Chapter 17

CHAPTER X

✦

FAMOUS ALCHEMISTS OF MEDIEVAL

TIMES

MUCH of the story of alchemy may be gleaned from the
lives of those who were engaged in its study and
from the works they left behind them. We know that from
the thirteenth to the fifteenth century their ranks were re¬
cruited from men of various classes, for Albertus Magnus,
writing about the middle of the thirteenth century, says:
“I find abbots, superiors, canons, physicians, and many
unskilled folk who prosecuted this art.” The majority appear
to have been men who belonged to various religious orders,
theologians, philosophers, and thinkers, who were drawn to
the art not with the sole aim of making gold. These were
the mystics, many of whom were enthusiastic and honest
workers who sought knowledge by means of experiments
and serious study, with the object, no doubt, of solving the
mysteries that surrounded the prolongation of life and dis¬
covering the agent by means of which transmutation could
be carried out.

The mystic alchemists made the spiritual motive their chief
object and the making of gold secondary; some declared that
they “thereby hoped to make gold so common that it would
cease to have value for mankind.” They believed that the true
transformation or the transmutation of one thing into another
could be effected only by spiritual means acting on the spirit of
the thing, “because the transmutation consisted essentially in
raising the substance to the highest perfection whereof it was
capable.” The result of the spiritual action might become
apparent in the material form of the substance.

LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

Then there were those who may be termed the pseudo¬
alchemists — the fraudulent rogues, unskilled and ignorant, who
sought to trade on the credulity of others. These men were
the charlatans who used the phrases of alchemy to deceive their
dupes. The mystery by which the art was purposely sur¬
rounded and the mixture of magic and astrology combined to
make the practice of the pseudo-alchemist a successful one, and
those who consulted him were easily deceived by his pretended
learning.

Some of the mystic alchemists, like Albertus Magnus
(Albertus Groot), although they were not professed practitioners
of the art were believers in it, and regarded it as a branch of
science and philosophy. Albertus Groot was bom at Lauingen,
on the Danube, in 1193. He became a member of the Order
of Dominicans in 1222, and afterward taught philosophy and
theology in Hildesheim and Paris. In 1260 he was made Bishop
of Regensburg, but after three years resigned the see and retired
to a monastery at Cologne, where he died in 1280.

He wrote many works on alchemy, but some attributed to him
are said to be spurious. He is stated to have been the first to
use the word ‘alkali’ with reference to caustic potash, and he
mentions lead oxide, iron sulphate, and cream of tartar in his
writings. In a treatise entitled Libellus de Alchemia attributed
to him he records his untiring search for the Philosopher’s Stone
and the Elixir of Life, which he apparently pursued in a real
spirit of research. In commenting on those who had been lured
to alchemy he remarks how many of them were reduced to
poverty in their search, and gives the following rules and con¬
ditions that the alchemist should observe in his pursuit :

First. He should be discreet and silent, revealing to no one the
result of his operations.

Second. He should reside in a private house in an isolated
situation.

Third. He should choose his days and hours for labour with
discretion.

Fourth. He should have patience, diligence, and perseverance.

ALCHEMISTS OF MEDIEVAL TIMES

Fifth. He should perform according to fixed rules.

Sixth. He should use only vessels of glass or glazed earthenware.

Seventh. He should be sufficiently rich to bear the expenses of

his art.

Eighth. He should avoid having anything to do with princes

and noblemen.

Considerable obscurity surrounds the life of Raymond Lully,
whose name became famous in the thirteenth century. Many
of the works attributed to him are now declared to have been
written by another person of the same name. Elias Ashmole
attributes to him the poem called Hermes' Bird , a very curious
piece of alchemical lore.

The original Lully is said to have been descended from a
noble Spanish family and was born in Majorca about 1235. He
first devoted himself to the study of science, but when about the
age of thirty he became a monk of the Order of the Minorites
and eventually a missionary.

According to tradition, he took up the study of alchemy from
the desire to cure a girl who was suffering from cancer. After¬
ward he wandered through Europe to acquire a further know¬
ledge of the science.

