Jacobus Publicius is one of the forgotten forefathers of systematized mental training.

Until now.

And we sure need him in today’s world.

Whereas many people today reach for brain exercise apps, I recommend you train with his memory wheel technique.

Why?

For one thing, his influence on mnemonic theory was so strong, his book was copied thousands of times.

Other memory experts borrowed his visual alphabet and built upon his memory improvement program.

But there’s nothing quite like the original.

Especially when the focus is on exercises that make both your thinking speed and your memory sharper.

That’s why in this post I’ll explain everything you need to know about this incredible scholar, physician and rhetorician.

This article includes how to get started using his incredible memory and brain training program.

It’s the kind of training that helped people during the Renaissance build beautiful buildings, research the cosmos and usher in many of the innovations we still enjoy today.

Unfortunately, not much is known about Jacobus Publicius other than he was a physician, poet and professor of rhetoric who taught at a variety of universities in the fifteenth century.

You won’t find much more about him than that in The Medieval Craft of Memory, one of the few anthologies where you can read his Ars oratoria, Ars epistolandi, Ars memorativa in English.

Sometimes called Oratoriae Artis Epitoma, this book also shows that he designed a chessboard, including an Alfil piece.

Beyond that, little is known about him.

But his influence was huge.

And the reason we should study him is simple:

It helps us better understand the better known memory improvement books of Robert Fludd and Giordano Bruno.

There’s no question that Fludd’s number-shape images and mnemonic alphabet were heavily influenced by Publicius.

And although we often take Ramon Lull’s memory wheels as the source of influence on Bruno, there’s reason to believe that Bruno copied a great deal of his On the Composition of Images from Publicius.

Because Publicius traveled so much to teach at various schools, his book and his teaching instituted memory training in schools.

Although many would have had Rhetorica ad Herennium to draw upon, that famous book is not nearly as high-powered as what Publicius offered those seeking mental training routines.

Plus, we have to take into account the fact that the printing press was relatively new in Europe. As Lynne Kelly puts it in Memory Craft, his was the first of many printed memory guides.

If Publicius really did print the first memory guide in Europe, it would have been a very novel learning resource indeed. Any other memory books at the time would have been by people like Aristotle, Aquinas and Augustine, important texts that copyists would have hand-copied and kept in circulation.

If you want to know how to use this particular memory wheel, it’s important to begin with what Publicius is not offering.

This matters for one very important reason:

Unfortunately, many people believe that our ancestors used memory wheels as a kind of Memory Palace.

That’s not the case at all. If you want to use Memory Palaces, please go through my full guide on using the Memory Palace technique properly.

You can use memory wheels in a few different ways, ranging from critical thinking and asking questions in a particular order to generating mnemonic images.

It’s for the purposes of training your brain to rapidly come up with mnemonic associations that Publicius offers his memory wheel.

As Clément Poupard has shown in Learning the Art of Memory by Doing, Publicius wanted you to use the memory wheel to train your brain.

In the image above, you can see one kind of memory wheel that Publicius included in his book.

Notice the snake in the center.

It was actually meant to be spun by the person reading the book. That makes this form of the memory wheel a kind of volvelle.

Volvelles are charts that operate like analog computers, compressing information into smaller spaces. In this case, the information helps you play a game.

For example, in the image above, the snake’s head faces C and the tail points at F.

You get memory exercise in coming up with mnemonic images by placing vowels between the consonants C and F to create words.

Playing it myself now, I can think of:

Now, you’ll notice that I haven’t strictly placed the F consonant at the end of each word.

That’s fine. The point is to get in some mental exercise and stretch the mind to play the game as closely as possible to the rules.

For more brain exercises like this that involve words, images and even your body, check out my complete guide to brain exercise.

Although this is just one kind of memory wheel explained, I hope you find it useful. You certainly can use it as a kind of Memory Palace, but that’s not at all the point in the case of Publicius’ book.

Publicius left us a few texts.

One is all about rhetoric, focusing on how to persuade people by writing and delivering speeches from memory.

The next part teaches you how to write letters elegantly.

Finally, his Ars Memoritiva (art of memory) takes you through how to use what he considered the best memory techniques.

Although there’s overlap with other memory trainers, such as Peter of Ravenna, the uniqueness of his book on memory boils down to:

Another unique aspect of Publicius’ work is the woodcut illustrations.

Some people believe these were created for him by Erhard Ratdolt, but I haven’t been able to confirm this as a fact.

Whoever created them, each illustration is evocative and helpful for understanding Publicius’ program.

Many people ask me who is the best memory expert to read from the world of ancient memory techniques.

Although it’s natural to want to optimize your learning journey, I believe it’s best to keep your learning goal in mind.

For example, if you want to learn Chinese, you can take inspiration from Matteo Ricci. He was the Jesuit memory master who travelled to China, so without question his goals will align with your own.

Or, if you’re interested in philosophy, Bruno’s use of the memory wheel for ars combinatoria (the art of combination) puts you in the right ballpark.

But when it comes to a book that combines memory training with mental fitness exercises, Publicius is fantastic.

I just wouldn’t suggest reading any of these older Memory Palace books as stand-alone textbooks. They all have their strengths and complement one another.

Even the strangest entries are worth looking at, such as the Ars Notoria. In fact, if you want a good historical overview, the Matthias Castle translation of Ars Notoria is much better than what Yates wrote in The Art of Memory.

If what you’ve discovered so far interests you, the following question might be on your mind.

Or, there might be some angles to consider that you haven’t yet considered.

