CHAPTER 14 Demons in Lapidaries? The Evidence of the Madrid ms Escorial, h.I.15
M. Carolina Escobar Vargas
In the thirteenth-century Castilian Lapidario, produced for the future king Alfonso X (1221-1284), ‘the wise', several entries listing the marvellous virtues and properties of stones make reference to an illness called ‘demonio’, and to whoever suffered it as ‘endemoniado’ or ‘demoniac’.
As is typical of medieval texts describing the virtues and occult properties of simples, the Alfonsine lapidary does not include details of the symptoms that characterise this particular illness. However, instructions on the particular course of action that must be followed to counteract the harmful effects of this disease are sometimes provided. More general references to demons are also present in the lapidary, even though they are scarcer. This article will examine the different instances in which such references are made throughout the text, indicating how they relate to one another. It will then establish possible connections between them and a well-known disease, epilepsy. Finally, it will assess whether or not parallel references to a ‘demonic’ affliction and its ‘demoniac’ sufferers appear in other European lapidaries of the Central Middle Ages by looking into one particular stone, smaragdos or emerald, as a case-study.The Alfonsine Lapidary survives in three manuscripts: a thirteenth-century copy now in Madrid, Real Biblioteca del monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, h.I.15, and two fragmented sixteenth-century versions.[707] The former is the most famous—both because it is the only complete surviving copy of the text and because it is luxuriously decorated.[708] It contains not only one, but four lapidary texts. The first three are closely associated with the work of the Jewish scholar and translator Yehudah ben Moses ha-Kohen,[709] and were probably completed around 1250;[710] the fourth one is palaeographically and stylistically different, and will not be considered here.[711] Yehudah was active in the middle of the thirteenth century as an astronomer and physician of the Castilian court.[712] His work on the lapidary followed a royal commission by the then Infante, Don Alfonso (1221-1284), the thirteenth-century Castilian ruler renowned for his active sponsorship of the arts, especially in the areas of astronomy, astrology and magic.[713]
The prologue to the first lapidary indicates that this text was translated by Yehudah from an Arabic original that was found in Toledo.
This original text was itself a translation from the Aramaic, attributed to an unidentified Arab scholar, named in the prologue as Abolays.[714] It is likely that Yehudah completed his translation c. 1250.[715] In this, the largest and most complex of the three lapidaries, precious stones are organised according to their relationship to the twelve signs of the zodiac, which are said to rule over thirty stones each. The text is missing the entries for fifty-eight stones, bringing their total number to an impressive 302.[716] [717] Each entry provides the reader with a physical description of a stone, its virtues, where to find it and the celestial bodies that rule them and bind them.11 The second lapidary, or El libro de las fazes, was translated by Yehudah from an anonymous original and contains only thirty-six stones; which according toJ. Evans are organised following ‘the passage of the sun through the faces of the signs’.[718] [719] [720] [721] [722] [723] Each sign of the zodiac is associated with three stones, each one of these representing a face of the sign.13 The third lapidary does not include a prologue, but it is written in the same thirteenth-century gothic hand as the previous two texts. In it, the stones are organised according to the planets that rule them in sixty-four sections?4Sagrario Rodriguez has identified the sources of the second and third lapidaries mainly with Jewish material?5 The first lapidary, on the other hand, is an ingenious composition of sources of mixed origin, including Greek, Jewish and Arabic material. It is possible that it is the product of a collation of texts available to the highly educated Yehudah, who would have been in a position to incorporate material belonging to all three traditions into his work. This would explain echoes in the text of the Greek tradition of Dioscorides and Serapion.16 Similarly, it would account for possible references to astrological lapidaries belonging to the Jewish tradition.