There is a story told by Elias Ashmole that John Cremer,
Abbot of Westminster, met him in Italy and persuaded him to
come to London, that he worked in Westminster Abbey, where,
a long time afterward, the cell which he occupied was discovered,
and that in it was found a quantity of gold-dust. The Abbot
of Westminster, who was also an alchemist and had been search¬
ing for the Philosopher’s Stone for thirty years, told King
Edward III about Lully.

Another story states that when Lully arrived in London
lodgings in the Tower were assigned to him and that there he
made gold. Constantinus, writing in 1515, declares that he
actually saw “the golden pieces that were coined from the
metal, which at that time were still named in England the nobles
of Raymond or Rose nobles.”

LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

As no record can be found of any Abbot of Westminster
called John Cremer, both of these stories are probably ficti¬
tious.

Lully is said to have written a treatise on the Emerald Tablet,
and in some of the works attributed to him methods of making
nitric acid are described, together with its action on certain
metals. He is also said to have made alcohol by distillation
and to have known how to dehydrate it by the aid of potassium
carbonate, which he obtained by calcining cream of tartar. He
also recorded methods of making various tinctures and of obtain¬
ing essential oils from plants. In a fourteenth-century manu¬
script attributed to him, and now in the library of the Escorial,
a list of the various names and synonyms of the substances used
in his time are recorded.

In his later years he again devoted himself to missionary
work and left Rome, where he had been living, to preach the
Gospel in Africa. He was seventy-seven years of age when he
landed at Bugia or Bona, in Algeria, to begin his mission, but,
according to the story, he so irritated the Mohammedans when
he landed by cursing their Prophet that they stoned him and
left him to die on the seashore. His religious activities are still
recorded in the island of his birth, and he left behind him a
following of believers, the Lullists, who after a time spread over
Europe.

Another alchemist of the mystical type was Thomas Aquinas,
a man of deep religious principles. He entered the Order of
the Dominicans early in life, and later studied under Albertus
Magnus at Cologne and Paris. Of his work little is known, but
from his writings it may be judged that he was averse from
fraud and trickery. Like other alchemists of his time, he knew
that there were substances that could make metals white, and
that there were others, like sulphur and arsenic, that could give
them a golden hue. Thus he says: “Add to copper some white
sublimated arsenic and you will see the copper turn white. If
you then add some pure silver you transform all the copper into
80

ALCHEMISTS OF MEDIEVAL TIMES

veritable silver.” He evidently believed that the base metals
could be changed in nature by being deeply coloured. Brass he

THE STONING OF RAYMOND LULLY
From a woodcut (1515)

regarded as metal on the way to becoming gold, and copper
whitened by silver as a metal being changed to silver.

That there were those in his time who were ready to use this
knowledge for fraudulent purposes is evident from his observa¬
tion that “ to sell gold and silver made by the alchemist, if it has
F 81

LURE <$? ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

not the nature of true gold and silver, is fraudulent. If, how¬
ever, it is true gold or silver the transaction is lawful.”

Arnaldus de Villa Nova, who became celebrated in the thir¬
teenth century, was contemporary with Raymond Lully. He
is said by some to have been born about 1235 at Villeneuve-
Loubet, near Avignon, but by others he is stated to have been a
native of Spain. He was educated by the Dominicans and first
took up the study of medicine, later going to Aix and thence to
Paris, where Roger Bacon and Albertus Magnus were teaching
philosophy. Here he remained for ten years, taking the degree
of Master of Arts and acquiring a great reputation as a physician.
To further his studies he went to Montpellier, which was then
the centre of medical teaching of the Arabian school, and after
completing his studies he travelled to Barcelona, whither his
fame had preceded him, and was appointed chief physician at
the Court of Aragon. It is said that when travelling in Italy
he met Raymond Lully and helped to lay the foundations of
Lully’s reputation as an alchemist. Returning to Montpellier
in 1289, he travelled on to Paris, where he became involved in
religious controversies which ended in his being thrown into
prison and the burning of his books. Through the intervention
of the Archbishop of Paris he recovered his liberty, and in 1301
resolved to leave France and settle in Italy. Three years later
we find him at the Papal Court of Benedict XI, after the death
of whom he lived for some years in Sicily as physician to King
Ferdinand, the brother of James, King of Aragon, who had
always remained his friend. Summoned to the bedside of Pope
Clement V at Avignon, he remained at the palace for some time
until he was sent on a mission to Naples, where, it is said, he
again met Lully and was able for a time to continue his work in
alchemy.

