Sources

Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/giordano-bruno-and-the-hermetic-tradition.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/giordano-bruno-and-the-hermetic-tradition

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-giordano-bruno-and-the-hermetic-traditio,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/giordano-bruno-and-the-hermetic-tradition},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Frances Yates's study was enormously influential in establishing the field of Renaissance Hermeticism as a subject of serious historical study, and this record states plainly what has happened to its central claim since: the argument that Bruno was condemned by the Inquisition specifically as a Hermetic magus has been substantially rejected by later scholarship, which finds his condemnation rested on broader theological grounds. Despite that, the book remains the acknowledged starting point historians of the field still address, a real and checkable measure of its foundational status even where its specific thesis has not held up. Use it to establish the origin of the Bruno as Hermetic magus reading and the historiography of Renaissance Hermeticism it founded; a claim about why Bruno was actually condemned needs the more recent scholarship that revised Yates's thesis.

Facts

Assessment

Reliability Tier

Frances Yates's enormously influential 1964 scholarly study; its central claim, that Bruno was condemned as a Hermetic magus, has since been rejected by later scholarship, though the book remains the field's starting point and is cited here with that qualification.

Notes

Enormously influential and now substantially contested: the claim that Bruno was condemned as a Hermetic magus has been rejected by later scholarship, though the book remains the starting point for the field.

Citation

Author

Frances A. Yates

Publisher

Routledge and Kegan Paul

Publication Year

1964

URL

https://archive.org/details/isbn_0710000510

Source Type

academic monograph

Claims Backed By This Source (56 claims)

This source backs 56 claims across the atlas. As facts: 28 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 8 holds. Plus 19 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

Articles, 11 claims: 9 well-attested, 2 general references.
Doctrines, 11 claims: 5 well-attested, 2 holds, 4 general references.
Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
Historical Periods, 6 claims: 2 well-attested, 3 holds, 1 general references.
Historical Figures, 5 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 1 holds, 2 general references.
Esoteric Texts, 4 claims: 4 general references.
Cities, 3 claims: 1 well-attested, 2 general references.
Disciplines, 2 claims: 1 holds, 1 general references.
Figures, 2 claims: 1 holds, 1 general references.
Metaphysical Positions, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Subcategories, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.