There was much interest in magic during the Italian Renaissance. Ironically, it was the devotion to God that inspired it, and the practitioners we have knowledge of who lived in that era did not consider their interest in magic to be blasphemous or heretical, because there was a distinction, as they saw it, between “natural” or “spiritual” magic and “demonic” or black” magic. The distinction rested more on words than actions; for example, you could without reproach attempt to summon an angel - but not a demon. The fact that the summoning, per se, required the kind of conjuring that is nowhere permitted in Christian theology, tended to be ignored. If a demon appeared instead of an angel, it was because the demon fooled the conjurer, not because the conjurer was necessarily “evil”; that, at least, was the theory.

Magic and Christianity are, of course, inextricably linked. In the Bible, there are stories of all manner of miracle - transformations, healings, resurrections, visions, and illusions - and many other wonderful instances of the triumph of belief over rational thought. For Renaissance magicians, these stories, along with the apocryphal story that King Solomon, that most holy of wise men, was guided by seven demons in the building of his temple (The Testament of Solomon), were excuse enough to pursue power through thaumaturgy.

And then there were the truly evil necromancers! In my book, Hand of Silver, Hand of Gold, there is just such an unregenerate, fathomlessly corrupt individual (I won’t give you his name - even to write it down is a bad omen). If you read the book, you will learn why someone refers to him as bringing the Devil to Bologna. He has quite a story to tell, even if he has been dead for a century when the book begins. Long dead, yes, but not quite done...as you will discover.