Astrology, Kabbalah and Magic in Alfonso de la Torre 's "Visión Deleytable": Hispano-Jewish Contexts

ASTROLOGY, KABBALAH ANrfMAGIC IN ALFONSO DE LA TORRE' S VISIÓN DELEYTABL!l: HISPANO-JEWISH CONTEXTS* Astrología, Cábala y Magia en la Visión Deleytable de Alfonso de la Torre: Trasfondo hispano-judío. LUIS MANuEL GIRÓN NEGRÓN Harvard University BIBLID [0544-408X. (1999)48; pp. 133-162] Resumen: Visión Deleytable, un tratado de filosofía escrito por el bachiller Alfonso de la Torre, constituye el testimonio más importante de la influencia del racionalismo maimonidiano en la España del siglo XV. Este artículo analiza el trasfondo hispano-judío en el intento de De la Torre por conciliar astrología, magia y Cábala con la filosofía religiosa de Maimónides. Abstract: Visión Deleytable, a treatise on philosophy written by Alfonso de la Torre, offers the most important witness to the fate ofMaimonidean rationalism in 15th century Christian Spain. This paper analizes the Hispano-Jewish contexts for a revealing aspect of Visión Deleytable's insertion in the medieval Aristotelian tradition: De la Torre's efforts to reconcile astrology, magic and Kabbalah with the Maimonidean frame of his religious philosophy. Palabras clave: Alfonso de la Torre. Astrología. Magia. Cábala. España. Siglo XV. Key Words: Alfonso de la Torre. Astrology. Magic. Kabbalah. Spain. 15th century. Between 143 O and 1461, an obscure figure el ose to the court of J ohn II of Aragon penned an introductory philosophy textbook in Spanish entitled Visión Deleytable de la Filosojia y las Artes Liberales, Metajisica y Filosojia *. This essay represents a revised version of a lecture delivered at the frrst session of the Howard Gilman Intemational Colloquium "The Spanish-Jewish Cultural Interaction" at Harvard University (December 3rd, 1995). That lecture fused, in tum, two smaller subsections of our doctoral dissertation (Girón Negrón 1 997) . MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 134 LlJ1S M. GIRÓ N NEGRÓN Moral. The author, Alfonso de la Torre, had been requested to write this treatise by the prior of Navarra Juan de Beamonte, who served the Navarran crown prince don Carlos de Viana. The curricular scope of Alfonso de la Torre's primer, in the encyclopedic tradition of the Isidorian recopilatio, is quite ambitious. With superb pedagogical skill and literary finesse, De la Torre weaves an elaborate allegorical tale about the Intellect's joumey up the mountain of philosophical knowledge. This fictional scheme acts as a foil for lucid and lively disquisitions on a wide range of staple philosophical problems from the Medieval repertoire: the existence of God and the di vine attributes, etemity of the world vs creation ex-nihilo, Providence, miracles and the theodicy, the immortality of the soul, the nature of prophecy, the possibility ofmetaphysical knowledge, ethics, humandestiny, the scope ofreason and the contemplative ideal. Disparate sources from the Greek, Islamic, Jewish, and Christian philosophical traditions are unevenly interwoven in De la Torre' s eclectic exposition of his religious Weltanschauung. He leams logic from al Ghazali. His liberal arts currículum is mostly drawn from St. Isidore. His philosophical ethics are from Aristotle, with a smattering of Aquinas and pseudo-Senecan materials. To prove the soul's immortality he resorts to Albert Magnus. His philosophical theology follows Maimonides' Guide and references to Kabbalah are discernible throughout1. As he explains it: " ... non me moverá más la verdad dicha por boca de cristiano, que de judío o moro o gentil, sy verdades sean todas, nin negaré menos la falsya dicha por boca de uno que por boca de otro" ("the truth coming out from the mouth of a Christian will persuade me no more than that of a Jew or a Moor or a Gentile, if they all be truths, nor will I negate the falsehood of one more than the other" [VD p. 146]?, The author of Visión, according to the proem, had set out to l. The pioneering studies on Visión Deleytable's sources are two essays by J. P. Wickersham Crawford (1913a, 1913b). For a fuller treatment of Visión's sources, see Luis M Girón Negrón ( 1997). 2. All citations of Visión Deleytable (from now onwards VD) will be from García López's edition (1991 ). Direct quotations from vb will be identified by page number. Specific sections will be identified by reference to the book and chapter numbers ( e.g. VD ME'AH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 ASTROLOGY, KABBALAH AND MAGIC IN A. DE LA TORRE 135 dispel conventional errors, disclose universal truths and elucidate by demonstrative means the philosophical perplexities ofhis Navarran addressee. He offered at the same time a mystico-intellectualist theory of human perfectibility ancho red in Maimonides' prophetology and his philosophical conception ofimitatio Dei. De la Torre's pedagogical efforts, albeit synoptic and encyclopedic, are met with unexpected but enormous popular success. Notwithstanding the aura of clandestinity with which the author envelops this work, a textbook presumably commissioned for the private instruction of a Christian aristocrat, Visión Deleytable becomes a Spanish "best-seller" within a couple of decades. Its extant manuscripts, numerous reprintings and early translations find an avid readership in Hispano-Christian (and even sorne Jewish) circles and particularly among the conversos, circulating widely in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands throughout the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries3. Alfonso de la Torre's Visión Deleytable offers the most importantwitness to the Hispano-Christian fate ofMaimonidean rationalism in the 15th century. A literary gem in its own right, it was also -until recentlya neglected so urce in the scholarly literature whose study could fill important lacunae in our knowledge of Alfonso de la Torre's Spain and the variety of Hispano Christian and Hispano-Jewish responses to the philosophical tradition. In this paper, I will examine the Hispano-Jewish contexts for a revealing