This combination would explain the unique character of the Alfonsine material: both in the particularly large number of stones included in the first lapidary and in the specific reference to astral influences over each stone?7 These specific astrological references were possibly further augmented by Yehudah’s own knowledge and expertise: he was the translator of several works on astrology, including the Libro del Alcora, a treatise on the celestial spheres originally composed by the ninth-century scholar Costa ben Luca.[724] In his general prologue Yehudah summarised the unique character of this lapidary when he advised his readers:... those who want to take advantage of this very noble and precious book must be versed in astronomy, must know about the stars, their states and how they may influence the virtues of the stones, according to the virtues they themselves receive from God. They must also know about stones, so that they may recognise them and their colours, and what they look like, and they must know about the places where they are born or where they can be found... Finally they must know about medicine, for most that concerns it is involved in the virtues of the stones, just as this book illustrates.1[725]
The inclusion of terms alluding to the presence and influence of demons only occurs in the first lapidary text, where seven references are made to an illness known as ‘demonio’. The text also includes four allusions to the people who suffer from this infirmity, calling them ‘endemoniados’, i.e. demoniacs.[726] The majority of the instances mention how the virtues of the stones can help to either prevent or cure the disease; but other cases are also included, like when the inhalation of toxic fumes triggers an episode of the illness. The stone known as Aguzar, for example, is described as helpful for the disease known as ‘demonio’; but no further instructions on its use are given.[727] [728] [729] [730] [731] Whoever carries the stone known as Scopetina de la Luna is protected against ‘demonio’, and if one suffers from it already then taking the powder of this stone as a drink will heal you.22 In the case of Goliztiz, a hot and dry stone found in India, the weight equivalent to two grains of barley are to be taken, ground and mixed with fresh water. In the case of Zamorat, or Esmeralda, a cold and dry stone found in the West, instructions are given for both preventing and curing the disease. The text states that the patient needs to be young for it to be effective. If a child does not yet have the disease the stone must hang from his neck and he will be protected. If he already suffers from the illness then the stone needs to be tied to his left arm or thigh and he will be cured.[732] [733] [734] Similarly, when hung from the neck of whoever is born ‘endemoniado’, La piedra dela Sirpient, a hot and moist stone found in mount Sinai, heals him?6 A similar treatment can be used to cure the disease known as ‘forgetting’, a particular affliction of the brain. If taken and placed inside the hide of a deer or a calf, bound with red silken thread and hung from the neck of any demoniac, the two stones found in the belly of a chick swallow will cure him?7 The case of the stone known as Farquidiuz is slightly different, as the procedure used to bring out its occult properties needs the intervention of an additional element to interact with it. According to the lapidary, if taken to a fire, this stone produces bad smelling fumes, like rotten meat. Whoever has the disease known as demonio is prone to be taken by the illness after inhaling them; if, however, one does not have the affliction, the fumes are harmless.[735] Something similar occurs in the case of Zequeth, a hot and dry stone falling under the influence of Sagittarius. If carried by day and avoided by night, the stone known as Koloquid is useful for preventing the illness that comes from demons.[737] No further instructions for avoiding or curing the affliction are given, and no specific name for the illness itself is provided. If this were not the same illness as ‘demonio’, then this is the only instance in which it is mentioned in the lapidary; however, this is unlikely. Thus, this is the only occasion in which explicit reference is made to a possible cause for the illness, the identification being explicitly demonic. However, precisely how this is so is left unsaid. The last reference to ‘demonio’ refers to a cold and dry stone, known as La piedra que fuye del uino[738] The implication seems to be that whoever carries the stone avoids the illness known as ‘demonio’. The stone is also useful to avoid fear of the dark when one is alone at night. However, here the noun ‘demonio’ is not explicitly referred to as a disease. The phrase in the text: ‘whoever carries it with him does not suffer from the imagination known to men as demon’ leaves some space for ambiguity. The exact meaning of the term ymagination in this context is not entirely clear: is the text implying that there is a type of imagination known to men as ‘demonio’, and if so what exactly is its nature? Is it afflictive, hence the reference to the beneficial properties of the stone for those who carry it? Or is imagination just a synonym for illness in this context? There is only one reference to actual demons in the text. Militaz, a hot and moist stone found in India, has the property of warding off demons; it also protects its carrier from attacks of necromancy and evil spells. In this entry, demons are referred to as ‘diablos’, i.e. devils.