Five hundred years ago the legend was born of a man who sold his soul to the Devil for power, wealth and women. It is a legend that has inspired genius and still inspires high art and popular culture alike. Around the world there are hundreds of nightly performances of Goethe’s Faust, as well as actual attempts at soul-selling on eBay. Faustus has rightly been described as an ‘icon of modern culture.’ But in 500 years no one has written his biography - until now. Faustus is the real story behind the legend. It is the story of a sixteenth-century scandal, of a man who claimed mastery of the forbidden magical arts and dared to rival the miracles attributed to Jesus. He evoked uproar and was accused of heinous crimes. But Faustus was not a charlatan; nor was he in league with the Devil. To find the real Faustus is to find the true history of his age, and Leo Ruickbe expertly takes the reader on a tour of war-torn Italy, Reformation Wittenberg and the magnificence of Charles V’s court. The life of the legend becomes as real as any living person. Dr Ruickbie has re-evaluated and contextualised the sources of the Faust tradition from a position of authority The result is a work of meticulous scholarship that can be read as a gripping page-turner. Professor Osman Durrani, University of Kent, author of ‘Faust: Icon of Modern Culture’. In looking at Faustus from the magial perspective, Dr Ruickbie himself takes on the sorcerer’s mantle as he summons up a nebulour shade from the distant past, giving it new life and making compelling reading. Alan Richardson, author of ‘Priestess: The Life and Magic of Dion Fortune’. During the Renaissance and Reformation, in a period of major historical changes, a delicate and complicated line separated the historical Faustus from the legendary one. Investigating the lures and dangers of astrology, magic, and devil pacts, Leo Ruickbie succeeds in reconstructing the events that reflect the birth and progress of the Faustian myth, and the man behind it. Professor Frank Baron, University of Kansas, author of ‘Doctor Faustus: From History to Legend
