The Index of Prohibited Books by Robin Vose

Author:Robin Vose
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reaktion Books

Magical diagram and text, from an Italian translation of the Key of Solomon, Clavicolo di Salomone Re d’Israel figlio de David, 18th century.

Debates over the status of magical science and the dangers (or usefulness) of demonic contact, like all scientific debates, evolved over time. Demon-summoning was gradually eclipsed by a fascination with exorcism, which also gradually emerged as a new field for censorship by the eighteenth century. Despite an initial attempt by Pope Paul V to standardize Catholic demon-taming procedures with his publication of the Rituale Romanum in 1614, existing manuals continued to be used, including the Franciscan inquisitor Girolamo Menghi’s popular Italian Compendio dell’arte essorcistica (1576) and Latin Flagellum daemonum (Scourge of Demons, 1576). Expert opinion and professional standards regarding the proper handling of demons shifted over the ensuing century, however, to the point where overly elaborate Renaissance-era rituals (which included incantations, talismanic images and even potion recipes) came to be seen as not only outdated but positively dangerous, and open to abuse by those seeking ways of binding demons for more nefarious purposes. Menghi’s exorcism texts were therefore banned by papal decree in 1704 and 1707, as were several others including the 1582 Practica exorcistarum of Valerio Polidoro. In 1725 the Dominican pope Benedict XIII imposed a total prohibition on all unapproved rituals, and new titles of banned exorcism manuals were still being added to the 1790 Spanish Index – all in the name of maintaining integrity for the performance of properly ‘scientific’ exorcisms.19

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