Ars Notoria

The Ars Notoria (in English: Notory Art) is a 13th-century Latin book of magic (now retroactively classified as a grimoire, an 18th century term thought to originate in Old French), which claims to grant practitioners enhanced mental faculties, communication with angels, and mastery of earthly and celestial knowledge through ritualistic practices and originates from Northern Italy. Combining orthodox religious motifs with esoteric elements, the text gained popularity among medieval scholars, clerics, and students for its promise of accelerated learning. The work incorporates the only surviving fragment of the Flores Aurei (Golden Flowers), falsely attributed to the Hellenistic philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, and merges it with the Ars Nova (New Art)—a Latin adaptation of the Flores Aurei—alongside additional material by anonymous scribes. The Ars Notoria inspired a broader tradition of ritual magic texts, including John of Morigny's Liber Florum Caelestis Doctrinae (Book of Flowers of Heavenly Teaching), the Opus Operum (Work of Works), and derivative works such as the Ars Brevis (Short Art), Ars Paulina (Pauline Art), and the Solomonic Ars Notoria, quam Creator Altissimus Salomoni revelavit (The Notory Art, Which the Almighty Creator Revealed to Solomon). This corpus persisted into the 17th century, blending ritual magic and medieval scholasticism.