Ars Notoria: The Medieval Notory Art of Solomon Explained

The Ars Notoria, or Notory Art of Solomon, is a medieval Latin ritual text that promises rapid knowledge of the liberal arts, philosophy and theology, along with improved memory and eloquence, through a regimen of prayers, fasting and the contemplation of complex diagrams called notae. It emerged in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, was condemned by theologians including Thomas Aquinas, and survives in dozens of manuscripts; a version later became the fifth book of the Lesser Key of Solomon.

What Is the Ars Notoria?§

The word notoria comes from nota, a mark or figure, and refers to the notae, the elaborate diagrams that the practitioner contemplated while reciting prayers. The text claims that King Solomon received this art from an angel, who delivered it to him written on tablets of gold, as a means of obtaining in a short time the wisdom for which he was famous. The art was also associated with Apollonius of Tyana in some manuscripts, which present it as an Ars Notoria transmitted from Solomon through other sages.

The goal is learning. The notory art addresses each of the seven liberal arts, grammar, logic (dialectic), rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy, as well as philosophy and theology, and promises that a diligent practitioner will acquire mastery of them through divine infusion rather than years of study. It also offers prayers for memory, eloquence, understanding and perseverance. Its imagined user is a cleric or student in the new universities of the thirteenth century, under pressure to master a large curriculum.

In this respect the Ars Notoria differs sharply from the demon-centered works often grouped with it. Unlike the Ars Goetia, it does not summon spirits to visible appearance or command them to perform tasks. Its operator prays to God and the angels and expects illumination of the intellect. Historians therefore classify it as a form of theurgy or angelic magic, sometimes called "ritual magic for knowledge."

Origins and Dating§

Most scholars date the earliest form of the Ars Notoria to the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, probably in northern Italy or southern France. It is mentioned by name in the thirteenth century by several authors, including Michael Scot, the astrologer at the court of Frederick II, and the early manuscripts belong to the same period.

The text claims Hebrew and Greek origins through Solomon and Apollonius, but its theology, its Latin prayers and its liturgical style are thoroughly Western Christian. The prayers include long sequences of words presented as Hebrew, Greek or Chaldean, which the text says must not be translated because their power lies in their mysterious nature. Some of these strings contain recognizable Greek or Hebrew elements; many are unintelligible. This combination of Christian liturgy with ostensibly ancient names is characteristic of learned medieval ritual magic and connects the Ars Notoria to other texts attributed to Solomon, such as the Key of Solomon.

Prayers, Fasting and the Notae§

The notory art is built around a structured program of ritual. While manuscripts differ, the general shape is consistent.

Preparation and Timing§

The practitioner must be in a state of grace: confession, chastity, sobriety and fasting are required, and periods of the moon govern when particular prayers may begin. The work could take weeks or months, with different prayers recited on specified days, sometimes several times a day, and particular dietary restrictions observed. This emphasis reflects the logic that divine knowledge comes only to a purified recipient.

The Prayers§

The prayers are of two kinds. Some are fluent Latin compositions in the style of the liturgy, invoking God, the Trinity, the angels and the saints, and asking for wisdom, memory and understanding. Others consist of the strings of strange names described above. The two are often paired, with the Latin prayer explaining and reinforcing the effect of the unintelligible one. Scholars have noted that some Latin prayers draw on familiar liturgical models and biblical language, especially passages about Solomon's wisdom.

The Notae§

The notae are the art's most distinctive feature. In the more elaborate manuscripts they are complex figures combining geometric shapes, circles, lines of text, and sometimes images of birds, serpents or other forms, often in color. Each liberal art has its own nota or set of notae; grammar might have a few, while philosophy and theology have more. The practitioner was to contemplate the nota of the art he wished to acquire while reciting the corresponding prayers, as though the figure were a visual focus for divine illumination.

Because the notae were difficult to copy, they vary enormously between manuscripts. Some copies contain richly illuminated figures, others crude sketches or blank spaces left for drawings never made. The version included in the Lemegeton and in Robert Turner's 1657 English translation omits the notae entirely, preserving only the prayers.

The Glossed and Unglossed Versions§

The Ars Notoria circulated in at least two major forms. The older version, sometimes called the Ars brevis or unglossed version, consisted of the prayers with short instructions. Around the mid-thirteenth century a longer "glossed" version appeared, in which the text was accompanied by an extensive commentary explaining the procedure, the meanings of the prayers and the operation of the notae, and integrating new material. This version, often called the Ars nova in scholarly discussions, was itself expanded and rearranged.

Julien Véronèse, in his critical edition of 2007, distinguished these versions and their manuscript families, showing how the text grew and changed over time. More than fifty manuscripts are known, held in libraries across Europe, a sign of how widely the art was copied in spite of condemnation.

