La fi d'una llegenda: Arnau de Vilanova davant la màgia i l'astrologia

Abstract

This article revises Arnau’s thoughts and practice regard-ing magic and astrology, two core aspects in the creation of an enduring legendary image. If apocryphal works are disregarded, the attitudes he sustains in his writing are in line with those of contemporary intellectuals: a rejec-tion of necromancy coupled with the acceptance of oc-cult astral properties as the foundation of natural magic. These properties are put to use in his medical treatises, where astrology is also the basis for some remedies. However, none of the treatises on medical astrology that have been transmitted under his name are his.