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== Books ==
== Books ==
For navigation, there’s a section in the last dozen of the 600 pages, titled “A generall Table." It appears to serve as an index of name and topics along with the page number that corresponds with discussion of this. There are margins all throughout the book, as well, summarizing what paragraphs or a series of paragraphs are about.


* The Seraphim
* The Seraphim
Line 55: Line 53:
The book comes in brown leather binding, with five raised bands, and a broken spine. The cover, which is a board wrapped in leather, comes off completely. The book's pages are constructed from laid paper, known from their thinness and the chain line markings that are revealed when held up to the light. There's minor evidence of water damage, though the pages are stiff.
The book comes in brown leather binding, with five raised bands, and a broken spine. The cover, which is a board wrapped in leather, comes off completely. The book's pages are constructed from laid paper, known from their thinness and the chain line markings that are revealed when held up to the light. There's minor evidence of water damage, though the pages are stiff.


The illustrations, which every book in the collection begins with, are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodcut woodcut].
The illustrations, which every book in the collection begins with, are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodcut woodcut].
 
For navigation, there’s a section in the last dozen of the 600 pages, titled “A generall Table." It appears to serve as an index of name and topics along with the page number that corresponds with discussion of this. There are margins all throughout the book, as well, summarizing what paragraphs or a series of paragraphs are about.
 


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Revision as of 23:19, 3 May 2023

Title page of The hierarchie of the blessed angells: their names, order and offices: the fall of Lucifer with his angells


The hierarchie of the blessed angells: their names, order and offices: the fall of Lucifer with his angells is a 1635 didactic poem in nine books, a complete copy of which is at the University of Pennsylvania's Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. The contents, as per the name, of the collection are concerned with the categorization of angels, or angelology, in the Christian sense, as well as the rebellion of Satan and his subsequent fall of grace, along with his demons. The author is named to be Thomas Heywood, while the printer is referred to as Adam Islip. It was printed in London and dedicated to the queen at the time: Queen Henretta Maria.

History

Thomas Heywood was a early 17th century playwright, better known for his dramatic work. His later plays, however, were criticized for being too mean and taking too much from the ancients, such as Homer.‎[1] Little is known of Heywood's motivations for composing this 9-book didactic poem, but a dedication following the title page expresses that the collection was composed for Queen Henretta Maria, a Roman Catholic, which made her unpopular in England and prevented her from ever being crowned[2]. Given Heywood's lack of other didactic poetry, it's possible this was a commission someone may have paid him for. Noticeably, The hierarchie of the blessed angells: their names, order and offices: the fall of Lucifer with his angells appears to be his only entirely theological work. Though this book never reached the prominence of many other angelology books, it's thought to have influenced John Milton's interpretation of angels in Paradise Lost [3].

Illustration and title page for book

Content

Heywood used Dionysian theory as the framework from which he'd give his own interpretation of angels [4]. Additionally, he used the Ptolemaic system as the rule by which to connect the angel hierarchies to the system of the world; according to it, the universe hung by a golden chain from the Throne of God, with the universe itself being spheres within spheres until it reached the smallest one –– Earth [4]. Heywood also follows St. Augustine by implying the polytheistic gods of other and their pre-Christianization past as not senseless idols, but demons tricking humans to worship them. It's remarked that at first sight of an angel, a man will first be afraid, but an angel will reassure him. A demon, on the other hand, will first make a flattering appearance, then leave the man having terrified him.


Books

  • The Seraphim
    • According to Heywood, the Seraphim govern the Primum Mobile, and their leader is Uriel.
  • The Cherubim
Cherub angel
    • According to Heywood, the Cherubim govern the fixed stars, and their leader is Jophiel. Notably, Heywood writes, on page 283: God is and absolute Monarch; and next to Him,/ Daniel doth place the holy Cheurbim/. It's unknown if this is an error or if Heywood meant to imply that the cherubim also stand beside God, which is typically associated with the seraphim [5].
  • The Dominations
    • The Domination govern Jupiter, and their leader is Zadkiel.
  • The Virtues
    • The Virtues govern Mars, and their leader is Haniel.
  • The Powers
    • The Powers govern the Sun, and their leader is Raphael.
  • The Principats
    • The principats govern Venus, and their leader is Camael.
Michael the Archangel
  • The Angell
    • The angels govern the Earth, and their leader is Gabriel.

Materiality

Physical Attributes

The book comes in brown leather binding, with five raised bands, and a broken spine. The cover, which is a board wrapped in leather, comes off completely. The book's pages are constructed from laid paper, known from their thinness and the chain line markings that are revealed when held up to the light. There's minor evidence of water damage, though the pages are stiff.

The illustrations, which every book in the collection begins with, are woodcut.

For navigation, there’s a section in the last dozen of the 600 pages, titled “A generall Table." It appears to serve as an index of name and topics along with the page number that corresponds with discussion of this. There are margins all throughout the book, as well, summarizing what paragraphs or a series of paragraphs are about.


  • Spine

    Spine

  • Laid Paper Lines

    Laid Paper Lines

Use

The copy at the University of Pennsylvania has been excessively written, nearly all in what appears to be pencil, including text on the marginalia, between lines of text, and on pieces of paper that have either been attached or are loose –– the latter of these appears to have been written in pen. This book was probably studied very rigorously.

There's additionally small loose leaf of paper where a circle had been sketched with astrological symbols and some Hebrew along the circumference. There's writing both inside and outside the sphere.

  • Extensive writing on pages

    Extensive writing on pages

  • Attached pages

    Attached pages

  • Taped piece

    Taped piece

  • Loose leaf

    Loose leaf

Notes

  1. ↑ Wright, Louis B. “Notes on Thomas Heywood’s Later Reputation.” The Review of English Studies 4, no. 14 (1928): 135–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/508142‎
  2. ↑ https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/stuart_16.html.
  3. ↑ X West, Robert H. “The Names of Milton’s Angels.” Studies in Philology 47, no. 2 (1950): 211–23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4172929.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Briggs, K. M. “Heywood’s Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells.” Folklore 80, no. 2 (1969): 89–106. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1258462.
  5. ↑ Morris, Harry. “Some Uses of Angel Iconography in English Literature.” Comparative Literature 10, no. 1 (1958): 36–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/1768503.
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