aspect of Visión Deleytable 's insertion in the medieval Aristotelian tradition: 1,20 refers to chapter 20, book 1). All translations are mine. 3. There are fifteen manuscripts and four printed editions of the Visión dating from the 15th century: the latter include incunabula from Burgos (1485), Tolosa (1489, 1494), and a Catalonian translation from Barcelona (1484). De la Torre's Visión gained even greater circulation during the 16th and 17th centuries -Sevilla (1526, 1528, 1538), Ferrara (1554), Venice ( 15 56), Frankfurt ( 1626 ), Amsterdam ( 1663 )-especially among J ewish and converso circles in Italy and the Netherlands. For a detailed description of the extant manuscripts and printed editions, see García López's introduction to his critica! edition. For supplementary materials on Visión' s circulation and editorial fate, see Concepción Salinas Espinosa ( 1997: 176-183), and Girón Negrón (1997: 212-218). MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 136 LUIS M. GIRÓN NEGRÓN De la Torre' s idiosyncratic efforts to reconcile astrology, magic and Kabbalah with the Maimonidean frame of his religious philosophy. I Maimonides stands out among medieval Jewish philosophers in his unequivocal rejection of astrology and magic (Lerner 1968; Langermann 1991). In his celebrated epistles to the J ewish communities ofY emen (Halkin 1952) and.Montpellier (Marx 1926), he adduces Scriptural prooftexts and philosophical arguments to condemn all theories on the astral predetermination and predictability of human events as idolatrous and non-scientific. In MN (Moreh Nebukhim) 2,24, he even aligns himself with Averroes and al-Bitruji and their exceptional repudiation of Ptolemaic astronomy as a true representation ofthe arrangement and motions ofthe heavenly spheres (S<�:bra 1984; Gruenwald 1991 ). Though acknowledging the physical influence ofthe spheres on the sublunar world, he categorically rejects the astrologers' claims as illegitimate. Sympathetic magic, such as talismanic medicine and the quasi magical use of religious objects, does not fare any better in Rambam's eyes. The discussion on Sabean beliefs in MN 3,29 -part of a broader argument against idolatry and his preface to the Guide's excursus on the ta 'ame ham mitzvot-likewise singles out for explicit condemnation the fu'n gamut of astro magical practices documented in his Nabatean source (Twersky 1980: 479484). Alfonso de la Torre's otherwise faithful exposition of Moreh Nebukhim placidly ignores, on the other hand, Rambam's emphatic repudiation of astrological and magical beliefs. On the contrary, De la Torre seems quite eager to suggest obliquely that astrology (and even sorne Kabbalistic magic) is a demonstrative science fully compatible with his philosophical theology4. Let us consider the following examples from different sections of Visión. 4. In her recent book, Salinas Espinosa duly notes De la Torre's departure from Maimonides on this revealing point (1997: 58-9). However, she ignores the late medieval Hispano-Jewish context for this discrepancy and the role that De la Torre ascribes to astrological beliefs to be examined below. MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 AS1ROLOGY, KABBALAH AND MAGIC IN A DE LA TORRE 137 In his initial exposition of the liberal arts, a section otherwise indebted to Isidore's Etymologies, Alfonso de la Torre disregards both the Isidorian distinction between astronomy and Gudiciary) astrology and the latter's concomitant rejection5. Instead, he insinuates in the title of this section that astrology, the allegorical maiden of the 7th mansion guarding the liminal threshold to the castle of Truth, is a full branch of natural philosophy whose secrets can be disclosed through demonstrative reasoning. Visión' s chapter on logic also adduces "astrología por la mayor parte," along with metaphysics and natural philosophy, to exemplify a field of knowledge based on propositions that are necessarily trué. De la Torre further seems to respond to A vicenna' s position on the imperfection of astrological knowledge from the 10th book of al-Shifa ': al-'Ilahiyyat as summarized by al-Ghazzali in the Maqasid', obliquely supporting A vicenna' s astral reinterpretation of lslamic predestinarism, while decrying the A vicennian critique of astrological knowledge as non-demonstrative speculation. 5. Etym 3,27 (De differentia Astronomiae et Astrologiae). The astronomy/astrology divide, mostly disregarded in medieval Spanish science from Alfonso X' s time onwards, m ay have found its earliest formulation in Isidore (Pines 1914: 343-9). · 6. "Estas propusyr;iones ya dichas, er;eptas las famosas, que consisten en la opinión syn prueva, todas cabsan conclusyón verdadera de ner;cesydad, e lo contrario sería mentiroso e ynposible. E déstas usan la geumétrica, arismétyca, e la músyca e la astrología por la mayor parte, e la filosofía natural e la metafisyca" (VD p. 120). 7. Cf. Avicenna's classical (and influential) formulation of his apología pro astrología ( al-Shifa ': al-Ilahiyyat, eds. Mohammad Youssef Moussa, Suleiman Dunya and Sa'id Zayed, 2 vols. [Cairo, 1960] 2: 439-440). Al-Ghazzali's summary of Avicenna's position in the Latin translation -part of a broader discussion on the knowledge of particularsruns as follows: Sententia quinta est quod deus altissimus si cut scit genera et species, similiter scit possibilia qua contingunt, quamvis nos nesciamus illa, sicut possibile ínterím dum scitur es se possibile, non potest sciri an contingat, ve! non contingat .... Quoníam igitur est ipse sciens ordinaciones causarum, et occasionum, profecto est eciam sciens ípsa causata unde astrologus qui comprehendit aliquas causarum essendi aliquid, et non omnes, non mirum si iudicet esse aliquid oppinando; possibile est enim ut id quod scit, contíngat ínpedíri ne fiat, quía in eo quod dixit non comprehendet omnes causas; hoc autem non potest esse, nisi propter remocionem eorum que accidunt" (Muckle 1933:70). MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 138 LUIS M. GIRÓ N NEGRÓN Like Abraham bar Hiyya