HIST 421 Chapter Notes - Chapter reading: Chrism, Scrying
Document Summary
John of salisbury was studying latin from a priest using the psalms as the texts for study. His teacher was an adept in the category of crystal gazing and abused his trust by making john and older pupils participate in these activities. The idea was to anoint the boys" fingernails with some sacred chrism so that images would appear reflected in the nails and would impart information. People said they saw certain misty figures but john saw nothing and was said to be unqualified for the art. Necromancy, originally the word had meant divinatin (mantia) by conjuring spirits of the dead (nekroi) Circe was the classic necromancer of graeco-roman tradition. When medieval writers interpreted stories they assumed the dead could not be brought to life but that demons took on the appearance of deceased persons and pretended to be those persons. The conjuring of demons came to be known as necromancy and was explicitly demonic magic.
