Cyprianus

Cyprianus is a name given in Scandinavian traditions of folk magic to the "black book" ("Svarteboken"): a grimoire or manuscript collection of spells; and by extension to the magical tradition that these spells form a part of. There is no standard text called "Cyprianus"; it was a general label given to a collection of spells.^[1]

Manuscripts called or referring to Cyprianus had a dark reputation; in some versions, one obtained the text by renouncing one's baptism and devoting oneself to Satan. The common people's opinion of the book was that it was a standard grimoire concerned with the summoning of demons and spirits. Ministers were often thought to have obtained it through their studies at university; it is not coincidence that ministers' wives often functioned as folk healers in rural communities.^[2] Like many such texts, it was said to be bound to its owner and hard to get rid of; it was claimed that these texts will not burn nor be destroyed by water, and attempting to discard them will only result in their supernatural return.^[3] These compilations nevertheless were widely circulated among the cunning folk of Scandinavia, who in a rural land with few physicians were the folk healers sought out by ordinary people beset by injury or illness.