in his Epistle on Astrology, Alfonso de la Torre also adduces the astrological expertise of Abraham, a well known Rabbinic tradition (Tosef., Kiddushin 5,17) that Isidore himself quotes from Flavius Josephus (Etym 3,25), to distinguish between judiciary astrology as a valid science practiced by the Patriarch and the illicit astrology of the Chaldeans forbidden by the Law8. This argument, echoed in the Libro de astrología ascribed to Enrique de Villena (Cátedra 1983: 120), enables him to counter the Isidorian and A vicennian invectives against astrological speculation. Abraham's astrological knowledge also provides another un-Maimonidean prooftext for a quintessentially Maimonidean teaching. De la Torre mentions it for the first time to illustrate the necessity of intellectual perfection in the attainment of prophecy. Subsequently, he even upholds astrological divination as a licit form of magical activity ("E el devinar en las estrellas lí9ito es, si es a buen fyn ... "-VD p. 206). Su eh a vindication of astrological practice, with the authoritative support of Abraham's example, thus becomes implicitly linked both to Maimonides' explanation of the prophetic ability to foresee the future as an intellectual strengthening of a natural faculty of divination (MN 2,38) and to Kabbalistic magic (see below). De la Torre' s defense of astrology as a demonstrative science buttresses the moderate conception of astral determinism insinuated in his elaborate review of Maimonides' discussion on Providence from MN 3, 17-18. This illuminating section (VD 1,24-25) deserves a closer look. Maimonides prefaces his philosophical analysis of divine Providence as "consequent upon the intellect" ('J.:J'Dil 1nN. n.:J'DD)) with a synoptic review of four erroneous opinions: the Epicurean (that all events are contingent), the Alexandrian-Aristotelian (that Providence only extends to the 8. VD 1,28 (p. 203-204) & 2,22 (p. 338). The story of Abraham as an astronomer and a natural philosopher was also known in Medieval Spain through Alfonso X's General Estoria, whose editors followed the Latin version of Josephus' Antiquities (Fraker 1996). See al so Julio Samsó' s introduction to Cátedra' s edition of Tratado de Astrología atribuido a Enrique de Villena (1983: 42-43). MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 ( 1999) 133-162 ASTROLOGY, KABBALAH AND MAGIC IN A DE LA TORRE 139 sphere of the moon), the Asharite (absolute determinism) and the Mutazilite (that divine justice extends to all creatures, human or not)9. De la Torre also begins his discussion on Providence with a critical evaluation of four erroneous conceptions, three of which are from Maimonides' list: the Epicurean, the Asharite and the Aristotelian. The Mutazilite excursus, though, is omitted and instead, De la Torre indulges in an extensive discussion of astrological determinism ( the position of those who "niegan la Providencia de Dios encomendando todas las cosas a los fados"-VD pp. 177-179). His exhaustive andcolorful analysis ofthis position, a veritable catalogue of popular astrological beliefs, ends with a summary reiteration of Maimonides' argument against Asharite determinism: that their belief is untenable because it makes all things necessary and denies free will, negating the Biblical and rational foundations for moral action10• De la Torre does make an important concession to the will's power to overcome the fados, especially in the second part of Visión 11. Astral influences 9. For a nuanced analysis of Maimonides' multifaceted discussion on Providence throughout the Guide (3,17-18; 3,22-23; and 3,51 ), see Raffel (1987: 25-71 ). 10. The account of astrology that prefaces De la Torre's repudiation of this opinion is particularly telling. His claim that astrology originates among the Chaldeans and the Egyptians, followed by the Romans, echoes Isidore's account of the history of astronomy (Etym 3,25). Yet, unlike Isidore, De la Torre also proves to be better acquainted with the basic premises of judiciary astrology: "E esta gente ha fecho libros en que toman los nast;:imientos de los reynos o de las setas o credulidades e dizen quánto ha de durar; e tanbién fizieron libros donde consyderan las natividades de los omnes e dizen, segunt su opinión, que éste nast;:ió en tal planeta, e en tal sygno, e en tal conjunt;:ión, en tal opusyt;:ión, en tal ast;:endente, e en tal declinat;:ión, e bevirá tanto, e será tal cosa o tal, avrá tal arte o tal ofit;:io o tal ventura, e aquéstos son llamados generáticos. E ay, entre los sobredichos matemáticos, otros libros de las elect;:iones de los actos voluntarios por do so rigen" (VD p. 178). 11. "E t;:ierto es que los sygnos e costelat;:iones e planetas han poderío, como tú dizes, para disponer la materia .... Enpero aquestas pasyones non pueden costreñir nin fort;:ar el ánima del omne, ca la virtud corporal no puede syno sobre otro cuerpo, e al omne finca libertad de fazer lo que quiere" (VD p. 292). Cf. ST p.l, q.l l5, a.4 for the Thomistic formulation of this idea(" .. .piures hominum sequuntur passiones, quae sunt motus sensitivi appetitus, ad quas cooperari possunt corpora caelestia: pauci autem sunt sapientes, qui MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 140 LUIS M. GIRÓN NEGRÓN do not fully determine human action. Y et his explicit repudiation of astrological determinism is partially compromised by the ensuing exposition of his own views on divine Providence. Leaving Maimonides' intellectualist conception of individual Providence in MN 3,18 aside for the moment, Alfonso de la Torre proceeds with an eclectic explication of natural Providence and the remate coefficiency of di vine will in world events, partly based on Rambam' s analysis of di vine causality in MN 2, 48 and leading to a moderate vindication ofthe astrologicalfados12. His position: that Providential care over the totality of events in the sublunar world as decreed by God in the Eliadean illo tempore is effected gros so modo through the joint mediation of chance, human will and -De la Torre's variant on Rambam's list of causes the stars ("la virtud de las estrellas"). The totality of events in the sublunar world can not be strictly reduced either to di vine predestination, blind fortune, astral influence or voluntary actions, but rather to a combination of different causes all of which can be retraced back, however mediated, to the di vine will (VD pp. 180-188). Natura in particular-thefados which are the "ligamiento de cabsas" also effected by the circular motion of the heavenly spheres stands as the sole Providential mediator between the divine Creator and the huiusmodi passionibus resistan t. Et ideo as!rologi ut in pluribus vera possunt praedicere, et maxime in communi. Non autem in speciali: quia nihil prohibet aliquem homínem per liberum arbitríum passionibus resistere"). 