Of Roger Bacon
by Frater Robert Lombard (?), 16th century English & Latin Manuscript
MS Mun.A.4.98 (Chetham’s Library)
This curious manuscript, written mainly in English, is a grimoire, or magical textbook, containing prayers, invocations, exorcisms and conjurations together with mystical diagrams inscribed in circles. It contains experiments of fairy magic such as the Seven Sisters and the Operation of Micob, shared by many other sources, directions intended to lead the reader to hidden treasure, etc.
The first half of this 150-page manuscript is based on De Nigromancia, a Latin text falsely attributed to the 13th-century Franciscan Roger Bacon, which contains detailed instructions for conjuring the dead. The manuscript includes several lists of names and magical alphabets as well as coloured diagrams.
Providence: Came to the library from the collection of one John Byrom (1692-1763).
