Brazen Head

A Brazen Head (or Brass Head or Bronze Head) was a prophetic device attributed to many medieval scholars who were believed to be wizards, or who were reputed to be able to answer any question. It was always in the form of a man's head, and it could correctly answer any question asked of it. However, depending on the story, it could be cast in brass or bronze, it could be mechanical or magical, and it could answer freely or it could be restricted to "yes" or "no" answers.

Alleged Owners

Among the people reputed to have a brazen head were:

* Roger BaconButler, E. M.: "The Myth of the Magus"; Cambridge University Press, 1948] (possibly tonsured, like a monk's)
* Pope Sylvester II
* Albertus Magnus
* Virgil
* Robert Grosseteste
* Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
* Faust
* Enrique de Villena [de Larra, Mariano José; "El doncel de Don Enrique el Doliente", chapter 30; from "Obras Completas", Barcelona, Montaner y Simón, 1886]
* Arnaldus de Villa Nova [McCorduck, Pamela: "Machines Who Think: A Personal Inquiry into the History and Prospects of Artificial Intelligence"; c. 2004, A. K. Peters, Ltd.; p. 12]

Butler notes “ [t] hese brass heads were so common that people began to believe that there was nothing supernatural about them” (p. 157).

In Popular Culture

Bacon's Brazen Head appears in Robert Greene's play "Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay" (c. 1589) and John Bellairs' "The Face in the Frost". Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birth-Mark" mentions “the famous friar who created the prophetic Brazen Head”, implicitly Bacon. However, in his short story The Artist and the Beautiful from Mosses from an Old Manse, Hawthorne connects the Brazen Head or "Man of Brass" with both Albertus Magnus and Friar Bacon.

The brazen head was popularized in Robertson Davies' "Fifth Business".

In "Don Quixote", Don Antonio Moreno has a brazen head, created for him by an unnamed Polish “pupil of the famous Escotillo of whom such marvellous stories are told” (chapter 62). It is later revealed to be fake. Note that the end notes for the Schevill and Bonilla edition of "Don Quixote" state that Escotillo is Michael Scot. [Cervantes, Miguel: "Don Quixote de la Mancha"; Rudolph Schevill and Adolfo Bonilla, editors, c. 1941; p. 282, line 26] The “Brazen Head” entry in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable describes Escotillo as Italian, however.

A "bronze head" appears in The Box of Delights.

Establishments

The Brazen Head, in Dublin, established in 1198 is at just over 800 years old the second oldest pub in Ireland (Sean's Bar in Athlone being first). There is also a Brazen Head in Limerick that is reputed to be older than that in Dublin. One of the most famous Brazen Head pubs is in the Gorbals, Glasgow. It has very close ties to Glasgow Celtic and the whole Irish/Scottish community. There is also a bar called The Brazen Head in New York City; it is widely renowned for its large selection of draft beers and cask ales. It is located in downtown Brooklyn on the famous Atlantic Avenue strip.

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