12. Of course, Alfonso de la Torre is not rejecting here the Maimonidean ideal of human perfection through knowledge that undergirds the intellectualist conception of individual Providence inMN3,18. On the contrary, intellectual perfectionism lies at the core of Visión Deleytable's allegorized ruminations. E ven De la Torre's story of the leper who is moved to conceive a deforrned child by an astral power in the same chapter (pp. 186-187) can be construed as a parable on our intellectual failure to resist the strong, but non-coercitive influence of the stars and planets. His pivota! accounts of the soul's immortality, Maimonidean propheto!ogy and the human perfections will anchor him with equal gravity in Rambam's intellectualist theory of individual Providence. But still, De la Torre's consistence with Maimonidean intellectualism does not answer our present question. His delibera te omission ofRambam' s thesis in MN 3,18 in a chapter on Providence prefaced by the Guide's excursus in 3,17 requires e!ucidation. MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 { 1999) 133-162 ASTROLOGY, KABBALAH AND MAGIC IN A DE LA TORRE 141 sublunar order13. The "fados" are the stewards of Creation ("mayordomos de la Creación" to use a Cervantine epithet for "nature" that Bataillon d�ems traceable to De la Torre [1950]). They are like faithful bailiffs paying �ther workers to execute royal orders and take care of the king's affairs in the · latter's absence (a cosmological sirnile deeply rerniniscent of Shem Tov ben Joseph ben Shem Tov's analogy for the mediation of divine causality in his commentary toMN2,48). This naturalist conception ofProvidence is further developed in VD 1,30; 1,34 and 2,1214, where the causal concatenation of astro-heavenly influxes is fully identified with the order ofnature, subsuming key areas of human behaviour under the Providential paJe of a moderate temperamental determinism which is astrally-based. Despite Maimonides' trenchant opposition, De la Torre's attempt to reconcile the former' s natural philosophy with his astrological notions is not without important precedents in the Jewish philosophical tradition (Barkai 1987). The general belief in the influence of stars on human actions in the sublunar world had already been espoused with varying degrees of reservation by sorne ofthe leading preMaimonidean figures in medieval Jewish thought: nót only Abraham ibn Ezra and Abraham bar Hiyya, whose theories and practice of astrology are well known and influential15, but al so the likes of 13. Green has suggesti vely noted the scholastic roots ofN ature as mediator between God and Creation ciphered by the idea of natura naturans (1964: 2/76-92). He mentions De la Torre in this context (1964: 2/81-2) and also documents an interesting precedent in De Lille's Anticlaudianus (1964: 2/78). It is important, though, to note two things: l. The inadmissibility of miracles in De la Torre's naturalism sets him at a distance from this scho1astic tradition; 2. The actual terms natura naturanslnatura naturata do not appear in Visión, which probably was a deliberate omission. , 14. VD 1,34 is also Visión's source for Solomon ibn Verga's important citation of De la Torre on Providence (1947: 160). Ibn Verga's citation from Alfonso de la Torre appears in VD p. 242. 15. For a general overview of Jewish astrology and astronomy, see Barkai (1987) and Alexander Altmann's and Arthur Been's respective articles on astrology and astronomy for the Encyclopedia Judaica. Bar Hiyya, one of the first to expound Ptolemaic astronomy in Hebrew, adduces Talmudic prooftexts to defend astrology as a predíctive science -the highest achievement to which astronomy can aspire. He only sets Israel apart from the MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 148 LUIS M. GIRÓ N NEGRÓN unexplained)28• Invoking a story that may be traced to Pedro Comestor's Estorias scholasticas, even Moses is described as an accomplished practitioner of talismanic magic, an anecdote that buttresses Maimonides' belief in intellectual perfection as a necessary requirement for a would-be prophee9. At one level, De la Torre's scanty allusions to gematria and Kabbalistic hermeneutics betrays the rudimentary nature ofhis acquaintance with classical Kabbalistic sources. Any 15th century Christian theologian could have gathered as much, for example, from the polemical writings of Hispano Christian and converso apologists: Pedro Alfonso, Ramon Martín, Abner de Burgos, Pablo de Santa María, Pedro de la Caballería and Jerónimo de Santa Fe (even though Visión has absolutely no traces of the polemical use ofJewish Kabbalah to vindicate Christian doctrine associated with these authors, not to mention the later Christian Kabbalah ofPico della Mirandola [Secret 1957; 1964: 8-23])30. The talismanic usage ofdivine names can even be traced to the Medieval sources of Hermetic magic in Muslim and Christian Spain. There are, for example, two notable allusions to Hermes Trismegistus in Visión, one 28. "E vida en otras piedras admirables virtudes que resc;ebían de los lugares e de las ynfluenc;ias de las estrellas, e maravilló se el Entendimiento quando vi do que las piedras que esta van mucho tiempo fuera de los lugares que fueron engendradas cómo perdían la virtud. E vida maravillosos secretos en el escultura de las piedras, e alabó a Dios que ge lo avía notificado" (VD p. 240). 