In 13 1 1 he returned to Paris, and when passing through
Avignon on his journey he was offered the post of chief physician
to Pope Clement V, who retained a great regard for him. He
declined to accept the position and continued his journey.
82

ALCHEMISTS OF MEDIEVAL TIMES

Unfortunately he again got involved in religious troubles in
Paris, and in fear of the Inquisition he left hurriedly for Sicily.
During the voyage to Palermo the vessel in which he sailed was
wrecked on the coast of Africa, but he managed to reach his
destination in safety. While in Palermo he wrote a work on
the School of Salerno which added to his fame. In 1313 he was
again summoned to Avignon to attend Pope Clement and started
off on the journey, but when near Genoa he was taken ill. He
died on the ship and was buried at Genoa in 1313.

Amaldus was a remarkable man in many ways. A friend and
confidant of kings and popes, he was celebrated for his learning
throughout most of the countries of Europe. As an alchemist
he believed in the doctrine of transmutation and was a seeker for
the Philosopher’s Stone. He introduced the idea of the spirit
of vital principle, or what was afterward called the quintessence,
which became so notable a feature in the speculation of the
mystics at a later period. He was one of the first to use alcohol
for making preparations of drugs, and employed it in making
tinctures and elixirs. He considered a solution of gold to be “a
most perfect medicine,” and as such it was regarded by some as
the true Elixir of Life, a belief which persisted for centuries
afterward.

It was not men of comparative poverty only who took up the
study of alchemy, for we find some who had wealth and affluence
among those who devoted their lives to the pursuit. Of the
latter type was Bernard of Treves, who, from the age of fourteen
until he was eighty-five, is said to have toiled incessantly in his
laboratory in the quest for the Stone.

Born at Treves or Padua in 1406, the son of a wealthy man
who left him a large fortune, Bernard became fascinated by
alchemy, and when still a youth began to study the works of the
Arabian alchemists with assiduity. When he was twenty he
formed a friendship with a friar of the Order of St Francis who
had similar tastes, and together they became persuaded that in
highly rectified spirit of wine they would find the universal

LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

solvent that would aid them in transmutation. They worked
for three years and spent three hundred crowns before they
discovered that they were mistaken. They next turned their
attention to investigating alum and copperas, but were again un¬
successful. Attracted by their labours, adepts, to whom Bernard
gave a share of his wealth, came from all parts to aid them.

After losing his friend the friar Bernard was joined by a magis¬
trate of Treves who had formed a belief that the sea was the
mother of gold, and that sea-water was capable of changing lead
and iron into the precious metal. Impressed by this idea,
Bernard resolved to investigate it and transported his laboratory
to the shores of the Baltic, where he worked on salt for over a
year, but, in spite of his experiments in melting, subliming, and
crystallizing it, he found he was no nearer his goal.

When he reached the age of fifty he determined to travel and
seek the experiences of other alchemists. He first went to
France, where he remained for five years, when, hearing that
one Master Henry, confessor to the Emperor Frederick III, had
discovered the Stone, he set out for Germany. Accompanied
by five other adepts he met on the way, he duly arrived in
Vienna, where he was entertained by the alchemists of that city.
He gained an interview with Master Henry, who frankly told
him that, although he had been searching for the Stone all his
life, he had not found it, but was prepared to go on searching
until he died.

Master Henry proved to be a man after Bernard’s own heart,
and they vowed each other eternal friendship. At their instance
the alchemists of Vienna were got together, and at a meeting it
was resolved, as all were equally interested in the quest, that
each man present should contribute a certain sum toward rais¬
ing forty-two marks of gold . Master Henry confidently told them
that if they did so he would in five days increase the gold five¬
fold by means of his furnace. Bernard, ever generous, contri¬
buted ten marks as his share, while Master Henry and the others
gave one or two each.

