Gladialis

Operations instruments and practitioners · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A claimed stellar art of forging exceptionally powerful swords.

In the book. Constellatio concerns impressions of higher stars upon lower bodies.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition pages 23, 24; facsimile PDF pages 351, 352.

Historical Definition

Gladialis is an art in which swords are forged according to the course of the starry firmament so that anvils cannot resist them; it is also called Incusma.

Meaning

The definition links a craft action with a celestial ordering. Swords are forged according to the course of the starry firmament, and extraordinary resistance or power is claimed for them. Incusma is supplied as another name for the art.

The sentence describes an attributed result without giving a forging procedure or a rule for selecting a time. The reader should preserve that difference between a claim about an art and a usable account of its practice. The anvils are part of the description of the swords’ exceptional power, rather than a separate material identification.

Use in the Book

Constellatio concerns impressions of higher stars upon lower bodies. Formæ rerum describes celestial influences received by lower bodies. Those entries provide the philosophical vocabulary within which a craft might be understood through stellar efficacy. Magia’s distinction between natural and diabolical kinds shows that the compiler also evaluates arts, but the short Gladialis entry does not itself repeat that division.

Places to Read

Constellatio. The influence of higher stars understood as an impression in lower things.

Formæ rerum. Forms explained through received celestial influences or active virtues.

Magia. Magic divided into lawful natural wisdom and forbidden knowledge through evil spirits.

In This Edition

The modernised definition retains the extraordinary claim as historical wording. The commentary supplies no metallurgical explanation for the asserted result or astrological instructions absent from the source.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition pages 23, 24; facsimile PDF pages 351, 352 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Gladialis

See also. Constellatio; Formæ rerum; Magia