29. "E piensan que Muysén era un ydiota e era el más sabio onme que avía en Egipto, tanto que sabía en la escultura de las ymágines más que onme del mundo a la sazón, ca él fizo dos anillos en el signo de géminis quando casó con la etiopesa, el uno de amor e el otro de olvidanc;a" (VD pp. 203-4 ). This story, which De la Torre will repeat in VD 2,22, is retold in fuller detail in Villena's Tratado de astrología, 121. 30. This is an important point that Salinas Espinosa fails to underscore in her attempt to connect De la Torre with the Christian Kabbalah of the Medieval Spanish and 16th century Italian schools (1997: 49-55): there is no Kabbalistic corroboration of Christian theological and creedal doctrines in Visión, the defining feature of Christian Kabbalah. De la Torre's positive appraisal of the "mecubalim" could also have made him, on the other hand, an easy target of criticism in Spanish anti-Jewish polemics -cf. Alonso de la Espina's rant against the Jewish "sect" of the "mecubalim" in his Fortalitiumjidei (ca. 1458). MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 ( 1999) 133-162 ASTROLOGY, KABBALAH AND MAGIC IN A DE LA TORRE 149 of which Salinas Espinosa suggestively connects to the LatinAsclepius31. The author of Picatrix himself ascribes such a view to Aristotle32, although De la Torre's imprecise allusion to a medico-talismanic prescription raises sorne questions about the full extent of his practica! knowledge of this magical tradition33. On the other hand, there are severa! magical treatises of enonnous diffusion in 15th century Spain (Clavicula Salomonis, Liber de Raziel), which also provide an immediate context for De la Torre's belief in the 31. In VD 1,6 (p. 130), "Trimigisto" is singled out as an ancient expert on the secret virtue of herbs ("Ca sy los omnes bastasen a perfecta mente me saber sabrían la virtud de todas las yervas del mundo, ca segúnt avernos fallado en los libros de los antiquísymos Acalo e <;e9ina, Trimigisto e Soroastes, las fojas de las yervas todas son letras yndicativas de la virtud de las rayzes de aquéllas"). Later, in VD 1,25 (p. 185), his palace metaphor on the workings ofProvidence, De la Torre notes how "e aquesto dixo Hem1es que era ymam1enes, e verdad dixo, que tanto quiere dezir como causas por las qua! es faze la providen9ia todo lo que se ha de fazer." On the Asclepius' parallel, see Salinas Espinosa ( 1997: 57). 32. Picatn·x, I-v-37: "Aristoteles dixit in suis libris ymaginum: melius et alcius quod habeat ymagines ex 7 planetis provenit, et durabilius est quando aspicitfortuna. Vult enim dicere protrahendo spiritus et virtutes celi in terra. Et iterum dixit quod sunt nomina spirituum que, quando quis ea invocat et ipsos trahere voluerit spiritus, quod descendat ... " (Pingree 1986: 23). In the Hebrew translation, "nomina spirituum" is translated as "divine names" (Idel l995: 74). 33. In the quotation above, De la Torre advocates the sympathetic manipulation of an unidentified image sculpted under the sign of Scorpio to heal snak:e bites. Picatrix only has one talismanic recipe involving Scorpio to heal the sting of a scorpion (not a snake bite): see I-v-25. The elaborate recipe offers precise instructions on the materials ("lapide de bezahar," "annulo aureo"), proper time ("in hora Lune, ipsa existente in 2 facie Scorpionis, ascendente Leone, Tauro vel Aquario") and required steps ( e.g. the consumption of incense) for the concoction of this healing amulet. The Libro de las formas & ymagenes ( one of Alfonso X' s Iapidarian treatises), on the other hand, identify Aries and Sagitarius as the only two constellations that have the virtue to heal, respectively, the "ferida de serpient o de qua! quier animal ueninoso" (Aries) and the "ferida de animal toxicoso" (Sagitarius). The Iapidarian prescriptions in this Iiterature for the healing of snak:e bites do not match Alfonso's talismanic example either. Equally absent, finally, is another aspect of Scorpio's characterization in the Arabic, Hebrew and Latin astromagical treatises: its association with genital medicine (see Aurigemma [1957]). MEAR, sección Hebreo 48 ( 1999) 133-162 150 LUIS M. GIRÓN NEGRÓN talismanic coercibility of spiritual beings34. It may also be noted that the Arabic tradition of talismanic magic mediated to Christian Spain by the cultural efforts of Alfonso X is still alive among Spanish Muslims and moriscos until the 16th century as evidenced in aljamiado literature (Labarta 1981, 1993). Finally, there is an important Hispano-Christian witness in De la Torre's time to the association of Kabbalah with talismanic magic in Crescas' circle: the semi-scientific treatises of Enrique de Villena. In his Tratado de aojamiento, Villena discussed the medicinal usage of Kabbalistic amulets which he had heard attributed to Nahmanides, R. Asher of Toledo, R. Yitzhaq Israelí and even from the lips of"maestro Azday Crescas, que fue en este tienpo nuestro" and "rabi Zaraya [Zerahya Halevi], a que dezían En Ferrer, que fue en este tienpo" (Villena 1917: 191, 193: cf. al so Baer 1981: 2/753, n. 50). Villena's amateurish interests in Kabbalistic magic were superficial and his knowledge of it, second-hand. They nevertheless contributed to his exaggerated reputation in Hispano-Christian circles as an expert in science and magic (even Kabbalah), a reputation that made him a target of ecclesiastical censorship, culminating, albeit post-mortem, with the 34. The Liber de Raziel, for example, a col!ection of magical traditions purportedly taught to Adam's son by the angel Raziel, was, according to fray Lope de Barrientos, "más multiplicado en España que en las otras partes del mundo" (Barrientos !927: !2 1 ). Barrientos, who burned Enrique de Vil!ena's copy along with the other censored volumes confiscated from his library, noted how it abounded with magical incantations to coerce "los buenos ángeles para bien facer y a los malos para mal obrar" through know!edge of their names (!927: !!6-!22). Sorne Hispanists have wrongly ascribed this magical work to the !3th century Saragossan Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia (Russell !978: 250). Although Abulafia -who used Raziel, his isopsephic name, to signify his attainment of prophecya! so wrote a treatise entitled Sefer Raziel, our magical work -M. Idel has notedhas "nothing to do with ecstatic Kabbalah" (Hasidism 38 !, n. 55). Still, our Liber deRaziel was the object ofseveral translations (Latin, Hebrew, English, French) that circulated widely among Jewish and Christian intel!ectuals in the Renaissance -cf. Secret ( !969) and Idel ( !983b: !93-4 ). Clavicula Salomonis, another famous book on magic from Christian sources from the Middle Ages, a!so circu!ated widely in !5th century Spain ( cf. Barrientos [ !927: !22] and Thorndike [ !958: 2: 280]-see also Idel [ !983b: !94] on the Jewish reception of its Hebrew translation in the 16th century). MEAR, sección Hebreo 48 (!999) !33-!62 ASTROLOGY, KABBALAH AND MAGIC IN A. DE LA TORRE 151 tragic burning of his magnificent library (Gascón Vera 1979; Torres Alcalá 1983). From this angle, he also offers a contemporary Hispano-Christian precedent for De la Torre' s vindication of Kabbalistic magic. All the preceding examples illustrate popular notions of magic and Kabbalah, and their relationship, in 15th century Christian Spain. Still, Alfonso de la Torre's specific allusions to Kabbalistic name magic and talismanica in the context of Maimonidean philosophy may have more immediate and significantHispano-Jewish resonances in this turbulent period. First, the identification of Maimonidean prophetology and the esoteric dimension ofthe Guide to the Kabbalistic secret ofthe di vine names goes back to Abraham Abulafia and the ecstatic tradition of intellectualist mysticism that he ushers (ldel 1988a, 1988c)35. Linking astral magic to the combination of Hebrew letters, and particularly to the conception of divine names as talismanic means to draw downward the spiritual influx of the astral bodies, also have important Medieval precedents among the Spanish Kabbalists influenced by Abulafia (ldel l995: 156-160)36. Likewise, there were important Kabbalists among the Jewish supporters of medico-astrological talismans in early 14th century Catalonia. This was the case with the preeminent successor of Nahmanides as leader of Catalonian Jewry, Saloman ibn Adret. Albeit a critic of Abulafian Kabbalah, Ibn Adret followed his teacher Nahmanides on this seo re, espousing talismanic magic for medica! purposes as an efficacious mean of astral manipulation (he had presumably allowed the preparation of a talisman of Leo to cure a kidney 35. Salinas Espinosa briefly notes the integration of Kabbalah and magic among Abulafia' s followers ( 1997: 55). However, she is unaware of Abulafia's role as a Kabbalistic commentator of Maimonides' Guide, which is more relevant for the late Medieval attempts to reconcile magico-Kabbalistic ideas with Maimonidean philosophy. 36. This type of Kabba!istic magic is connected to an ancient Hellenistic notion of spiritual beings or forces -TIVEU¡..t.IX1:1X in Greek, n1))n1l in Hebrewfully developed in Arabic magical treatises that were independently influential on other Jewish thinkers ( e.g. Shem Tov ben Shem Tov's Sefer ha-Emunot). On the history of this magical notion, see Shlomo Pirres ( 1988). For another early Jewish precedent for this linking of astro-magic and letter-combination techniques, see Georges Vajda (1956). MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 152 LUIS M. GIRÓN NEGRÓN disease). His defense of talismanic medicine figured prominently in a second dispute over Maimonidean rationalism involving the Jewries of Catalonia and Provence, as lucidly explained by Gregg Stern (1995) in his dissertation on Meiri. Thirdly, as mentioned before, there is an important circle of Jewish Neoplatonists in the second half of 14th century Castille -the Spanish leaders of the "Ibn Ezra Renaissance"- that defended sympathetic magic and astrology, drawing connections to philosophy, and in sorne cases even to Kabbalah (Schwartz 1990/91). Ibn Ezra himself had already interpreted a number of passages from the Torah as subtle references to talismanica (e.g. his commentary on Gen 31:19 on the talismanic nature of the terafim that Rachel steals from her father). Influenced by Joseph ibn Wakkar, these Jewish thinkers (Samuel ibn Zarza, Samuel Franco, Samuel ibn Motot, Ezra Gatigno, Shem Tov ibn Major) wrote major supercommentaries on lbn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch that also contained important discussions on talismanic magic and astrology. Setting up the exegete on a par with Maimonides, they shared Ibn Wakkar's belief in the compatibility of Maimonidean philosophy with lbn Ezra' s interpretation of Scripture37. More importantly, there were sorne 15th century defenders of Maimonidean thought that explicitly adduced Ibn Wakkar's authority in this philosophical context. This is the case with Abraham Shalom who quotes both Wakkar and Abulafia in an enthusiastic defense of practical Kabbalah, crediting, as does De la Torre, the joint efficacy of talismanic magic and the recitation of divine names to wield spiritual powers38. Indeed, most 15th 37. lbn Wakkar acknow1edges lbn Ezra's "greater inclination" to astro1ogy as the on1y thing that separates the exegete from Maimonides. Cf. the passage from the introduction to Ibn Wakkar's main work quoted by Scho1em from a partia1 Hebrew trans1ation (1943/4: 155). However, g1ossing over Maimonides' repudiation of astrology, he proceeds to argue for the latter's agreement with phi1osophy and Kabba1ah -cf. G. Vajda (1962: 115-297). On Ibn Wakkar and the circle of supercommentators that followed him, see Urie1 Simon ( 1993). On the influence of these v.ritings in Italian Kabba1istic magic, see Ide1 (1983b ). 38. Neveh Shalom 5,4,64b-5. Sha1om a1so adduces the sympathetic properties (TII'J;)tJ) of certain stones and p1ants (O)nD::ml O)J.