Church Condemnation: Aquinas and Others§

The notory art provoked strong reactions from theologians. Thomas Aquinas addressed it in the Summa Theologiae (II–II, question 96, article 1), in a discussion of superstitious observances. He argued that the art was unlawful because it used signs and unknown words that had no natural power to produce knowledge, and that any effect must therefore come from a pact, implicit or explicit, with demons. True knowledge, in his view, comes either from study or from God's free gift, not from ritual techniques that claim to compel it.

Other authorities followed suit. Later medieval theologians and inquisitors repeated Aquinas' reasoning, and broad condemnations of ritual magic, such as the 1398 determination of the Paris theology faculty against magical errors, targeted the kind of practice the notory art represented. In spite of this, the persistence of manuscripts shows that monks, clerics and students continued to copy and use the art.

John of Morigny and the Flowers of Heavenly Teaching§

One remarkable response came from a Benedictine monk, John of Morigny, in the early fourteenth century. John described in his Liber florum celestis doctrine, the Book of the Flowers of Heavenly Teaching, how he had practised the Ars Notoria as a young man, experienced frightening visions and became convinced that the art was demonically tainted. Under the guidance, he said, of the Virgin Mary, he composed a new set of prayers and figures intended to achieve the same ends by purely holy means. His book thus belongs to the notory tradition while presenting itself as its Christian purification.

John's book was itself condemned and burned in Paris in 1323, yet it survived in manuscripts. Claire Fanger and Nicholas Watson produced an edition of the Latin text (2015), and Fanger's monograph Rewriting Magic (2015) studies John's life and work. The story shows how ambiguous the boundary between devotion and magic was in medieval Christianity.

The Ars Notoria in the Renaissance and the Lemegeton§

The notory art remained in circulation through the Renaissance. Printed in Latin in the collection of Cornelius Agrippa's works issued in Lyon around 1600 (as part of material attributed to him but not his own), it reached a broader readership. Agrippa himself, in his genuine work, discusses the power of names and prayers; see Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy.

In 1657 Robert Turner published an English translation, Ars Notoria: The Notory Art of Solomon, which omitted the notae. Something close to this text was incorporated as the fifth book of the Lesser Key of Solomon, though some manuscripts of the Lemegeton lack it. Its presence in that compilation linked a medieval devotional-magical practice for learning with the demonological catalogue of the Goetia, a pairing that sometimes obscures how different the two are.

Modern Scholarship§

Serious academic study of the Ars Notoria developed from the 1990s onward. Claire Fanger's edited volume Conjuring Spirits (1998) included essays on the notory art, and her later work, along with that of Frank Klaassen on the transmission of ritual magic manuscripts, placed the art in the context of medieval religious culture. Julien Véronèse's L'Ars notoria au Moyen Âge (2007) provided the first critical edition and a detailed study of its versions. These scholars stress that the Ars Notoria should be understood as a product of the medieval Christian intellectual world, reflecting monastic and university anxieties about learning, memory and grace.

Frequently asked questions§

What is the Ars Notoria used for?§

It promises the rapid acquisition of knowledge, memory and eloquence, particularly mastery of the liberal arts, philosophy and theology. The practitioner prays, fasts and contemplates diagrams called notae, seeking divine and angelic illumination.

Is the Ars Notoria demonic magic?§

The text itself addresses God and the angels and does not summon demons. Medieval theologians such as Thomas Aquinas nonetheless condemned it, arguing that its unknown words and signs implied a hidden pact with demons.

How old is the Ars Notoria?§

It is usually dated to the late twelfth or early thirteenth century. It circulated in several versions, including a later glossed form, and survives in more than fifty manuscripts.

What are the notae in the Ars Notoria?§

They are elaborate diagrams combining shapes, text and sometimes images, each associated with a branch of knowledge. The practitioner contemplated them while reciting prayers; many later copies, including the Lemegeton version, omit them.

Sources and further reading§

• L'Ars notoria au Moyen Âge: Introduction et édition critique — Julien Véronèse, 2007
• Ars Notoria: The Notory Art of Solomon — trans. Robert Turner, 1657
• Summa Theologiae, II–II, q. 96 — Thomas Aquinas, c. 1270
• Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic — ed. Claire Fanger, 1998
• Rewriting Magic: An Exegesis of the Visionary Autobiography of a Fourteenth-Century French Monk — Claire Fanger, 2015
• John of Morigny, Liber florum celestis doctrine — ed. Claire Fanger and Nicholas Watson, 2015
• The Transformations of Magic: Illicit Learned Magic in the Later Middle Ages and Renaissance — Frank Klaassen, 2013