Home›Open Questions›Who wrote the Heptameron, and does it rework any material older than its sixteenth-century printing?Open QuestionsWho wrote the Heptameron, and does it rework any material older than its sixteenth-century printing?Citation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "Who wrote the Heptameron, and does it rework any material older than its sixteenth-century printing?." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/who-wrote-the-heptameron-and-does-it-rework-any-material-older-than-its-sixteenth-century-printing.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). Who wrote the Heptameron, and does it rework any material older than its sixteenth-century printing?. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/who-wrote-the-heptameron-and-does-it-rework-any-material-older-than-its-sixteenth-century-printingCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-who-wrote-the-heptameron-and-does-it-rew, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {Who wrote the Heptameron, and does it rework any material older than its sixteenth-century printing?}, year = {2026}, url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/who-wrote-the-heptameron-and-does-it-rework-any-material-older-than-its-sixteenth-century-printing}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXOpen QuestionCross-Tradition ConnectionsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)Open QuestionThe ascription to Pietro d'Abano is rejected on chronological grounds, which removes an author without supplying one. The text first appears in print in 1559 appended to the pseudo-Agrippan Fourth Book, and no manuscript witness earlier than the sixteenth century has been identified for it. Its angelic hours and weekday conjurations resemble material circulating in fifteenth-century ritual manuscripts, but resemblance is not descent.What would resolve this A dated manuscript of the text or of a recognisable portion of it from before 1559, or a securely dated source that the printed text can be shown to be copying. Collation of the Heptameron against the surviving fifteenth-century angel magic manuscripts, done systematically rather than by impression, would establish whether it is compiled from them.OpenHistory of the book and early printing, Latin palaeography, and the study of late medieval ritual magic manuscriptsOwen Davies, Grimoires: A History of Magic BooksCross-Tradition ConnectionsQuestion OnThe Heptameron (Elementa Magica), Esoteric Texts Well-attested Source Grimoires: A History of Magic BooksOwen Daviestier 1SourcesGrimoires: A History of Magic Bookstier 1Owen Davies, Oxford University Press, 2009View the SourceComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year