The essays illustrates the convergences between the lives of an early-fourteenth century mystic, Marguerite Porete, and the life of the magician John of Morigny. Marguerite Porete was considered a formative figure for the Heresy of the Free Spirit, as author of the
Mirror of Simple Souls; after a first condemnation by bishop Guido of Cambrai, she underwent a second trial under the jurisdiction of William of Paris, and was sentenced to death as a contumacious heretic in Paris in 1310. John of Morigny studied books such as the
Ars notoria and the
Four rings of Solomon, mastering the art of necromancy; his main work, the
Flowers of heavenly teaching, circulated as a handbook of Marian devotions even after it was condemned and burned as a heretic book in 1323. The last part of the essay illustratets the attitude towards heresy and the occult of Pope John XXII with reference to his bulls
Ad nostrum,
Cum de quibusdam and
Super illius specula. (Matteo Salaroli)
Riduci