Frances Yates and the Hermetic Tradition

Lists with This Book. Nov 19, Miriam rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Renaissance fans, every historian. This book was revolutionary at the time of its publication because Yates rejected the imposition of 20th century categories on earlier periods. Those who studied Bruno's scientific and mathematical advances ignored his interest in magic and mysticism, and vice versa.

Yates surmounted this division and showed how inseparable the two truly were.

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For instance, Bruno's involvement with Copernicus occurred because he needed more accurate astronomical calculations for his astrological work. This study This book was revolutionary at the time of its publication because Yates rejected the imposition of 20th century categories on earlier periods. This study showed how much overlap there was between the commencement of scientific humanism and the continued belief in magic. Yates' groundbreaking work remains an important call for historians to treat the ideas and thinkers of the past on their own ground rather than imposing modern judgments of their validity.

Apr 07, Steve Evans rated it it was amazing. This was a path-breaking book, and for me, a revelation. Yates' account of the little monk burnt at the stake in Rome in was revisionist history, but when I read it, I didn't realise it. Till Yates, Bruno was a revolutionary free-thinker murdered by Papism out of little more than pique. His thinking system was lionised, his memory system admired and his belief in multiple inhabited worlds considered very advanced and even scientific.

But I didn't know any of this. Yates paints a different pi This was a path-breaking book, and for me, a revelation. Yates paints a different picture of an unscientific man, whose scientific ideas were mostly cribbed from Lucretius, and whose belief in "Hermeticism" tragic, and her account has triumphed as, in general, it should. But Bruno, even for Yates, had very redeeming features, and his aim to enlarge Christianity through incorporation of the teachings of one Hermes Trimegistus, was a noble one.

Frances Yates and the Hermetic Tradition : Marjorie G. Jones :

Sadly for him, Hermes' works were a forgery and not the words a great thinker who lived even before Moses - but the forgery wasn't revealed till well after Bruno's demise, and even now there are believers. What I liked most about this book, however, was its truly wonderful account of "white magic" and its place in renaissance thought. It led me on to the real deal, the thinkers who made up the white magic brigade spanning several centuries, and their admirers and acolytes. It has been a fascinating journey and Yates began it for me.

There is a kind of postscript to this: The Vatican did not agree. View all 4 comments. Dame Frances Yates is one of the most accessible and passionate scholarly writers I have encountered. The case presented in this book is somewhat dated, with many of her assumptions and conclusions having been refuted by more modern scholarship.

The beginning of the book gives a brief Dame Frances Yates is one of the most accessible and passionate scholarly writers I have encountered. The beginning of the book gives a brief history of the mythical character Hermes Trismegistus, the ancient sage said to have delivered all science, medicine and magic to mankind, and outlines the influence of this figure on the minds of the greatest thinkers of the Common Era.

From there Yates takes us through the story of the revival of Hermes in the 14th Century in the court of Cosimo de Medici who had his scribe and physician Marsillio Ficino translate the newly rediscovered Corpus Hermeticum, 14 spiritual and philosophic tracts believed to predate the writings of Moses and to have influenced and informed all of the literature of the Monotheistic that led up to the revelation of Christianity.

To develop this point, Yates traces the flood of Hermes ideas and influence through some key figures in the early to late renaissance; Pico de Mirandolla, Cornelius Agrippa and up through the life of Bruno and his contemporaries. The life of Bruno, and the role of the Hermeticum in his thought is the focus of the entire latter half of the book. To a degree I think that she accomplishes this, though at times it is difficult to tell. This book has continually raised more questions for me than it answered; and this is not a bad thing.

The studies that she spent her life developing along with her fellows at the Warburg institute has in large part transformed Renaissance studies and this is one of the seminal works of her life; I cannot recommend this enough. Aug 23, A.

This book by Frances Yates revolutionized the historical studies of Giordano Bruno. Up until Yates, Bruno was seen as a proto-typical scientist who was burned at the stake by the Catholic Church for his heretical scientific views. Yates demonstrates conclusively, with impeccable research, that Bruno was in fact a dyed-in-the-wool magician who believed thoroughly in magic and the occult, who believed that the One True Faith had existed in Ancient Egypt and that medieval Christianity was a pale im This book by Frances Yates revolutionized the historical studies of Giordano Bruno.

Yates demonstrates conclusively, with impeccable research, that Bruno was in fact a dyed-in-the-wool magician who believed thoroughly in magic and the occult, who believed that the One True Faith had existed in Ancient Egypt and that medieval Christianity was a pale imitation of this original faith, and who believed further that he, Bruno, was the magus who would lead humanity back to its true religion. Yates writes of all this in a beautiful style, and writes also of the whole context, the Hermetic Tradition, of which Bruno was such an important part.

This book not only teaches you a lot about Bruno more, in fact, than you might ever have really wanted to know! Aug 06, Katie rated it it was amazing Shelves: I really, really enjoyed reading this book. I think that Yates has a bit of a tendency to pigeon-hole Bruno's thought more than she should, insisting throughout that his central goal was a return to Egyptianism and that he was fundamentally anti-Christian, and I think that certainly is an overall flaw.

