Collegium Budapest Workshop Series 1 And conversely, it needed careful argumentation to convince the students of humanism that the ‘obscure occultists’ of the Renaissance were heavily indebted to humanism and philological methods (see the argumentation of Paola Zambelli for Agrippa’s humanism, 1970, 37–9). The Dark Offspring of Humanism: Erasmus, Reuchlin, and the Magical Renaissance Endre György Szõnyi Even half a century ago it may have seemed surprising to say that 15 th and 16 th century humanism represented not only rationalism and enlightenment, but also produced some dark offspring. Decades of research into the history of Renaissance science and culture (also supported by historical anthropology) have shown, however, that some brilliant minds of the great generation of humanists not only believed in astrology, alchemy, and a host of demons and spirits, but often engaged in grotesque, or even frightening, ceremonies and rit- uals in order to communicate with the spirit world. They usually practiced these experiments in relation to complex and syncretic religious beliefs, in which they amalgamated Christianity with the ancient prisca theologia. 1 Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), for example, engaged in pious incantations, while holding aloft a carefully constructed talisman to drain celestial energy into his mortal body. The Abbot of Sponheim, Johannes Trithemius (1462–1516), conducted experiments with magical prayers and manipulations of ciphers in order to send angels with his praise to God. De occulta philosophia by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535) abounds in anecdotes, recipes, and instructions on how to invoke spirits and gain information from them, or how to make them serve us. Guillaume Postel (1510–1581), one of the best linguists of the 16 th century, through his transactions with spirits, succeeded in finding the incarna- tion of the Virgin Mary in a near-illiterate elderly Italian nun. He considered this encounter a special grace of God through which he gained confirmation of his Szonyi1.qxd 2002.06.26. 17:45 Page 1