Pico della Mirandola is a Florentine sorcerer, cabalist, scholar and philosopher, “considered among the greatest”, the great sorcerer of the island. He pursued the convergence of all religions, then abandoned that project and sorcery itself to join Savonarola.
| Type | Character |
| Age | 31 at the time of these records |
| Home | Florence |
| Spanish entry | Pico della Mirandola |
He introduces himself to strangers: “I consider myself a friend of those you were about to run from. I want to explain why.”
Description
He is fair-skinned, blond, beardless and tall, dressed in long robes — “very Western, yet he wears a kind of turban”. The turban comes off. He carries parchments described as “human ones that are very soft”; the phrase is garbled, and it is unclear whether “soft” refers to the parchment or to those who carry it.
Career
In Florence he has “the house and the coat of arms and everything”: his own house and patrician arms. He works both as a sorcerer of great power and influence and as a cabalist scholar. He spent his fortune convening and sustaining discussion meetings — “that cult thing that wanted to call in the Muslims, the Buddhists” — and maintained a network of sorcerer friends and scholars of integrated religions. The parchments carry that integrating knowledge. For him sorcery and cabalistic scholarship were one undertaking, so when he gave up the meetings he gave up sorcery too.
Defection
Those who knew him remember “a very good sorcerer, really cool, all fine, he was working”. His move to Savonarola’s side is told as a loss: “it seems to us he dominated us”. The island’s greatest sorcerer thereby deserted the project of religious convergence, which lost its leader.
Open questions
- What “the island” is, and how it relates to Florence.
- What sorcery he practiced, and what remained of his power after abandoning it.
- Who the “us” that felt dominated is, and whether the domination was real or a belief.
- The size of his fortune and the cost of the meetings.
- Why he changed sides.