�nDJ.) -the scientific basis for the e1aborate MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 ASTROLOGY, KABBALAH AND MAGIC IN A. DE LA TORRE 153 century Hispano-Jewish philosophers affirmed the magical efficiency of the divine names as a type of miracle -Efodi,Ma 'aseh Efo d (p. 9); Albo, SJ 1,18; Crescas, OH 4,10 (cf. also VD p. 340 on the notion of prophets as mi;acle workers). Fourthly, there may have also been a textual basis in the Spanish translation of the Guide for De la Torre's misguided perception of the "fundamental consistency between Maimonidean thought and what he knew as cabala'm. In the Spanish translation ofMN3,51, Maimonides' exegesis of his palace metaphor, Toledo writes: "Sabe quelos varones que son fuera dela r;;ibdat, es todo aquel que non tien creenr;;ia de ley, njn tiene estudio njn cosa por vía de cabala" (Mostrador 357). Another passage right below also reads: "E los que llegan ala casa e andan enderredor, stos son los talmuditas que tienen entendimientos verdaderos de partes de cabala" (M ostrador 357-8). "Kabbalah" in the Hebrew versions of these passages should be translated as "tradition." However, a Spanish gloss on the first passage notes how "cabala, es cosa rresr;;ebida fijo de padre, e padre de abuelo, fasta Moysén." This gloss on the Spanish hebraism dovetails an important Kabbalistic idea: the oral transmission of the mystical secrets of the Torah in an unbroken chain from teacher to teacher that harkens back to M oses and the Sinaitic revelation40. A reader of this text and its gloss who knew little or no Hebrew, such as De la Torre, could thus have found "evidence" in the Spanish Mostrador to conclude that Maimonides accepted the veracity of the (mystical) Kabbalah! The thaumaturgical reference to the Kabbalistic coercion of spirits enjoys likewise sorne significant precedents. In De la Torre's angelological excursus lapidarían theories that we find in Alfonso X' s astromagical !iteratureto justify the magical efficiency of these Kabbalistic talismans -cf. Davidson (1964: 11-13). On talismanic magic in other 15th century Hispano-Jewish sources, see also Eliezer Gutwirth ( 1989). 39. This shrewd observation, and the accompanying evidence from the Spanish Mostrador, originate in one of Prof. Bemard Septimus' extensive comments on an ear!ier draft of our thesis. 40. Cf. Nahmanides' Sermon on Ecclesiastes (1964: l: 190). On this Kabbalistic motif, see also Moshe Idel (l983c). MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 154 LUIS M. Gffi.ÓN NEGRÓN (VD 1,28), there is, for example, an intriguing passage on the nature of evil spirits which reads as follows: "E cómo algunos dixeron que eran engendrables e corruptibles, e que nas�ían e que morían, mas pusyeron la dura�ión de su vida ser muy luenga porque eran muy conjuntos a la synpli�idad, ca dixeron que era de la materia del ayre e del fuego. E pusyeron que avían grant conos�imiento de las cosas naturales por la delgadeza de su espíritu e por la ligereza de la materia. E fizolos venir en aquesta opinión que veyan por espirien�ia mágica qu'el fumo de una yerva les plazía, e ésta en�endida luego venían ... E de la otra parte veyan que eran ynvisibles ... e para esto ovo en el mundo secretos los qua! es no es lí�ito el fablar dellos" (VD 200). This conception of evil spirits as living admixtures of air and fire, invisible demons with subtle bodies susceptible to decay and attracted to aromatic substances is ultimately traceable to the commentary on Lev 17:7 by another major Kabbalist: the Geronese polymath M oses ibn Nahman41. Of course, this Nahmanidean borrowing is inconsistent with Maimonides' demonology, especially the Guide' s conception of S atan as the evil inclination (MN 3 ,22) also quoted by De la Torre in the very same chapter! But De la Torre's departure from his Maimonidean source could be pointing, yet again, to the plausible mediation of a contemporary Jewish scholar. After all, Nahmanides' demonology proved influential among Hispano-Jewish philosophers in the 15th century, including the aforementioned Joseph Albo (Sefer ha-'Jqqarim 3,8) and the Abraham Shalom (Neveh Sh alom 2, 1,29a)42. 41. Cf. Nahmanides' commentary on Lev 17:7. The theory of demons sketched in Visión rehashes the main elements in Nahmanides' conception of the Rabbinic 0)1'\D (their composition from air and fire, their invisibility, their subtleness, their perishability, even the necromantic reference ). Salinas Espinosa recently suggested that this passage be connected to the author's magical views on the Kabbalistic manipulation of Hebrew expounded elsewhere in Visión (1997: 51). However, she was unaware of its Hispano-Jewish origin in Nahmanides' comment. 42. Finally, it may be noted that I have not located as yet another Spanish source from the 15th century documenting Nahmanides' demonology ( e.g. Moshe Arragel' s gloss on Lev 17:7 in the so-called Biblia de Alba -his explication on the Q)l)Y'lJ, which he renders as "diablos," does not contain any references to Ramban's account). MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 ( 1999) 133-162 ASTROLOGY, KABBALAH AND MAGIC lN A. DE LA TORRE 155 Finally, during the second half ofthe 15th century, an important school of Kabbalah ma 'asit flourished in Spain before the Expulsion. This magico Kabbalistic tradition also espouses the incantatory use of the Hebrew language and the di vine names, aided by talismans and other magical devices, to bring down astro-spiritual forces and manipulate them in accordance with the Kabbalist's intention. This tradition is connected to a contemporary resurgence of Messianic fervor and the main source for its study is Sefer ha Meshiv, a work of paramount significance for the history of Kabbalah as recently established by Moshe Idel in a series of essays (1981, 1983a, 1993). Its practitioners, following his description (1988b: 269), are particularly "interested in demonology and the use of coercive incantations to summon demons, angels, and even God" in order to hasten Messianic times. Albeit a later work, Sefor ha-Meshiv provides interesting parallels to sorne of