Meta Description: Join Dr. David Noe and Dr. Jeff Winkle as they explore the 16th-century feud over the Art of Memory (Ars Memoriae). From “Combinatory Wheels” to rooster brains, discover how the Latin language shaped the debate between Protestant logic and Renaissance imagery.
Introduction: A Memorial for Memory
Welcome back to the “vomitorium,” listeners! In Episode 18 of the Ad Navseam Podcast, hosts Dr. Jeff Winkle and Dr. David Noe kick off the new year by tackling a subject that ironically often gets forgotten in our modern information age: Memory.
In a world where knowledge is at our fingertips via smartphones, the ancient and medieval obsession with the Art of Memory (Ars Memoriae) can seem foreign. Yet, for centuries, the ability to retain vast amounts of information was the hallmark of the educated mind.
This week, the hosts dive into a heated 16th-century controversy between two Cambridge men—William Perkins and Alexander Dicson—who battled over the soul of memory using the universal scholar’s tongue: the Latin language.
The Origins: Simonides and the First Memory Palace
To understand the 16th-century debate, we must first look back to the Greeks. Dr. Noe and Dr. Winkle recount the famous (and gruesome) origin story of the Art of Memory involving the poet Simonides of Ceos.
As the story goes, Simonides was chanting a lyric poem at a banquet for a nobleman named Scopas. When Scopas refused to pay the full fee, Simonides was called outside by two mysterious young men (implied to be Castor and Pollux). Just as he stepped out, the roof of the banqueting hall collapsed, crushing everyone inside beyond recognition.
Simonides was able to identify the bodies for their relatives because he remembered exactly where everyone was sitting. This realization led to the invention of the Method of Loci (places).
- The Concept: To remember a speech or list, one constructs a “Memory Palace” (a building in the mind).
- The Technique: You place specific images representing your thoughts into specific rooms (loci). To recall them, you simply “walk” through the building in your mind.
This system, codified by the Roman rhetorician Quintilian, became the standard for Western rhetoric for over a millennium.
The 16th Century Showdown: Logic vs. Images
Fast forward to the 1580s. The Renaissance is in full swing, and the Latin language is the battlefield for a proxy war between two schools of thought regarding memory.
1. Team Image: Alexander Dicson (and Giordano Bruno)
Alexander Dicson, a Scot and political agent, championed the traditional, image-based system. He was a follower of the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno, known as the “Magus of Memory.”
- The Innovation: Bruno and Dicson didn’t just use houses; they used Combinatory Wheels. Imagine a “Lazy Susan” (or as the hosts joke, a “Lazy Steve”) inside your mind. You place your memory palace on these rotating platters to create endless layers of associations.
- The Latin Works: Dicson wrote De Umbra Rationis (The Shadow of Reason) and a defense of his methods, arguing that complex, even occult-like imagery was the key to retaining knowledge.
2. Team Logic: William Perkins (and Peter Ramus)
In the other corner stood William Perkins, known as the “English Calvin” and a leader of the Puritan movement. Perkins despised the image-based system.
- The Objection: As a Protestant iconoclast, Perkins believed that just as churches should be purged of statues and icons, the mind should be purged of “idols” and ridiculous images.
- The Alternative: Following the French scholar Peter Ramus (Pierre de la Ramée), Perkins advocated for Logical Disposition. Instead of images, one should use a “branching” system of logic—dividing and subdividing topics into their smallest parts.
The Scholastic Smackdown: A Latin Language “Cash Chasm”
This was not a polite academic disagreement. It was a vicious polemic written entirely in Latin.
Perkins attacks Dicson with a ferocity that rivals Cicero’s Philippics. He accuses Dicson of having no “aroma of Roman purity” in his writing style. But the best insult? Perkins calls Dicson a “Cash Chasm” (a ravenous abyss of greed), accusing him of swindling young students with his “childish trifles” about memory wheels.
The Scholastic Method in Action
The hosts note that Perkins frames his arguments using the classic Scholastic method, a staple of Latin language education:
- Quaestio: What is the question?
- Status: What is the state of the question?
- Objectiones: What are the objections?
- Responsiones: What are the responses?
Practical Application: How to Ruin (or Save) Your Memory
For the modern listener, Perkins’ treatise offers some… unique health advice. If you want to preserve your memory according to 16th-century wisdom, pay attention to your diet and hygiene.
Things that Destroy the Memory:
- Onions and Walnuts: Perkins is adamant that these foods are memory killers. (Dr. Noe speculates that walnuts, looking like brains, might be a “wheel within a wheel” distraction).
- Helluari Libris: The “indiscriminate reading of books.” Be careful not to read too much!
- Long Hair: Perkins warns that hair that is too long drains the memory.
- Washing your Head: Apparently, submerging your head in water is a bad idea.
Things that Preserve the Memory:
- Rooster Brains: Perkins recommends eating the brains of roosters, pigeons, and partridges.
- Coriander: Specifically, coriander seeds boiled in vinegar and coated in sugar.
- Quince Preserves: But only at supper or lunch, never at breakfast.
- Lavender and Rosemary: Aromas were considered vital for mental retention.
Conclusion: The Legacy of the Debate
While Perkins’ “logical disposition” became a hallmark of Puritan preaching and education, the image-based systems of Bruno and Dicson never truly went away. They live on in modern mnemonic techniques.
However, one thing is certain: whether you use a Memory Palace or a Branching Diagram, you might want to skip the rooster brains for breakfast.
Gustatory Parting Shot
Dr. Winkle concludes the episode with a quote from Miguel de Cervantes regarding the healing power of food:
“All sorrows are lessened with bread.”.
Valete!
Resources for the Latin Learner
- Hackett Publishing: For excellent translations of Renaissance and Classical texts, use code AN2021 for 20% off and free shipping at hackettpublishing.com.
- Ratio Coffee: To keep your memory sharp (without the onions), brew your coffee with the Ratio 6. Use code ANCO for 15% off at ratiocoffee.com.
Ad Navseam Merch: Pick up a “Classical Gourmands” t-shirt at the website.
