Resumen de Virgile le magicien et l'Énéide des Chartrains
Virgil the Magician and the Aeneid of the Chartrains - The medieval legend of Virgil, which imagined the poet as a science fiction magician endowed with incredible technical powers, took shape in the second half of the twelfth century. Probably springing from Neapolitan lore, the legend was nevertheless seriously recorded in learned texts written in Latin by clercs of English origin. The elaboration of the legend may well have been due in a large measure to the interpretation of the Aeneid proposed by the masters of the school of Chartres, who likened the poem to a sort of scientific encyclopedia through which the soul traveled, striving to free itself from the prison of the body. At a time when reason was beginning to demarcate itself from faith, Virgil may well have been considered as the paradigm of the homo technicus, possessor of a wisdom giving the power to prevail upon the world.
