthodox religious motifs with esoteric elements, the text gained popularity among medieval scholars, clerics, and students for its promise of accelerated learning.
The work incorporates the only surviving fragment of the Flores Aurei, falsely attributed to the Hellenistic philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, and merges it with the Ars Nova —a Latin adaptation of the Flores Aurei—alongside additional material by anonymous scribes. The Ars Notoria inspired a broader tradition of ritual magic texts, including John of Morigny's Liber Florum Caelestis Doctrinae, the Opus Operum, and derivative works such as the Ars Brevis, Ars Paulina, and the Solomonic Ars Notoria, quam Creator Altissimus Salomoni revelavit. This corpus persisted into the 17th century, blending ritual magic and medieval scholasticism.

Book title

The lowercase term "notory art" refers to the ritual magic practice or genre, while the capitalized Ars Notoria denotes the eponymous 13th-century grimoire. The text's title is unrelated to the civil-law term "notary." Central to its methodology are notae, which the text claims to use as conduits for imparting universal knowledge.
Scholars debate the precise definition of notae. Véronèse and Castle interpret them as esoteric knowledge conveyed through cryptic prayers and pictorial diagrams, whereas Skinner and Clark restrict the term to the diagrams alone. These prayers, written in a hybrid of Greek, Biblical Aramaic, and Hebrew, purportedly invoke angelic names. According to the text's mythic narrative, King Solomon formulated them "with the wonderful privilege of divine help," a process scholars suggest may parallel notarikon—a Kabbalistic exegetical technique that extracts hidden meanings from letter combinations.

Composition

Mythical account

The Ars Notoria expands upon the biblical account of King Solomon receiving divine wisdom from God, claiming his vast knowledge derived from the notory art. According to the text, Solomon received golden tablets "above the altar of the Temple" from the angel Pamphilius, who instructed him in the ritual methods, prayers, and symbolic figures central to the practice.
Following this revelation, Solomon allegedly authored the Liber Florum Caelestis Doctrinae using a cryptic language blending Hebrew, Chaldean, and Greek, possibly employing the Kabbalistic technique of notarikon. According to the account, the Hellenistic philosopher Apollonius of Tyana later compiled his own derivative work, the Flores Aurei, appending commentaries and Latin "prologues"—the deciphered beginnings and summaries of Solomon's cryptic prayers. Apollonius claimed these prologues omitted full translations due to the prayers' linguistic complexity, stating the decoding process was "too long and cumbersome" for readers.
The Latin prayers emphasize Christian orthodoxy, while Solomon's cryptic prayers resemble voces magicae. The accompanying geometric figures, distinct from traditional sigils, remain ritually ambiguous. Scholars propose divergent interpretations:
  • Julien Véronèse links them to Neoplatonic sunthemata or mnemonic devices for inducing visions.
  • Stephen Skinner and Daniel Clark similarly emphasize visionary potential.
  • Frances Yates, 'Sophie Page, and Matthias Castle' argue they functioned as memory aids.
The text asserts each figure corresponds to specific academic disciplines or virtues.
Euclid of Thebes and Mani allegedly validated the notory art's efficacy. A second divine revelation to Solomon—the Ars Nova —reportedly occurred in the Temple after he atoned for mocking the practice.

Manuscripts and age

The Ars Notoria survives in approximately 50 manuscripts dating from the 13th to the 18th century. Julien Véronèse categorizes these into three textual families:
  • Version A: The earliest and shortest recension.
  • Version A2: An intermediary revision.
  • Version B: A later, expanded version with glosses.
Post-16th-century copies largely reproduce or combine earlier versions, though these later composites remain understudied except for the 17th-century Ars Notoria, quam Creator Altissimus Salomoni revelavit. Véronèse published a semi-critical Latin edition in 2007 based on key exemplars, followed by Matthias Castle's first complete English translation in 2023.
Véronèse dates the Ars Notoria to the late 12th or early 13th century in northern Italy, a conclusion supported by Castle. Scholars such as Stephen Skinner, Daniel Clark, and Castle further propose that the lost Greek original of Apollonius of Tyana's Flores Aurei, which the Ars Notoria adapts, may have originated in the Byzantine Empire.

