The bizarre brazen head myth conjures images of eerie, half-living creations that once captivated medieval imaginations. A brazen head was, in essence, a mechanical effigy purported to speak, answer questions, and foretell the future – an automaton believed to bridge the gap between mortal and divine knowledge. Stories of such inventions come from a world where the lines between alchemy, necromancy, and early scientific inquiry were often blurred and indistinguishable, giving rise to legends of any number of bizarre contraptions.
But what of this bronze head legend? Does it have its roots in the scientific discoveries of ancient Greece? Was it a creation of twelfth century astrologists and alchemists, or was it a misunderstood result of the medieval world’s fixation with the supernatural? This is the weird and wonderful story of the legend of the brazen head.
The Origin of the Story
Albertus Magnus, one of the greatest minds of the Middle Ages (Credit: Br Lawrence Lew, O.P. via Getty Images)
The origins of the brazen head myth are deeply intertwined with some of the most enigmatic figures of medieval science and mysticism.
Pope Sylvester II, born Gerbert of Aurillac, is often credited with creating the first brazen head in the tenth century. According to William of Malmesbury, a chronicler writing around two hundred years later, Gerbert learned astrology and other sciences from the Saracens in Spain and supposedly stole a book of spells to build his talking automaton. This head was said to have been able to answer yes or no questions, including, allegedly, one about his own death.
Similarly, Robert Grosseteste, a thirteenth-century bishop and polymath, is said to have created a brazen head robot using ‘astral science’ to predict future events. It was believed to be ‘a hed of bras to…make it for to telle of suche things as befelle.’ However, legend claims his machine exploded as it was about to be activated.
Albertus Magnus, thirteenth century German Dominican friar, scientist, and one of the most-prominent philosophical and theological minds of the Middle Ages, reportedly spent decades building a brass automaton capable of reasoning and speech. Yet its non-stop chatter was said to have irritated his student Thomas Aquinas so much that he destroyed it. Like many of these stories, there’s no contemporary evidence this ever happened and it may just be part of the broader brazen head myth.
Several other historical figures have also been linked to the legend of the brazen head, including the sixth-century Roman senator Boethius, the twelfth-century royal courtier Etienne de Tours, the thirteenth-century religious reformer and translator Arnaldus de Villa Nova, the sixteenth-century German Renaissance alchemist and magician Georg Faustus, and the Spanish nobleman, alchemist, and scholar Enrique de Villena.
However, while these names frequently appear in medieval and Renaissance lore, their connections to the brazen head are based more on myth and speculation than historical fact. These tales of talking automatons are far more medieval legend than historical fact.
However, it’s often said that one should never let the facts get in the way of a good story, and indeed the most famous figure associated with the brazen head is thirteenth century English friar and philosopher Roger Bacon.
The Tale of Roger Bacon
Doctor Mirabilis Roger Bacon and his brazen head (Credit: duncan1890 via Getty Images)
Born somewhere between 1210 and 1220, Roger Bacon – a scientist, theologian, philosopher and Franciscan friar – was one of the most famous medieval polymaths. This enigmatic medieval figure takes a central role in the legend of the brazen head. Well-known for his pioneering work in optics, alchemy, and early scientific inquiry, he was also a student of the mystical and occult traditions of the age.
According to the sixteenth century prose romance The Famous Historie of Fryer Bacon, and Robert Greene’s Elizabethan play Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, Bacon worked for seven years to create a brass automaton that could speak and reveal profound secrets.
Bacon reportedly collaborated with Friar Bungay, another scholar and ‘magician’, to make the head as a precise replica of a human’s, complete with intricate internal mechanisms resembling natural organs. However, they struggled to animate it. Some accounts claim Bacon sought advice from the Devil himself, who instructed him to power the head using fumes from alchemical plants. After weeks of effort, Bacon and Bungay entrusted a servant to watch over the head while they rested. While they slept, the head came to life and uttered cryptic words, “Time is. Time was. Time is past,” before shattering into pieces, taking its secrets with it.
His ultimate goal – it was said – was to use the bronze head’s knowledge to build a wall of brass around England, protecting the nation from invasion – a vision blending patriotism with mystical ambition.
The Thirteenth Century & Beyond
Miguel de Cervantes referenced the brazen head in Don Quixote (Credit: FierceAbin via Getty Images)
According to legend, these brazen heads possessed extraordinary capabilities. They were said to be able to answer any question put to them, sometimes limited to simple yes or no responses, while other accounts claimed they could provide more detailed prophecies and revelations. This purported omniscience made the brazen head a powerful symbol of what was known as ‘forbidden knowledge.’
While no actual brazen heads have ever been discovered, the legend persisted and evolved beyond the medieval period. The story became intertwined with the development of astronomy and astrology, with some scholars suggesting that it may have been a misinterpretation of early astronomical instruments like the Antikythera Mechanism.
Whether this was simply a mechanical trick, a clever ventriloquist’s device, or a genuine marvel has long been debated. In reality, engineers of the Middle Ages were capable of crafting intricate automata – mechanical birds that flapped their wings, clockwork figures that struck bells – but a fully sentient medieval speaking head remains squarely in the realm of folklore and fiction.
Over the centuries, the brazen head robot story evolved, weaving its way into literature and popular mythology. After the thirteenth century, direct references grew sparse, yet the notion of an intelligent, man-made construct lingered, feeding into later traditions of Renaissance occultism and, eventually, our modern-day explorations of robots and artificial intelligence.
Some of history’s great writers have referenced the brazen head myth, most notably Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote, Daniel Defoe in Journal of the Plague Year, Lord Byron in his epic – albeit unfinished – Don Juan, CS Lewis in That Hideous Strength, and Philip K. Dick in The Zap Gun.
A Legend That Won’t Stay Quiet
Did the bronze head speak... (Credit: narvo vexar via Getty Images)
Though rooted in legend, the idea of the brazen head has endured for centuries. Indeed, the legend of the brazen head may be seen as an early precursor to contemporary ideas of humanoid robots, and even AI technologies such as Siri or ChatGPT. It also underscores how medieval thinkers straddled the line between science and mysticism, their work laying a foundation for both empirical inquiry and wild imagination.
