Sunday, 7 October 2018

Seals of Behencatrus (2)

I posted an article on the wonderful Ghent Manuscript in 2017, and I haven't manage to delve completely into it still. But bit by bit, this fantastic resource begins to shed its secrets. 

On fols. 59v-62r we find this treatise of interest to us (with its incipit): 


Behencatri viri sapientis et regis in India qui fuit in magicis expertissimus de sigillis planetarum. 
Sigillum Saturni. Saturnus habet in metallis plumbum…

On the Seals of the Planets, of Behencatrus, most wise man and king of India who was most skilled in magic. 
The Seal of Saturn. Saturn has in metals lead...

Trithemius cites this work as being authored by Behencasin with an identical incipit: Saturnus habet in metallis plumbum, qui etc. (Antipalus Malleficorum) so we can deduce that the work itself is older in its Latin redaction then 1508. 



Seal of Saturn, f.59v




Seal of Jupiter, f.60r




Seal of the Mars, f.60v




Seal of the Sun, f.61r




Seal of Venus, f.61v




Seal of Mercury, f.61r




Seal of the Moon, f.62r

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