Summary
Summary of Ars Notoria
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Learning is sought as a gift
The Ars Notoria offers prayers, ritual rules and meditation figures for gaining memory, learning and eloquence through God and his angels. Its aim is not simply to collect knowledge, but to receive a sharper mind and a clearer tongue as divine gifts.
It belongs to the tradition of medieval texts credited to King Solomon, though its actual author is unknown. This religious promise holds the work together: knowledge of the liberal arts and theology becomes something a person can ask heaven to grant.
Key idea 2
Solomon gives the art its authority
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Key idea 3
Figures make prayer something to see
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Key idea 4
Holy words blur prayer and magic
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Key idea 5
Preparation joins attention with humility
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Key idea 6
Wisdom arrives through divine illumination
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Key idea 7
Criticism did not stop its circulation
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Key idea 8
Prayer and learning share a purpose
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Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers curious about medieval religion, memory training and the Solomonic tradition, and for students of the history of magic and learning.
What this book is
The Ars Notoria is a Latin handbook of prayers, ritual rules and meditation figures, made for one purpose: to gain learning, memory and eloquence with the help of God and his angels. Its name means the Notary Art, and it belongs to the Solomonic tradition, a body of medieval texts credited to King Solomon. No author is known. Most scholars place its making in the early thirteenth century, though some of its material may be older.
For centuries people copied it, argued over it and tried to follow it. It promised a sharp mind, a clear tongue and a grasp of the liberal arts and of theology, all received as a gift. In this summary you will hear what the text claims about its origin, what its figures and prayers are, what the practitioner is told to do, and why churchmen and scholars have disagreed about it. First, the question of where it says it comes from.
In this summary
- 1Solomon is made the source of learningFree
- 2The notae are figures to gaze upon
- 3Prayers in strange words carry the power
- 4The practitioner must prepare body and soul
- 5Learning is promised as illumination, not study
- 6Churchmen doubted it and scholars study it
Key point 1 of 6
Solomon is made the source of learning
The Ars Notoria presents itself as a gift to King Solomon. The Bible says, in the First Book of Kings, that God gave Solomon an understanding heart and great wisdom. Later Jewish, Christian and Islamic writers built on that story, and many came to think Solomon had mastered every branch of knowledge. The Ars Notoria draws on this belief and says that the king received its art from an angel, as a way to pass wisdom on to others.
No scholar thinks Solomon wrote it. The Latin text appears in the Middle Ages, and the usual date given is the early thirteenth century. Some of its prayers may draw on older sources, and the question of how old is still debated. The name of the real compiler is lost.
The work survives in many manuscripts, and they do not agree. Some versions are short and some carry long additions, such as extra prayers and explanations. Scholars therefore speak of the Ars Notoria as a family of texts, not one fixed book. A glossed version, with a commentary that tries to explain the rites, also circulated.
The text most readers meet in English is the translation published in 1657 by Robert Turner, an English writer who also translated other works of this kind. That version is built on a Latin printed tradition and is the one this summary follows. Later it was bound with other Solomonic texts, which helped fix the idea that the Ars Notoria belongs among books of ritual magic.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Check yourself
What role do the notae play in the practice?
Right. “The practitioner is told to look at each figure closely during prayer, so that its meaning enters the mind.”Not quite. “The practitioner is told to look at each figure closely during prayer, so that its meaning enters the mind.”
How does the Ars Notoria present the source of its art?
Right. “The Ars Notoria draws on this belief and says that the king received its art from an angel, as a way to pass wisdom on to others.”Not quite. “The Ars Notoria draws on this belief and says that the king received its art from an angel, as a way to pass wisdom on to others.”
Why did Thomas Aquinas object to the Ars Notoria?
Right. “Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologiae, names the Ars Notoria among practices he regards as superstitious, because he thought they claimed knowledge by means God had not promised.”Not quite. “Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologiae, names the Ars Notoria among practices he regards as superstitious, because he thought they claimed knowledge by means God had not promised.”
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Ars Notoria
What is the Ars Notoria about?
It is a medieval Latin handbook of prayers, ritual rules and meditation figures. Its stated aim is to gain memory, eloquence and understanding of the liberal arts and theology as a gift from God through angels.
Did King Solomon write the Ars Notoria?
No. The text claims Solomon received the art from an angel, but scholars see it as a medieval work, usually dated to the early thirteenth century, by an unknown compiler who used Solomon's name for authority.
What are the notae in the Ars Notoria?
The notae are diagrams of circles and squares filled with words in Latin and Hebrew-looking script. The practitioner gazes at them during prayer, with each group tied to a general or special branch of learning.
Is the Ars Notoria a Christian or a magical text?
It has both sides. Its prayers use Christian language and ask God for help, but it also uses unexplained holy names and fixed rites. Medieval churchmen such as Aquinas judged it superstitious.
