|
''Cyprianus'' is a name given in Scandinavian traditions of folk magic to the "black book" ("''Svarteboken"''): a grimoire or manuscript collection of spells; and by extension to the magical tradition that these spells form a part of. There is no standard text called "Cyprianus"; it was a general label given to a collection of spells.〔Mary Rustad, ''The Black Books of Elverum'' (Galde Press, 1999; ISBN 1-880090-75-9)〕 Manuscripts called or referring to Cyprianus had a dark reputation; in some versions, you obtained the text by renouncing your baptism and devoting yourself to Satan. The common people's opinion of the book was that it was a standard grimoire concerned with the summoning of demons and spirits. Ministers were often thought to have obtained it through their studies at university; it is not coincidence that ministers' wives often functioned as folk healers in rural communities.〔Kathleen Stokker, ''Remedies and rituals: folk medicine in Norway and the New Land'' (Minnesota Historical Society, 2007; ISBN 0-87351-576-5); ch. 5, "The Pastor as Doctor"〕 Like many such texts, it is bound to its owner and hard to get rid of; it will not burn nor be destroyed by water, and attempting to discard it will only result in its supernatural return.〔''Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon'' (1915-1930), v. 5, pp. (386-387 )〕 These compilations nevertheless were widely circulated among the cunning folk of Scandinavia, who in a rural land with few physicians were the folk healers sought out by ordinary people beset by injury or illness. ==Cyprianus== "Cyprianus" is the name frequently given to the compiler or author of the spells contained in the tradition. A variety of stories are told concerning the identity of this Cyprianus. Saint Cyprian of Carthage was a bishop and martyr in early Christianity. In the Middle Ages, a variety of legends attached to his name, including a tradition that he practiced magic before his conversion, and as such was the author of a magical textbook. In another medieval tradition, Cyprianus was a sorcerer who sought to seduce St. Justina, but was foiled and converted when she made the sign of the cross and he followed suit, freeing himself from the power of the devil. The sorcerer and the historical bishop were likely confounded in later legend.〔Ludwig Radermacher, ''Griechische Quellen zur Faustsage: Der Zauberer Cyprianus'' (Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1927)〕〔Rosemary Guiley, ''The encyclopedia of Magic and Alchemy'' (Infobase, 2006; ISBN 0-8160-6048-7), p. (38 )〕 The ''Black Books of Elverum'' claim to be a summary of a ''Cyprianus'' by a "Bishop Johannes Sell" from Oxford, England in 1682. The British bishop John Fell may be the person who is meant here; Fell did publish an edition of the works of St. Cyprian.〔Rustad, p. 1〕 The actual stories told of Cyprianus in Scandinavia often made no reference to St. Cyprian. Some made Cyprianus into a typical Faust figure; some said that Cyprianus was a wicked Norwegian or Dane who learned magic through his dealings with the Devil; one version makes Cyprianus so evil that the Devil threw him out of Hell; Cyprianus wrote the text to have his revenge. A different and strongly contradictory version explains that Cyprianus was a student who discovered he was attending a diabolical "black school", and wrote the text to explain how to undo all the witchcraft he learned there.〔Benjamin Thorpe, ''Northern Mythology: comprising the principal popular traditions and superstitions of Scandinavia, north Germany, and the Netherlands'' (London: Edward Lumley, 1851) v. 2 pp. (186 et. seq. )〕 An anachronistic tale told in the printed Danish spell collection ''Oldtidens Sortebog'' ("Old Time Magic Book") makes Cyprianus to have been a pious and beautiful Mexican nun from the fourteenth century. In a gothic tale, ''Oldtidens Sortebog'' has Cyprianus cast into a dungeon in 1351. While imprisoned in the dungeon, Cyprianus rends her clothing and commits her magical knowledge to the rags, written in her own blood. Her text was then found in an old castle.〔Stokker, above; see generally the chapter, "(The Black Book )"〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cyprianus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|