Ars Goetia · Entry 65 of 72

Andrealphus

Marquis Andrealphus teaches geometry, measurement, and astronomy in the Goetia, which also attributes transformation into a bird’s likeness to him.

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Sigil of Andrealphus

Historical seal of Andrealphus reproduced from the cited image source
Historical seal of Andrealphus. Seal plate in the 1916 edition (Public domain in the United States; reproduced from the 1916 Project Gutenberg edition.)

At a glance

Entry
65 of 72
Rank
Marquis
Legions
30 in the text

Description in the text

Andrealphus is credited with teaching geometry, measurement, and astronomy. The account also says he can change a person into the likeness of a bird.

Read entry 65 on page 43 of the 1916 edition

Appearance

A noisy peacock that later becomes human.

Topics attributed to this entry

  • Geometry
  • Astronomy
  • Transformation

Reading this entry

Andrealphus first appears as a noisy peacock, then takes human shape. The marquis teaches geometry, measurement, and astronomy and is said to make people skillful in them. The office also includes changing a human into the likeness of a bird. The bird transformation resembles the initial visible form, but the passage does not explain whether that resemblance is meant symbolically.

Andrealphus rules 30 legions and has a seal. Measurement is the most precise teaching theme here, distinguishing the entry from more general claims to all liberal sciences. The source does not identify a mathematical theorem or astronomical model, so a historical profile should not invent one. The strong sound at the peacock’s arrival is an identifying feature, not evidence of a distinct musical office.

Read entry 65 on page 43 of the 1916 edition or compare the 1904 transcription.

A closer reading of entry 65

What the numbered text says

The peacock arrives with noise before Andrealphus takes a human form. Its educational scope is tightly specified: geometry, mensuration, and astronomy. The text then attributes a separate transformation of a human into the likeness of a bird. That last clause describes resemblance, without the subjective conviction found in Ose’s earlier entry. A bird portrait of Andrealphus should therefore be distinguished from the bird shape it is said to give to someone else. The catalogue supplies no species for that transformed person.

About the printed seal

Number 65 is on frontispiece 4. The seal is not identified as a diagram of a peacock or a geometrical figure, even though both would be tempting readings given the prose. Its secure role is as the printed sign matched to this numbered entry.

Compare another entry

Compare entry 60: Vapula. Vapula’s lion-and-griffin form accompanies handcrafts, professions, philosophy, and sciences. Andrealphus specifies measurement and astronomy and adds a bird likeness. Their practical learning offices overlap only at a broad level.

Sources for this reading