But I'm still going to give it five stars anyways just because it's a book that's absolutely worth reading, especially it's beginning and ending. Yates puts Bruno and his Hermetic contemporaries I really, really enjoyed reading this book. Yates puts Bruno and his Hermetic contemporaries in the proper historical position, clearly illustrating that they weren't classical humanists or persecuted scientists but a brand of their own that wasn't medieval and wasn't modern, but still had roads leading in both directions.

Also, as a plus, considering how esoteric the subject matter can be, Yates does a good job keeping her writing crisp and clear without oversimplifying. Nov 11, Paul Johnston rated it really liked it. I found this an interesting book if a little out of my normal field and a little demanding particularly insofar as the expectation was that one could read Latin fluently plus a few other things, e. I didn't know anything very much about Giordano Bruno before I read it and only have a fairly average understanding of the Renaissance.

The most interesting thing is definitely the way that our modern ways of seeing things are challenged so science and magic go together and mathem I found this an interesting book if a little out of my normal field and a little demanding particularly insofar as the expectation was that one could read Latin fluently plus a few other things, e.

The most interesting thing is definitely the way that our modern ways of seeing things are challenged so science and magic go together and mathematics plays a key role in linking the two.

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So for Bruno one of the things that made the theories of Copernicus interesting was that they pointed the way back to Egyptian religion and its cult of the sun. This is an academic lots of untranslated quotes from French, Italian, and Latin , groundbreaking analysis of the hermetic tradition Renaissance magic in the life of Giordano Bruno, and its place in the history of thought as a bridge between medieval scholasticism and Cartesian rationalism. As a person who lives at the intersection of religion, science, and history, this book forced me to reconsider the narrative of the genesis of Science, and the history of thought within the Church in the 16t This is an academic lots of untranslated quotes from French, Italian, and Latin , groundbreaking analysis of the hermetic tradition Renaissance magic in the life of Giordano Bruno, and its place in the history of thought as a bridge between medieval scholasticism and Cartesian rationalism.

As a person who lives at the intersection of religion, science, and history, this book forced me to reconsider the narrative of the genesis of Science, and the history of thought within the Church in the 16th century.



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Aug 30, Mark Bowles rated it it was amazing. Two main intentions of this book: To show that the writings of Bruno are misunderstood. Bruno is normally celebrated in the history of science for his acceptance of the Copernican theory and his own addition that the universe in infinite.

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This broke the closed Ptolemaic universe. But, Bruno was not a forerunner of modern science. Instead, he advocated a magical hermetic tradition. For example Bruno used the Copernicus heliocentric chart as a talisman. Bruno still deserves a major position A. Bruno still deserves a major position in the history of science. There was a strong connection between hermetic thought in the Renaissance and the emergence of early modern science. Magical operations with number contributed to the emergence of genuine mathematics.

The Hermetic corpus was filled with sun worship and thus a heliocentric system is embraced. This is the root of Baconian utilitarianism man harnessing nature for his own use. Yates has argued that she herself is not a sorceress. But the book has a magical feel to it. But, despite the outdating of her facts one of the most important things she contributed was the notion of a 2 stage scientific revolution. Stage 1 is magic, stage 2 is mathematics C. The Hermetic Tradition 1. The Hermetic tradition was the written work of Hermes Trismegistus who wrote on Egyptian philosophy, religion, and magic.

But, for those in the Renaissance he was considered a real Egyptian priest who lived in Antiquity and it was he who Plato and the Greeks derived there knowledge. In the Renaissance what was considered oldest was most divine. The belief in the reality of this man was a huge historical error which had amazing results. It brought about the Renaissance revival of magic. Ficino was the 15th century scribe who translated Hermes work which he called the Pimander. He was awe struck at the Mosaic Moses and Christian truths which this ancient author mysteriously possessed.

The truth is that this Hermetic corpus was really written by different people at different times. Their only unity is a religious approach without a personal God or savior to salvation and divine knowledge. The cosmology of these writers was one of astrology.

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The magic of the Hermetica: This contained treatises on alchemy, astrology, and the occult powers of plants, animals, and stones. Particular emphasis is placed on talismans. These are cookbooks for the magician allowing him to cure disease, live a long life, defeat an enemy, or make someone love you. Pico Della Mirandola and Cabalist Magic: He is important to Renaissance magic because he added to this natural magic a Cabalist magic.

This was a spiritual magic attempting to contact higher spiritual powers than the natural powers of the cosmos. This attempts to invoke angles and God himself. The belief was that Cabalistic teachings was a secret doctrine that Moses imparted to some of his disciples. Man could control his destiny by using Cabala to act upon the world. This was a popular book on occult philosophy which was important to Bruno. No harsh schools, no tests except those testing yourself against your own high expectations --just reading and more reading broken up by stimulating conversations with other scholars.

Certainly no undergraduate teaching, committee meetings or tenure reviews. Then, you write about what most compels you, at your own pace. Independent wealth is While I know of her struggles and unhappiness-es through Jones' narration, her scholarly life still recalls the fantasy of scholarly life I had when young. Independent wealth is the only to achieve that now. An admirable woman driven by a love of knowledge and an intense curiosity. Oh that there would be more like her.

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Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition

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Frances Yates and the Hermetic Tradition

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