The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age

by Frances A. Yates

Overview

First published in 1999. This is volume VII of ten of the collected works of Frances Yates. This book is a strictly historical study, not an enquiry into ‘the occult’ in general, which I am certainly not qualified to undertake. It includes what was known as ‘the occult philosophy’ in the Renaissance. This philosophy, or outlook, was compounded of Hermeticism as revived by Marsilio Ficino, to which Pico della Mirandola added a Christianised version of Jewish Cabala. These two trends, associated together, form what Yates calls ‘the occult philosophy’.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415220507
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/09/1999
Series:	Selected Works Series
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dame Francis Yates (1899-1981) was Reader in the History of the Renaissance at the Warburg Institute, University of London. The leading Renaissance scholar of her time, she was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1977 in recognition of her services to Renaissance studies. Her other publications include The Art of Memory and The Rosicrucian Enlightenment .

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part 1 The Occult Philosophy in Renaissance and Reformation; Chapter I Medieval Christian Cabala: The Art of Ramon Lull; Chapter II The Occult Philosophy in the Italian Renaissance: Pico della Mirandola; Chapter III The Occult Philosophy in the Reformation: Johannes Reuchlin; Chapter IV The Cabalist Friar of Venice: Francesco Giorgi; Chapter V The Occult Philosophy and Magic: Henry Cornelius Agrippa; chapter VI The Occult Philosophy and Melancholy: Dürer and Agrippa; chapter VII Reactions against the Occult Philosophy: The Witch Craze; Part 2 The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age; Introduction; chapter VIII John Dee: Christian Cabalist; Chapter IX Spenser’s Neoplatonism and the Occult Philosophy: John Dee and The Faerie Queene; Chapter X Elizabethan England and the Jews; Chapter XI The Reaction: Christopher Marlowe on Conjurors, Imperialists and Jews; Chapter XII Shakespeare and Christian Cabala: Francesco Giorgi and The Merchant of Venice; Chapter XIII Agrippa and Elizabethan Melancholy: George Chapman’s Shadow of Night; Chapter XIV Shakespearean Fairies, Witches, Melancholy: King Lear and the Demons; Chapter XV Prospero: The Shakespearean Magus; Part 3 The Occult Philosophy and Rosicrucianism and Puritanism: The Return of the Jews to England; Introduction; Chapter XVI Christian Cabala and Rosicrucianism; Chapter XVII The Occult Philosophy and Puritanism: John Milton; Chapter XVIII The Return of the Jews to England; Epilogue;

Editorial Reviews

"In fine, this book is extremely rich in insights, and makes the magical world of the English Renaissance, the world of Raleigh’s “School of Night” and Doctor Dee, accessible. One turns with renewed fascination to books like Sidney’s Arcadia, equipped to understand their mysteries. A dazzling book, which belongs in every occult or literary library." - Mildred Faintly

From the Publisher