Let me answer them for you now.

In addition to the fact that people like Carruthers commented on and translated Publicius without working as mnemonists themselves, a much bigger problem emerged in the 20th century.

Harry Lorayne, who was unquestionably influential, hid his references. Rather than name his sources, he would just say that he learned memory techniques from “dusty old books in the library.”

Tony Buzan was a bit more oriented towards sharing his sources.

But not that much more. In The Memory Book, he presents SEM3 as if the mnemonic system is utterly unique to himself.

That’s a shame because Publicius was not like this. He talks about many other figures in his writing and their influence on him.

And my work on the Magnetic Memory Method blog, YouTube channel and podcast has always shared as many other memory books, courses and other resources as I can possibly study.

Unlike other memory wheels, this one specifically trains your mind to get good at coming up with mnemonic associations at speed.

You could potentially use it as a Memory Palace, but that’s not its express purpose.

Publicius actually teaches the Memory Palace technique separately. There’s nothing particularly new in that section, so I suggest you dive deep into his exercises. Not all of them involve the wheel, but most benefit from referring to it.

In a word, yes.

Even if people eventually adopt brain implants, I believe some of them will still want to switch off, unplug and train using their “native” brains.

As things stand now, so many are talking about how AI is leading to brain rot.

Sabine Hossenfelder recently predicted in this video that brain exercise and memory training would rise in importance.

And Andrew Mayne, host of the Open AI Podcast recently wrote in support of my work:

“Anthony is a brilliant teacher and scholar of ancient memory methods. I think people like him are going to be even more important as we become dependent on AI.”

Although it’s possible that one day we won’t need memory training techniques, I think that’s unlikely.

Even if we only use them for fun in the future, we’ll still want to know about and use a wide range of memory training routines. Including those offered by Publicius.

Yes, and by completing the exercises offered by Publicius, you’ll increase the likelihood of success.

I’m actually working on that now with an experiment that I share in the Rules Reborn video supplements.

So far the approach is working great and I’ll share more in the future.

Although I believe everyone will find his training useful, I think specifically this book is helpful for people who:

I first started adapting ancient memory books years ago with Aristotle’s De Memoria and have always wanted to continue this work.

My passion for engaging in this work stems from the low quality of so many memory books.

On top of that, many of the books created by memory competitors are about short-term retention.

My best results have come from the ancient books and their focus on memory techniques that lead to long-term recall abilities.

Plus, it’s fun to learn more Latin by translating it and hear the voices of other memory teachers in my mind.

I am, as Tyson Yunkaporta put it, a “custodian of memory.”

Yunkaporta also said I might become the first person to identify a “unified theory of memory.”

As kind as that is as a complement, I believe that theory has long been with us. I prefer the custodian part, and believe it’s my duty to combine my many years of using memory techniques with providing versions of older books with commentaries from this perspective.

I want to help you better understand what Publicius was talking about. And help you put his techniques and training tips into action.

The liberal part of my brain says that you should start with whatever appeals to you.

But if you are already struggling with modern memory improvement books, the answer is probably not.

Although I’ve done my best to modernize his ideas and fill in the gaps left by his “shorthand” style, there’s still an assumption that you already know at least something about memory techniques.

It could also be the case that memory training books aren’t the right medium at all. If that’s the case, you will likely benefit from going through my list of memory training courses instead.

Or, memory coaching might be the best option, something I offer myself to very serious clientele.

Ultimately, there are too many places to start. So my best advice is to find someone you know, like and trust.

But instead of just asking them what to read or study, tell them your learning goals. That will enable your memory mentor to guide you with much greater specificity.

In sum, Publicius offers challenging mental activities that take people who already know a little something about memory techniques to the next level.

I’ve done my best to make his work approachable for anyone who can read at a high school level, so it’s definitely worth having in your collection. Even if only for future use.

You can find versions of Publicius’ work in Latin across the web.

The only English version I’m aware of is in Carruthers’ Medieval Craft of Memory.

However, she doesn’t seem to be a mnemonist, which is why I created my own version.

Not only is the translation in that compilation loaded with long walls of text, it misses the meaning of the suggestions, steps and explicit memory training instructions.

If you’d like to read my adaptation, it’s called Rules Reborn.

In addition to completely rewriting the book based on an in-depth analysis of numerous versions, I wrote a full commentary.

Plus, I recorded the audiobook myself and included a full set of detailed videos to walk you through the various illustrations.

If you’d like a copy, you can find it on the Magnetic Memory Method product page.

Memory training isn’t just about passing exams or learning languages.

As Publicius makes clear, you can use the techniques to think faster, and even enjoy a more aesthetic mind.

He talks about health, sleep and diet too, reminding us that memory is a holistic discipline.

This point is so important in a world that often treats memory techniques as “tricks.”

Medieval memory training and other cognitive memory systems of the Renaissance are about so much more.

They help you learn like a polymath, expanding how much information you can process and retain.

Just looking at people from previous periods and all they accomplished offers us more than enough proof that such mental training activities work.

Their success wasn’t produced by magic. It was created through deliberate practice and consistent mental training.

Jacobus Publicius gave us one of the earliest and most elegant systems for sharpening the mind.

Not only is it still usable today. It’s fascinating, inspiring and a means of connecting with intellectual history.

If you’re ready to experience how this forgotten memory master trained Renaissance minds to brilliance, Rules Reborn is your invitation to step inside his world.

You’ll not only bring the techniques back to life. You’ll also enjoy the rebirth of your mind, memory and speed of thought.

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