The Magic Battery may have left you wanting to know more about how humanity’s access to the World Behind began. The best source for a non-scholarly audience is Barbara Cook’s _A History of Magic in Europe_. Due to the inter-universe trade embargo, you can’t get it in bookstores, but here’s a condensed excerpt from it. If there’s interest, I may be able to get my hands on more.

When we look at the dawn of modern magic in Europe, we have to begin with Ludovicus (or Luigi) Magus. Like his contemporaries Chu Lun in China and Ahmad ibn Yusuf in Arabia, he took the first definite steps in his part of the world toward controlled use of magic.

Since about 1325, people everywhere had started drawing spontaneous bursts of power from what came to be called the Hinterwelt or “world behind.” They created flashes of light, small explosions, or fires without knowing what they were doing. Fearful neighbors killed some of them, deeming their powers Satanic. Magical accidents killed others. Still others were admired and even revered.

Ludovicus made an important discovery in 1335. He possessed a cross with a large amethyst crystal set into it, and he was in the habit of holding it out to give blessings. Strange things started happening. Sometimes a light would come from the cross. If he held it close to a candle, it might flare up.

He found that with some practice, he could make these events happen reliably. Naturally, he went to the priest and asked what it meant. The priest was astonished by his demonstration and declared that a miracle was at work. He borrowed the cross and tried to do the same things himself, but without results. Ludovicus, he declared, had God’s favor.

To the end of his life, Ludovicus declared that these effects were miracles. However, he had a practical turn of mind and used the power to gain the attention of rich nobles. People started calling him “Magus.” He was cautious enough not to apply the term to himself, knowing the dangers of a reputation for sorcery. However, he did little to discourage it. He soon found that a crystal let him work his “miracles” whether a holy shape was attached to it or not.

In 1341, the Convent of Santa Lucia, near Naples, began attracting attention for its “miracles.” A prominent woman, thought fatally sick with what was probably pneumonia, recovered under the nuns’ aid. A poisoning victim was brought to them and quickly got better. Any one outcome could have been good luck, but their record was too good to ascribe to chance. The Healer tradition began there. They accepted semiprecious gems and crystals as donations, as did many subsequent cloisters with similar capabilities.

There is no intrinsic difference between male and female magical abilities, but the convents encouraged their members to try to heal the sick and injured, and it became the one acceptable way women could use magic without calling it that. Even before Pope Gregory XI’s ban on women’s use of magic in 1375, they were severely and often forcefully discouraged from using it. Those who did were deemed witches.

Ludovicus seldom traveled far from Naples. If the papacy had been in Rome, he doubtless would have traveled there to make connections, but the Pope held court in Avignon, and Rome had little to offer an ambitious mage at this time in history. Naples was by far the more important city. He won the patronage of King Roberto of Naples, often called “the wise.”

The Black Death claimed Ludovicus in 1348. Contemporary stories state that he tried to use magic to cure plague victims at great risk to himself. The evidence is uncertain; in any event, he did not succeed.

Magic has never been effective at killing bacteria, It can strengthen the immune system, but the difficulty is in making the effect last. Frieda Lorenz worked on immunization spells without much success, and the scientific technique did not emerge until the 18th century. Magic had no discernible effect on the course of the medieval plague.