[739] [740] They are not explicitly tied to any illness but rather to a more standard context, that of magic and necromancy. The idea of necromancy itself is also included in the lapidary in a different context, that of illusion and deception. In the text, the stone known as Abarquid possesses the marvellous property of resembling pregnancy in a woman.33 Thus, those skilled in necromancy use it presumably to deceive naive clients, as to trick them into believing they are in possession of skills and arts that are not truly theirs. Let us focus now on the references found to the illness known as ‘demonio’ and to ‘endemoniados’ and their possible connection to epilepsy. In the vocabulary section to her 1981 edition of the text, Sagrario Rodriguez includes a note linking ‘demonio’ to epilepsy.[741] However, this same understanding of the term is not present in the other editions of the Lapidary by Fernandez de la Montana, Brey Marino or Diman and Wigmat. However, the equivalence in terminology between ‘epilepsy’ and ‘demonic attack’ has long been established among medical historians[742] Various ancient traditions identified the affliction of epilepsy with the intervention of supernatural entities. The Babylonians attributed the disease to evil spirits; amongst the Greeks, the illness was linked to divine intervention, hence it was known as the sacred disease. In his treatise by the same name, Hippocrates discredited attitudes that attributed the cause of epilepsy to the intervention of the gods, suggesting that, contrary to common belief, the causes of the illness were physical, hereditary and were to be found in the brain. His understanding of epilepsy influenced medical attitudes to the disease during the classical period and beyond. Christian writers like Augustine and Isidore of Seville refer to epilepsy as the falling sickness;3[743] those being afflicted by the disease are frequently identified with the Latin term caducos, meaning ready to fall; tottering/unsteady, falling, but also fallen and doomed, a term that might recall the Fallen Angels, or demons. In his influential Etymologies, Isidore of Seville claims that epilepsy is called the falling sickness, because: ‘the person ill with it falls down and suffers spasms’[744] Furthermore, he states that: ‘common people call epileptics ‘lunatics’, because they think that insidious forces of demons follow them in accordance with the course of the moon’[745] [746] However, Isidore does not provide a specific terminology identifying epileptics with demoniacs or identifying the disease as ‘demonic’. Allusions to epilepsy and to the falling sickness occur in Medieval Latin lapidaries,39 and not necessarily in connection to the concept of demonic attack. An interesting parallel between the more traditional Latin material and the Alfonsine text can be established by examining the virtues of smaragdos, the same stone that Yehudah includes in his lapidary as Esmeralda or Zamorat. In the Spanish material, this stone is said to be effective against ‘demonio’ when hung from the neck of a healthy child. Alternatively, it can cure the disease when tied to the left arm or thigh of an afflicted person. Similarly, in Latin lapidaries, when hung from the neck or wore in a ring, smaragdos is used not to ward off ‘demonio’, but epilepsy or the falling sickness. This is the reason why kings and members of the nobility are advised to hang the stone from their children’s neck. Specific references to the use of the stone in such a manner appear in early lapidaries attributed to pseudo-Aristotle,[747] and to the French Benedictine bishop of Rennes, Marbode[748] In a slightly modified version, dismissing some of the details but retaining the crucial idea that, when hung from the neck, smaragdos is effective against epilepsy, recommendations for using the stone appear in Marbode’s most renowned text De lapidibus,[749] and in thirteenth-century works on stones by Albertus Magnus,[750] and Arnold of Saxony.[751] The latter also recommends its use to ward off demonic illusions. Thus, the terminology of Western medieval lapidaries does not associate epilepsy with demons, preferring to call the disease by its name, or using terms like the falling sickness. It is significant, however, that Western medieval lapidaries recommend a similar course of treatment to cure epilepsy through the virtues of smaragdos, as the Alfonsine material does to cure ‘demonio’. Even though there is no mention in Western medieval lapidaries of the use of smaragdos tied to the left arm or thigh to cure epilepsy, they do recommend hanging the stone from the neck of children to avoid the disease. Although not a direct source, additional evidence from the bible might help shed some light over the connection between ‘demonio’ and epilepsy in the Alfonsine material. In a passage from the New Testament (Mark 9:16-29) Jesus is asked by the father of an afflicted boy to cast out the dumb spirit that possessed him [752] When describing the effects of the possession, the father relates how: ‘wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away’. As soon as Christ saw him, the spirit upset the boy, who was thrown unto the ground, wallowing and foaming. Upon Christ’s request, the father volunteered the information that the boy had been afflicted by this spirit since he was an infant and that it had caused him great harm. After a profession of faith by the father, Jesus cast the spirit out: ‘Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose'. Historians of medicine have often identified this passage as an early, unrecognised testimonial account of an epileptic seizure.