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Alchemy is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first attested in a number of pseudepigraphical texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt during the first few centuries AD.
Rudolf II was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the House of Habsburg.
Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, died c. 806−816, is the purported author of an enormous number and variety of works in Arabic, often called the Jabirian corpus. The works that survive today mainly deal with alchemy and chemistry, magic, and Shi'ite religious philosophy. However, the original scope of the corpus was vast and diverse, covering a wide range of topics ranging from cosmology, astronomy and astrology, over medicine, pharmacology, zoology and botany, to metaphysics, logic, and grammar.
The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal in alchemy. The philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, divine illumination, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as the Magnum Opus.
Paracelsus, born Theophrastus von Hohenheim, was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance.
A lost literary work is a document, literary work, or piece of multimedia produced some time in the past, of which no surviving copies are known to exist. It can be known only through reference. This term most commonly applies to works from the classical world, although it is increasingly used in relation to modern works. A work may be lost to history through the destruction of an original manuscript and all later copies.
Sir Edward Kelley or Kelly, also known as Edward Talbot, was an English Renaissance occultist and scryer. He is known for working with John Dee in his magical investigations. Besides the professed ability to see spirits or angels in a "shew-stone" or mirror, which John Dee so valued, Kelley also said that he possessed the secret of transmuting base metals into gold, the goal of alchemy, as well as the philosopher's stone itself.
An elemental is a mythic supernatural being that is described in occult and alchemical works from around the time of the European Renaissance, and particularly elaborated in the 16th century works of Paracelsus. According to Paracelsus and his subsequent followers, there are four categories of elementals, which are gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamanders. These correspond to the four Empedoclean elements of antiquity: earth, water, air, and fire, respectively. Terms employed for beings associated with alchemical elements vary by source and gloss.
English physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton produced works exploring chronology, and biblical interpretation, and alchemy. Some of this could be considered occult. Newton's scientific work may have been of lesser personal importance to him, as he placed emphasis on rediscovering the wisdom of the ancients. Historical research on Newton's occult studies in relation to his science have also been used to challenge the disenchantment narrative within critical theory.
Michael Sendivogius was a Polish alchemist, philosopher, and medical doctor. A pioneer of chemistry, he developed ways of purification and creation of various acids, metals and other chemical compounds. He discovered that air is not a single substance and contains a life-giving substance—later called oxygen—170 years before Scheele's discovery of the element. He correctly identified this "food of life" with the gas given off by heating nitre (saltpetre). This substance, the "central nitre", had a central position in Sendivogius' schema of the universe.
Gerhard Dorn was a Belgian philosopher, translator, alchemist, physician and bibliophile.
John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, teacher, astrologer, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. As an antiquarian, he had one of the largest libraries in England at the time. As a political advisor, he advocated the foundation of English colonies in the New World to form a "British Empire", a term he is credited with coining.
The State Library of Württemberg is a large library in Stuttgart, Germany, which traces its history back to the ducal public library of Württemberg founded in 1765. It holds c. 4 million volumes and is thus the fourth-largest library in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The WLB owns an important collection of medieval manuscripts as well as one of the largest Bible collections in the world.
Renaissance magic was a resurgence in Hermeticism and Neo-Platonic varieties of the magical arts which arose along with Renaissance humanism in the 15th and 16th centuries CE. During the Renaissance period, magic and occult practices underwent significant changes that reflected shifts in cultural, intellectual, and religious perspectives. C. S. Lewis, in his work on English literature, highlighted the transformation in how magic was perceived and portrayed. In medieval stories, magic had a fantastical and fairy-like quality, while in the Renaissance, it became more complex and tied to the idea of hidden knowledge that could be explored through books and rituals. This change is evident in the works of authors like Spenser, Marlowe, Chapman, and Shakespeare, who treated magic as a serious and potentially dangerous pursuit.
Martin Ruland the Younger, also known as Martinus Rulandus or Martin Rulandt, was a German physician and alchemist.
Helisaeus Roeslin or Helisäus Röslin was a German physician and astrologer who adopted a geoheliocentric model of the universe. Roeslin attended the University of Tübingen in order to become a physician. After becoming a physician Roeslin became very interested in astrology as well as predicting when the second coming of Christ would occur. He was one of five observers who concluded that the Great Comet of 1577 was located beyond the Moon. His representation of the comet, described as "an interesting, though crude, attempt," was among the earliest and was highly complex. Roeslin also came to the conclusion independently that it was the Sun not the Earth that was center of the Solar System. Today Helisaeus Roeslin is best remembered for his controversies and involvement with geo-heliocentric world systems and for writing books about astronomy. Some of his works consist of a Ratio Studiorum et operum, the Tabella, and De opere Dei creationis.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to alchemy:
Adam Haslmayr was a German writer, who was the first commentator of the Rosicrucian Manifestos. He called the revelation of Paracelsus the "Theophrastia Sancta".
Solomon or Salomon Trismosin was a legendary Renaissance alchemist, claimed possessor of the philosopher's stone and teacher of Paracelsus. He is best known as the author of the alchemical works Splendor Solis and Aureum Vellus.
References
- ↑ Philip Neal. "Surviving alchemical manuscripts of Rudolph II".
- 1 2 3 4 Ole Peter Grell (1998). Paracelsus. p. 163. ISBN 9004111778.
- ↑ René Zandbergen (2017). "The history of the Voynich MS".
- ↑ Christian Callmer (1977). Königin Christina, ihre Bibliothekare und ihre Handschriften.
- ↑ A. Richterová (2016). Alchemical Manuscripts in the collections of Rudolf II. pp. 249–291.