ABSTRACT
This article analyzes two reports from the Chronicles of Saint Denis about an anonymous monk from Morigny who, in the early fourteenth century, supposedly practiced magic and worshiped demons. On this theme, special consideration is given to reports from the continuation of the Cronica Latina, by William of Nangis, and the Grandes Chroniques de France. This article examines these sources in a comparative manner alongside another text from the same period, written in the first person by John of Morigny and entitled Liber florum celestis doctrine. The evidence suggests that the anonymous author of the Chronicles of Saint Denis is, in fact, John of Morigny. It also verifies that what chroniclers of Saint Denis described as demonic is, according to John, rather an example of devotion and orthodoxy, which opens a space for contradiction and dispute regarding what was understood as “magic” in the Middle Ages.
Keywords:
Chronicles; Liber florum; Magic; Authorship; Middle Ages