[753] More importantly perhaps is the clear identification of symptoms resembling an epileptic attack with demonic possession. Christ cured the boy by expelling the spirit that possessed him after his disciples had initially failed in the attempt; when they asked him why this was so he explained that this type of demon could only be cast out by prayer and fasting. A final piece of evidence to consider comes not from a lapidary context but from one of the most important illustrated Herbals in the Latin West, the Herbarius attributed to Apuleius Platonicus. Compiled between the second and fourth centuries AD, this text survives in c. sixty manuscripts dating from the sixth to the fifteenth centuries. Like the lapidaries, it draws heavily on Greek and Latin sources. It includes over 130 chapters, including descriptions of different plants plus illustrations. In chapter 137 on the Mandrake root the following advice is given: ‘for epileptics, that is demoniacs, and those suffering from spasms, you will do this: extract two grams from the body of the same mandrake herb and give it to drink in hot water, only as much [as] it contains, at once they will be miraculously cured.[754] The key phrase in this quotation is ad epilempticos hoc est daemoniosos, for it establishes a clear connection between epileptics and demoniacs in a manner resembling the use of the term ‘endemoniado' in the Alfonsine material. However, it must be noted that this particular reading is not the same in all the surviving witnesses of this tradition. In the manuscript now in London, British Library, Harley 4986, for example, the text reads: ad epilempticos hoc est caducos, a clear reference to epilepsy as the ‘falling sickness'. It may not be unreasonable to assume that ‘demonio' and ‘endemoniado' in the thirteenth century Alfonsine lapidary may be closely connected to epilepsy; however, it is also worth noting that this terminology was not necessarily the most commonly used in contemporary medical literature. Whether or not the use of ‘demonio’ in the Lapidary text reflects a relatively persistent attitude linking the influence of demons to epilepsy is more difficult to tell. It would be naive to assume that naming a disease ‘demonio’ is only due to a particularly persistent turn of phrase, even though the presence of references to demons in the rest of this particular lapidary is rather scant. Furthermore, Yehudah is not one to attribute the presence of illness to persistent demonic attack but rather to natural physical causes, and this is in itself significant. The inclusion of the reference to demons as the originators of the disease in the entry for Koloquid would suggest a clear relationship between ‘demonio’ and illness by demonic attack; however, such a reference occurs only once in the whole text and it is not accompanied by a satisfying enough explanation to be sufficiently significant on its own. Thus, why does Yehudah use the term ‘demonio’ to refer to this illness? It is worth noting, at this point, that the use of the term epilepsia does occur in the third lapidary of this manuscript. It is indeed used twice when the virtues of the stones known as coral and sanguine are discussed. It is clear then that Yehudah was familiar with both terms, but that he chose to use ‘demonio’ instead of epilepsy in the case of his first compilation. What is this reflecting? Is his choice merely due to the variability of his sources? Even though Yehudah claims only to be translating these texts, the textual evidence suggests he is doing more than that; especially in the case of the first lapidary, which presents a compilation of sources of varied origin, a particularly interesting feature of intellectual activity in the thirteenth-century Castilian court. It is possible that, following its mainly Jewish sources, the second lapidary prefers the use of the term epilepsy to that of demonio. The question regarding the use of ‘demonio’ in the first lapidary persists. Did Yehudah find the reference in the Arabic material he had access to, or was he responding to particular usages of Spanish Christians? At the moment the answers to these particular questions remain elusive, and further research is required. What is interesting, however, is the apparent contradictory nature of one’s own expectations, for, if this is indeed a reference to epilepsy, the Latin tradition appears to have moved away from identifying the disease with demonic attacks, preferring instead the early patristic terminology that referred to it as ‘the falling sickness’, a term never employed by Yehudah in this text. This Jewish scholar working for a Christian king, however, chose to name this disease ‘demonio’, regardless of the fact that he had used the term epilepsy elsewhere in the manuscript, and this is an interesting choice in itself, perhaps suggesting a prevalent underlying belief in associating illnesses with demons.