Structure and content

The medieval Ars Notoria derives from the sole surviving fragment of the Flores Aurei, spuriously attributed to Apollonius of Tyana. The Flores Aurei comprises three chapters, with the third chapter containing redacted or supplemented material, including the ten prayers of the Ars Nova —the earliest derivative text of the Golden Flowers. Scholars note ambiguities in the third chapter's organization, suggesting later interpolations.
The Ars Notoria integrates medieval European ritual magic with Christian devotional practices. Its core elements include:
  • Angel-mediated dreams: Practitioners seek tutelary angels for knowledge.
  • Cryptic prayers: Formulated in hybrid Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldean.
  • Lunar and Astrological timing: Rituals aligned with the monthly lunar cycle and certain disciplines are studied under certain zodiac signs of the year. The rituals do not follow the planetary hours but rather the Christian canonical hours.
  • Christian asceticism: Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.
This synthesis of esoteric theurgy and monastic piety reflects Hermetic influences alongside overt orthodoxy, creating a unique fusion of scholastic and mystical traditions.

Corpus of related writings

''Ars Nova (The New Art)''

The Ars Nova, the earliest derivative text of the Flores Aurei, comprises a ritual system of ten prayers. These prayers may function independently or complement the broader rituals of the Flores Aurei. Unlike the original text, the Ars Nova imposes no temporal restrictions on its practice and requires fewer procedural complexities, rendering it appealing to practitioners seeking simplicity.

''Opus Operum (The Work of Works)''

The Opus Operum, a 13th-century magical treatise authored anonymously, shares the Ars Notoria's objective of enhancing mental faculties and acquiring scholastic knowledge rapidly. Like its predecessor, it employs cryptic prayers accompanied by Latin "prologues" but introduces a distinct three-month regimen of 32 prayers.
Extant manuscripts often pair the Opus Operum with Version A or A2 of the Ars Notoria. Julien Véronèse published the first critical Latin edition in 2007, followed by Matthias Castle's inaugural English translation in 2023.

''Liber Florum Caelestis Doctrinae (Book of Flowers of Heavenly Teaching)''

The Liber Florum Caelestis Doctrinae is a 14th-century magical treatise composed by the French Benedictine monk John of Morigny. Modeled on the Ars Notoria, it promises practitioners mastery of the liberal arts and other disciplines through ritualized prayer. John claimed to have revised and expanded the text under the guidance of the Virgin Mary, seeking to distance it from accusations of necromantic or demonic associations linked to its ritual magic elements.
The first critical Latin edition and scholarly analysis of the Liber Florum Caelestis Doctrinae was published by Claire Fanger and Nicholas Watson in 2015. As of 2023, only excerpts of the text have been translated into English, appearing in specialized academic publications.

''Ars Brevis (The Short Art)''

The Ars Brevis, originally titled Ars Notoria Brevis et Bona, is a mid-14th-century magical treatise. Its title was abbreviated by scholar Julien Véronèse for modern reference. This text should not be confused with Ramon Llull's Ars Brevis, a philosophical work outlining a logical problem-solving system using geometric figures and symbolic alphabets.
Though anonymous, the text is possibly pseudepigraphically attributed to John of Morigny. It is divided into two books:
  1. The Blessed Book of John: Focuses on ritual experiments to acquire worldly knowledge, secrets, and enhanced mental faculties through angelic communication via dreams or visions. These rituals blend Catholic liturgy with notory art elements like cryptic prayers and symbolic diagrams.
  2. The Book of Divine Revelation: Compiles prayers adapted from the Ars Notoria.
Véronèse published the first critical Latin edition in 2004. The inaugural English translation, based on a revised Latin text, appeared in Matthias Castle's 2023 edition.

''Ars Abbreviata (The Abbreviated Art)''

The Ars Abbreviata, a 14th-century magical treatise attributed to Thomas of Toledo, outlines a one-month ritual comprising three prayers and nine symbolic figures. The prayers purportedly grant mastery of the liberal arts, medicine, theology, and jurisprudence, while the figures distill the notory art's core techniques into a condensed practice.
Julien Véronèse published the first critical Latin edition in 2004. The inaugural English translation, based on Véronèse's edition, appears in Matthias Castle's 2023 compilation.