Writings of Giordano Bruno (1548-1600)

Italian Philosopher Giordano Bruno ("the Nolan") was one of the most original and colorful thinkers of the Renaissance. The Inquisition considered him a dangerous heretic, and had him burned at the stake in 1600.

Selected writings:

• De Umbris Idearum ('The Shadow of Ideas') (1582) (Latin)

  Bruno became a noted expert in the art of memory while still a Dominican monk. He repeatedly demonstrated his memory techniques, including to Pope Pius V. Bruno carried the traditional mnemonic training well beyond the Dominican traditions.
  
  This is Bruno's first book on memory, and presents a rich system which integrates mnemonics, psychology (ala Ficino), and hermetic magic. This work is dealt with at some length by Frances A. Yates in her Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964).

• Ars Memoriae ('The Art of Memory') (1582) (Latin)
  
  
• Cantus Circaeus ("Incantations of Circe") (1582) (Latin)

  An early work by Bruno on the art of memory with strong magical elements. It is written in the form of a dialogue between the great sorceress Circe and her assistant or apprentice Moeris.

• Ars Reminiscendi -- Triginta Sigilli (1583) (Latin)
  
  
• Explicatio triginti sigillorum (1583) (Latin)
  
  
• The Heroic Frenzies... ('De Gli Eroici Furori') (English)

  Another major work of Bruno's, almost impossible to find, dealing with the philosophy of love and love as a means of mystical ascent.

• De Magia (Latin)

  One of the very few of Bruno's books to deal explicitly with magic. It remained unpublished until Tocco's edition of 1891. For a translation, see Cause, Principle, and Unity, ed. Blackwell et al.

• Theses De Magia (Latin)
  
  
• Magia Mathematica (Latin)

  By "mathematical magic" Bruno means magical practices that use characters, seals, and figures.

• De vinculis in genere (Latin)

  This is Bruno's other great book on magic, dealing with "bonding in general." Couliano characterizes it as "one of those little-known works whose importance in the history of ideas far outstrips that of more famous ones." (E&M p. 89) It explains how the masses can be manipulated with psychological and magical bonds, and how one can escape these snares.

• De Imaginum Compositione (1591) (excerpts)

Books in Print:

• The Ash Wednesday Supper
• The Cabala of Pegasus
• Cause, Principle, and Unity, ed. Blackwell et al.
• Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast
• The Candlebearer

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