[See also: MARBODE OF RENNES; NECROMANCY; ORESME, NICOLE;
WILLIAM OF AUVERGNE; WITCHCRAFT]
Marcellus. De medicamentis liber, ed. Georg Helmreich. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.
William of Auvergne. Guilielmus Alvernus: Opera omnia. Paris: Andraeas Pralard [?], 1674.
Flint, Valerie I.J. The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1991.
Hansen, Bert. Nicole Oresme and the Marvels of Nature. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies, 1985.
Kieckhefer, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Peters, Edward. The Magician, the Witch, and the Law. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1978.
Riddle, John M. Marbode of Rennes’ (1035–1123) “De lapidibus” Considered as a Medical
Treatise, with Text, Commentary and C.W.King’s Translation, Together with Text and
Translation of Marbode’s Minor Works on Stones. Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1977.
Thorndike, Lynn. The History of Magic and Experimental Science. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan
and Columbia University Press, 1923–58.
MAGNIFICAT
. One of the three New Testament canticles used in the liturgy, the Magnificat (Luke
1:46–55 with closing doxology) is sung at the climax of Vespers accompanied by the
censing of the altar and on high feasts by the ringing of bells. The monastic rule of
Aurelian of Arles (d. 551) assigned the Magnificat to the morning office, but the
Benedictine Rule contains the first reference to its definitive place at Vespers in both the
monastic and the secular practice of the Middle Ages. The incantation was not originally
attached to the Magnificat but to the verse from Psalm 141 (“Let my prayer be set forth in
your sight as incense”), which preceded it.
Like the psalms of the Office, the Magnificat is associated with an antiphon. Besides
the antiphons whose texts are drawn from the canticle itself, a large number of antiphons
are extracted from the Gospel pericope read at the Mass of the day. These antiphons,
together with those for the “Benedictus” canticle of Lauds, are identified by the rubric in
evangelio in medieval antiphoners. Gospel antiphons exist for Christmas, Epiphany, all of
the days of Lent and Paschaltide through Pentecost week, the Sundays after Pentecost and
the feasts of saints mentioned in the Gospels. Some of the oldest sources (the antiphoners
of Compiègne and Hartker) contain antiphons from Jeremiah during the last two weeks of
Lent. The antiphons for Advent are more eclectic in their textual sources, concluding
with the O antiphons prescribed for the days preceding Christmas Eve. The antiphons for
Saturday Vespers during the summer and fall derive from the concurrent Old Testament
readings of the Office.
The elaborate tones to which the Magnificat is sung are probably Frankish (or later)
creations designed to enhance the solemnity of the canticle. With the same end in view,
some cathedral and monastic choirs “triumphed” (from Latin trium fare ‘to say three
times’) the Magnificat antiphon: singing it (1) before the Gloria Patri, (2) before the Sicut
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