the aforementioned Kabbalistic practices bolstered by De la Torre, for instance with its magical prescriptions for the correct recitation of the Great N ame of 42 Ietters, a Kabbalistic method to clip the wings of the guardian angels of Christianity and Islam and usher the age of Redemption43, resonating De la Torre's talismanic magic and the Kabbalistic usage of one same potent name in order to constrain presumably malignant spirits. Equally significant in Visión Deleytable ís the explicit connection it draws between prophetic revelation and onomastic Kabbalah. De la Torre's suggestion evokes the pneumatic function of the recitation of divines names as a source ofprophecy and revelation in Sefor ha-Meshiv. Of course, unlike De la Torre, the Kabbalistic circle of the Sefer ha Meshiv violently rejects Aristotelian physics and metaphysics as expounded 43. "By virtue of the pówer of the Great Name of Forty-Two Letters, I adjure you even against your will to have not the power to fly or do anything or to malee any further accusation against the Israelite nation than you ha ve done until now. I bind you and adjure you that you will have no more power to accuse Israel for all time. Rather, from this day forward, you will defend the Israe1ite nation ... so shall you and Rabbi Joseph do, both of you together ... and by this you will break the power of Samae1 and hasten the redemption in your time" (Ide1 1981: 86). MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 156 LUIS M. GIRÓN NEGRÓN by Maimonides (Idel l993). This inconsistency is also revealing. De la Torre's selective borrowings from disparate sources do not always agree with his philosophical theology. His profession ofNahmanides' demonology, as noted befare, is conspicuously un-Maimonidean. His Kabbalistic belief in the magical power of the Hebrew language is also incongruous with the Maimonidean views on its conventionality presented earlier on in the chapter on grammar44. As the author' s eclecticism demonstrates so clearly, unresolved contradictions almost inevitably ensue from inconsistent borrowings. Still, if the Kabbalistic-magical synthesis of Sefe r ha-Meshiv reflects earlier Kabbalistic trends in 15th century Spain, these could provide yet another Hispano-Jewish context for the theme under consideration: Alfonso de la Torre's vehement defense of Kabbalistic name magic and the concomitant suggestion that the latter is a key to the "secrets" of prophecy which he leamed from Maimonides. III A couple of brief remarks are finally in arder. First, since the 18th century, most of the Hispanicists that have paid scholarly attention to Visión Deleytable consistently identify its author with a native of the bishopric of Burgos who studied at the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé, deeming him an inevitable product of Salamancan scholasticism45. In light of our previous excursus and of other reasons we can not elaborate here, we are prone to accept, with sorne reservations, Marcel Bataillon's thoughtful suggestion: that, even as a student of San Bartolomé, Alfonso de la Torre's conception of philosophical leaming, his un-Maimonidean dabblings in astrology, magic, and Kabbalah, and his implicit insertion in the intra-Judaic debate on the esoteric meaning of Maimonides' Guide bring him 44. See VD 1,3, pp. 111-2. De la Torre's departure from his Isidorian source in dealing with Adam's tongue in the grammatical lesson reflects Maimonides' defense of the conventionality of all languages, and Hebrew in particular, in his exegesis of Gen 2:20 inMN 2,30 --cf. Bemard Septimus (1994). 45. On the present state of biographical knowledge about De la Torre, see Salinas Espinosa (1997: 13-27) and Girón-Negrón (1997: 15-25). MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162 ASTROLOGY, KABBALAH AND MAGIC IN A. DE LA TORRE 157 closer intellectually to the learned 15th century "aljamas" of Tudela and Zaragoza than to the scholastic circles of Salamanca's university46. Secondly, there is a more personal dimension to De la Torre's �stro magical beliefs that a historian of religions could as well note in here. Judiciary astrology, sympathetic magic and onomastic Kabbalah represented e:fficacious means to manipulate linguistically the arder of Creation and benefit from the natural influx of the heavenly fados. They offered ways to mitigate our sublunar vulnerability in a world susceptible to the catastrophic whims of nature and chance that De la Torre's cosmology so vividly described47. Such a defensive response to cosmological fears, which brings to mind the "terror of history" incisively evoked by Mircea Eliade (1954: 1467)48, could not have eluded the attention of his 15th century Spanish readers. It aligned them existentially. 46. See Girón Negrón (1997) and Bataillon (1950). Bataillon, of course, denied the identity of Alfonso de la Torre with the Salamancan bachelor on grounds that ha ve proven inconc!usive. We only claim that even ifDe la Torre went to San Bartolomé, which is the most likely but not an absolute certainty, his intellectual formation has deeper roots in 15th century Hispano-Jewish learning than ever acknowledged. 47. "Magic is the science of hope because it cultivates the human capacity to face the future -and all other forms of unknown, hidden reality. Magic a!lows hope to become a dominant, concrete force in structuring the world and restructuring time and space; through magic human hope allies itself with the forces that order the cosmos" (Lawrence Sullivan 1987: xi). For an anthropological appraisal of the whole issue of language and magic, see: Stanley Tambiah, (1985) and Kenneth Burke (1969). 48. Mircea Eliade makes a perceptive remark about the astrological dimensions of the Medieval cyc!ical theories as an atavistic expression of the myth of the eterna! retum that lends intelligibility to catastrophic events. His insight could also shed light on the Spanish receptivity to the allegories of Fortune as a cipher for chance and fados in 15th century literature. MEAH, sección Hebreo 48 (1999) 133-162