Investigating the impact of Arabic medieval astrological and magical theories on early modern occult philosophy, this book argues that they provided a naturalistic explanation of astral influences and magical efficacy based on Aristotelian notions of causality.

This collection of essays is based on a conference in honour of David Luscombe held at the University of Sheffield in September 2006 under the title "Knowledge, Discipline and Power in the Middle Ages." The 14 contributions to this Festschrift, by leading scholars in the field, show the strength and variety of recent work on the intellectual history of the middle ages. A group of papers deals with changes in the intellectual landscape during this period. Other papers focus particularly on the theme of jurisdiction, while a third groups deals with knowledge and its uses. The papers fittingly reflect the breadth and inventiveness of David Luscombe's scholarship, and in particular his work on Peter Abelard. Contributors are Christopher Brooke, Charles Burnett, Joseph Canning, Giles Constable, William J. Courtenay, Martin Kintzinger, Robert E. Lerner, Brian Patrick McGuire, John Marenbon, Gert Melville, Constant J. Mews, Jurgen Miethke, Amanda Power, Andreas Speer, and Martial Staub.

The first comprehensive study of the philosophical achievements of twelfth-century Western Europe.

For over four centuries the principal source of Christian European knowledge of Islam stemmed from a project sponsored by Peter the Venerable, ninth abbot of Cluny, in 1142. This consisted of Latin translations of five Arabic works, including the first translation of the Koran in a western language. Known as the Toledan Collection, it was eventually printed in 1543 with an introduction by Martin Luther. The abbot also completed a handbook of Islam beliefs and a major analytical and polemical work, Liber contra sectam Saracenorum; annotated editions of these texts are included in this book. Originally published in 1964. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The first volume of Viaggiatori “Curatele” series seeks to recreate some scientific dialogues, namely meetings, exchanges and acquisition of theoretical and practical scientific knowledge, thus linking the cultural, historical and geographical context of America, Asia, Europe and Mediterranean Sea between the 16th and the 20th century. More specifically, the main objective is to consider the role of travellers as passeurs, as “intermediaries” for building and allowing the circulation of knowhow and the practical and theoretical knowledge from one continent to another.

During the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries a group of monks with occult interests donated what became a remarkable collection of more than thirty magic texts to the library of the Benedictine abbey of St. Augustine's in Canterbury. The monks collected texts that provided positive justifications for the practice of magic and books in which works of magic were copied side by side with works of more licit genres. In Magic in the Cloister, Sophie Page uses this collection to explore the gradual shift toward more positive attitudes to magical texts and ideas in medieval Europe. She examines what attracted monks to magic texts, works, and how they combined magic with their intellectual interests and monastic life. By showing how it was possible for religious insiders to integrate magical studies with their orthodox worldview, Magic in the Cloister contributes to a broader understanding of the role of magical texts and ideas and their acceptance in the late Middle Ages.