Renaissance magic
Johannes Trithemius
Abbot, bibliophile, cryptographer and angel-magician, in whom concealed knowledge and literal concealment become the same problem.
- Dates
- 1462 – 1516
- Dating
- documented dates
- Died
- Würzburg
The life
As abbot of Sponheim he built a large library and pursued history, cryptography, angelic communication and hidden knowledge. Agrippa was among the Renaissance magicians who learned from him.
Place in the tradition
He exemplifies a recurring occult theme: secret knowledge and secret writing become intertwined until it is unclear which one a book is really about.
the written record
Principal works
-
written c. 1499; first printed 1606
Steganographia
It appears to teach the summoning of spirits for communication across distances, yet much of its opening can also be decoded as cryptographic instruction. The magic may conceal the cipher, or the cipher the magic.
-
1518, posthumous
Polygraphia
A substantial cryptographic work presenting numerous systems of secret writing.