Frances yates

F R A N C E S YATES Selected Works

VOLUME I The Valois Tapestries V O L U M E II Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition V O L U M E III The Art of Memory V O L U M E IV The Rosicrucian Enlightenment VOLUME V Astraea V O L U M E VI Shakespeare's Last Plays V O L U M E VII The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age V O L U M E VIII Lull and Bruno V O L U M E IX Renaissance and Reform: TheItalian Contribution VOLUME X Ideas and Ideals in the North European Renaissance

F R A N C E S YATES
Selected Works

Volume III The Art of Memory

London and New York

First published 1966 by Routledge & Kcgan Paul Reprinted by Routledge 1999 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4I' 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledgeis an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Croup

© 1966 Frances A. Yates Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire Publisher's note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original book may be apparent.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP record of this set isavailable from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-415-22046-7 (Volume 3) 10 Volumes: ISBN 0-415-22043-2 (Set)

Hermetic Silence. From Achilles Bocchius, Symbolicarum quaestionum . . . libri quinque, Bologna, 1555. Engraved by G. Bonasone (p. 170)

FRANCES A.YATES THE ART OF MEMORY

ARKPAPERBACKS
London, Melbourne and Henley

First published in 1966 ARK Edition 1984 ARK PAPERBACKS is an imprint of Routledgc & Kcgan Paul plc 14 Leicester Square, London WC2II 7PH, Kngland. 464 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia and Broadway House, Newtown Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1EN, Kngland. Printed and bound in Great Britain by The Guernsey Press Co. Ltd., Guernsey,Channel Islands. © Frances A. Yates 1966. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism. ISBN 0-7448-0020-X

CONTENTS
Preface page I. The Three Latin Sources for the Classical Art of Memory II. The Art of Memory in Greece: Memory and the Soul III. The Art of Memory in the Middle Ages xi i 27 50IV. Mediaeval Memory and the Formation of Imagery 82 V. The Memory Treatises 105 VI. Renaissance Memory: The Memory Theatre of Giulio Camillo 129 VII. Camillo's Theatre and the Venetian Renaissance 160 VIII. Lullism as an Art of Memory IX. Giordano Bruno: The Secret of Shadows X. Ramism as an Art of Memory XI. Giordano Bruno: The Secret of Seals XII. Conflict between Brunian and Ramist Memory XIII.Giordano Bruno: Last Works on Memory 173 199 231 243 266 287

XIV. The Art of Memory and Bruno's Italian Dialogues 308 XV. The Theatre Memory System of Robert Fludd 320 XVI. Fludd's Memory Theatre and the Globe Theatre 342 XVII. The Art of Memory and the Growth of Scientific Method 368 Index 390

ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES

Hermetic Silence. From Achilles Boccbius, Symbolicarum quaestionum . .libri quinque, Bologna, 1555. Engraved by G. Bonasone frontispiece 1. The Wisdom of Thomas Aquinas. Fresco by Andrea da Firenze, Chapter House of Santa Maria Novella, Florence (photo: Alinari) facing page 80 2. Justice and Peace. Fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Detail), Palazzo Pubblico, Siena {photo: Alinari) 81 3. (a) Charity (b) Envy Frescoes by Giotto, Arena Capella, Padua (photos: Alinari) 964. (a) Temperance, Prudence (b) Justice, Fortitude From a Fourteenth-Century Italian Manuscript, Vienna National Library (MS. 2639) (c) Penance, From a Fifteenth-Century German Manuscript, Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome (MS. 1404) 97 5. (a) Abbey Memory System (b) Images to be used in the Abbey Memory System. From Johannes Romberch, Congestorium artificiose Memorie, ed. of Venice, 1533 112 6. (a)...