Magical Investigations by Martin del Rio

I've introduced witchcraft into my campaign. This has caused the scholarly PCs to consult experts and to want to do some research of their own about witchcraft. One of the aspects of Call of Cthulhu that I like is the occult tomes. So I wanted to replicate a bit of that. I'm also aware that the period in which my campaign is set saw the publication of more than a few books about magic and witchcraft and I wanted to include some of the real books in response to these requests by the players. In a previous post I highlighted Discours des Sorceirs. In this post I highlight Magical Investigations.

Magical Investigations (Latin: Disquisitiones Magicae) by the Jesuit Martin del Rio, a six book work on magic, superstition, and witchcraft which first appeared in three volumes published in Leuven in 1599 and 1600 by Gerard Rivius. In 1624 version in six volumes was published under the name Disquisitionum Magicarum Libri Sex. The work contains many ideas of the Malleus Maleficarum ("Hammer of the Female Witches", 1486) as well as de Rio’s experience as a young magistrate and colleague of Nicolas Remy, the famous magistrate and hunter of witches. Delrio also drew on histories of other countries and continents, as well as Jesuit reports from the New World. Delrio also drew on histories of other countries and continents, as well as Jesuit reports from the New World. The work associates witchcraft with both heresy and the Devil. A French translation was published in 1611. Among other things the text explains that Witches can render themselves invisible with the help of the Devil. 

The French National Library hosts an online version of Disquisitiones Magicae.

Here are a couple of previous postings for books on witchcraft: Discours des Sorceirs and the Malleus Mallificarum. And for the book collectors, here's a posting on the cost of books in the period.

Codex Gigas

Codex Gigas

The codex is the largest known medieval manuscript. Bound in a wooden folder covered with leather and ornate metal it is 36 in tall, 20 inch wide, and 8.7 in thick (92 cm x 50 cm x 22 cm) and weighs as much as a full grown man, tipping the scales at a whopping 165 lb (74.8 kg). The codex is is composed of 310 leaves of vellum allegedly made from the skins of 160 donkeys or perhaps calfskin. It initially contained 320 sheets, though some of these were subsequently removed. It is unknown who removed the pages or for what purpose. 

The boring theory is that the missing pages contained the monastic rules of the Benedictines. For more interesting theories see Legend below.

History

The codex was created by just one scribe known as Herman the Recluse in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice near Chrudim in the Czech Republic. The monastery was destroyed during the 15th century during the Hussite Revolution. Records in the codex end in the year 1229. The codex was later pledged to the Cistercians Sedlec Monastery and then bought by the Benedictine monastery in Břevnov. From 1477 to 1593, it was kept in the library of a monastery in Broumov until it was taken to Prague in 1594 to form a part of the collections of the Emperor Rudolf II who was a devotee of occult arts - not surprisingly the codex contains contains magical formulae within its. Good old Rudolf's collections contain who rooms full of stuff perfect for kicking off all sorts of weird tales historical fiction.

At the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the entire collection was taken as war booty by the Swedish army. On Friday, 7 May 1697, a fierce fire broke out at the royal castle in Stockholm, and the Royal Library suffered very badly. The codex was rescued from the flames by being thrown out of a window. This damaged the binding and knocked loose some pages which are still missing today. Currently the codex is preserved in the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, on display for the general public.

The Monastery where the codex was written is destroyed in Hussite religious wars and a number of pages are removed. The Holy Roman Emperor obtains the book and puts it in his castle in Prague for safekeeping, but during the destruction and devastation of the Thirty Years War, the largest religious conflict in Europe, the Swedish capture the book and take it home. Soon after fire breaks out causing massive damage to the Swedish Royal Library where the codex was held and even more pages are lost. 

Are you sensing a theme here? 

Repeated religious conflict aimed at claiming or destroying this book or at destroying or hiding certain pages of the book. The question is, why?

Folio 290 recto, otherwise empty, includes this unique picture of the devil, about 50 cm tall. This illustration is one explanation for why the book is called the Devil's Codex.

Legend

According to one version of a legend that was already recorded in the Middle Ages, the scribe was a monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In order to avoid this harsh penalty he promised to create in one day a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight, he became sure that he could not complete this task alone so he made a special prayer, not addressed to God but to the fallen angel Lucifer, asking him to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude for his aid. In tests to recreate the work, it is estimated that reproducing only the calligraphy, without the illustrations or embellishments, would have taken five years of non-stop writing. Scholars estimate the entire work would take 20 years. Presumably this ncludes the illumination and illustrations).

In popular fiction, the 12 missing pages of the Codex Gigas are rumored to contain an apocalyptic text called "The Devil's Prayer".

Those of you who check out the references will notice that this is taken directly from the sources with a few minor additions and comments by me. The entire codex can be viewed.

Book: Discours des Sorceirs

Discoursdes Sorceirs (English: Hateful Speech from Wizards) was first published in Lyon in 1602 by the French Magistrate, Henry Boguet. Boguet, who died in 1619, was a well known jurist and judge in the County of Burgundy. His renown was to a large degree based on his fame as a demonologist and for his book, which had been reprinted twelve times in the years since it was first published. 

Discours des Sorceirs may be used as a reference book for Witchfinders and Demon Hunters. If the GM desires it may contain useful information for the PCs. In my campaign the Discours includes a lengthy chapter on werewolves and an unexplained illustration of an object that the author calls a “Piège à Loup” (English: Wolf Cage or Wolf Trap). The object appears to be a lantern of unusual and baroque design.

Wonder: Piège à Loup lantern

 

Wonders

Wonders is a catchall term I’m using for what are often called magic items in other systems and settings. Wonders artifacts, relics, and all the various objects described in part V: Mysteries, Horrors, and Wonders in the Honor+Intrigue rulebook such as the creations of Alchemists, Apothecaries, Magicians, the inventions and contraptions of genius Craftsmen and Scholars, the dark castings of Sorcerers, and any other special objects that inventive GMs may decide to create and include in their campaigns. In my campaign I include relics like the Sword of Solomon, the bones of Saints, and nails from the True Cross. Just like in the real Early Modern world there are also fakes, frauds, and hoaxes to fool the gullible. 

To inaugurate this category I've included a wonder that the PCs have encountered and used in my own campaign. 

Wonder: “Piège à Loup” lantern

Legend says that a werewolf can be trapped or held by means of the “Piège à Loup”. 

Illustration of a Piège à Loup being used to trap a werewolf hung from a gallows

A Piège à Loup (English: Wolf Cage or Wolf Trap) is a lantern of unusual baroque designed. If the lantern is lit with a blessed candle, then no lycanthrope within the illumination of the lamp will be able to exit the illumination of the lamp. They are trapped as if in a cage of light. 

Two lanterns are known to exist. One is in the collection of objects in the museum-like Wunderkammer room in Amsterdam, Holland. The other is in the vaults beneath the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

Game Mechanics: A lycanthrope in beast or semi-beast form must succeed in three Daring rolls (or Flair) to exit the circle of illumination: Daring, Daring-2, and Daring-4. Each success moves the creature closer to the edge. The GM may describe this with the light forming chains, bars, or bonds and the creature howling and fighting to get free. If in their normal human form, the creature need only succeed in an easy roll of Daring+1 to exit the area of illumination, but a keen observer may notice a hesitation even on the part of a human form lycanthrope who succeeds in their Daring Roll.

In my H+I campaign I added a reference to a Piège à Loup in the Discours des Sorceirs.