The Seven Secondary Intelligences

De septem secundeis is a short treatise that Johannes Trithemius dedicated to the Emperor Maximilian I in 1508. It presents an angelic philosophy of history: under God, the world is governed in turn by seven planetary intelligences, each ruling for a cycle of 354 years and 4 months. Orifiel, the angel of Saturn, governs first, followed by Anael (Venus), Zachariel (Jupiter), Raphael (Mercury), Samael (Mars), Gabriel (the Moon) and Michael (the Sun), after which the sequence begins again. For each period Trithemius surveys the events of sacred and secular history he associates with that ruler, from the Creation and the Flood to the empires of antiquity, the life of Christ and the medieval centuries. The scheme ends with a forecast that Gabriel’s next rule would begin in 1525. The idea of planetary periods ruling history derives from Arabic and Latin astrological traditions transmitted by writers such as Peter of Abano, whose angel names Trithemius largely shares. He frames the theory cautiously, as an opinion of others, and closes by submitting to the teaching of the Church. The work was widely reprinted and was read in England through an English version published with William Lilly’s astrological prophecies in 1647. Its angel names reappear in Trithemius’s Steganographia and in later ceremonial magic, and it remains a key source for Renaissance ideas of astrological history and prophecy.

What it contains

• Dedication to Emperor Maximilian I
• The doctrine that God governs the world through seven secondary intelligences
• The seven planetary angels and their cycles of about 354 years
• A survey of world history arranged by angelic rulerships
• Forecasts for the coming periods, including Gabriel’s rule from 1525
• A closing submission to the judgement of the Church