ALCHEMISTS OF MEDIEVAL TIMES

On the day appointed for the great experiment all assembled
in a laboratory, and the gold marks collected were placed in a
crucible together with a quantity of salt, copperas, aqua fortis,
mercury, lead, eggshells, and excrement. The company
gathered round and watched with intense interest, fully expect¬
ing that when taken from the furnace the crucible would be
found to contain molten gold. But alas, after persevering with
the experiment for three weeks, they found that the gold in the
crucible amounted to the value of sixteen marks, instead of the
forty-two which had been put in.

Although Bernard made no gold in Vienna he parted with a
great deal, and in discouragement gave up his search for two
months. Later, hearing that a famous alchemist in Rome had
discovered the secret, he set out for that city. He was again
disappointed, and journeyed on to Messina and thence took
ship to Cyprus, Greece, and Constantinople. For eight years he
wandered through Palestine and Egypt and eventually reached
Persia. The journey, he tells us, cost him 13,000 crowns, and,
becoming short of money on his return, he had to sell a portion
of his estates. It is said that he next visited England and stayed
four years, but eventually he returned to Treves at the age of
sixty-two, an impoverished man.

His relatives, who regarded him as mad, refused to have any¬
thing to do with him, but, still confident of ultimate success in
his quest, he retired to the island of Rhodes. Here he met a
monk who also was an enthusiast in alchemy, but neither had
the money to carry on experiments. After negotiating for a
year Bernard at last found a merchant in Rhodes who agreed to
advance him 8000 florins on the security of the last remaining
portion of the alchemist’s estates. He recommenced his labours
with renewed vigour, and ate, slept, and lived in his laboratory.
He still dreamed of his work being crowned with success when
he had almost come to his last coin, and at the age of eighty
starvation stared him in the face. There is a legend that he at
last succeeded in discovering the secret of transmutation when

LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

in his eighty-second year, and that he lived for three years
longer, enjoying the wealth it afforded him until he died in 1490.
According to his own account, written in his last years, he had
made a more important discovery than that of the Stone in at
length finding the secret of contentment.

Bernard’s life affords an interesting illustration of the zealous
labours of some of the workers in alchemy who were lured by
the quest for the transmuting agent which always eluded them.
They travelled from country to country at a time when such
journeys were difficult and arduous, and doubtless suffered great
hardships and privations in pursuit of a chimera which ever
baffled them but ever led them on.

Little is known of the life of Trithemius, another mystic
philosopher and theologian, who afterward became famous as
the instructor of Paracelsus. He is said to have been born at
the village of Tritheim, near Treves, in 1462. His father, John
Heidenberg, was a poor vine-grower in the district and died
before his son reached the age of seven. Until he was fifteen
the son continued to work in the vineyards, but devoted his
nights to the study of Greek and Latin, with the ambition of
going to a university to take a course in philosophy. This he
did, remaining at the university until he was twenty, when a
great desire came upon him to see his mother, and one day he
set out on foot for his native village. As he approached Spann-
heim, late on a winter’s evening, a heavy snowstorm came on
and so blocked the road that he could proceed no farther. At
length he stumbled on a monastery, where he found refuge for
the night, but the snow continued to fall for seven days and
rendered the roads impassable. The hospitable monks would
not hear of his departure and persuaded him to stay on with
them. He became so impressed with their manner of life that
he resolved to enter their order and renounce the world. He was
gladly received as a brother, and grew so beloved that in the
course of two years the brethren elected him as their abbot.

The monastery at that time was falling into ruin, but Tri-

AN ALCHEMIST

From a drawing in a manuscript of the fifteenth century

SYMBOLIC FIGURE

It represents “The Blessed Stone — the Sun and Sulphur with hys Mercurie,
bothe Bodi and Soul to God and Man.”

From an alchemical manuscript of the fifteenth century

ALCHEMISTS OF MEDIEVAL TIMES

themius took affairs in hand and, by good management, not
only restored the building, but reorganized the community. He
set the brethren to work to copy manuscripts of the great philo¬
sophers and ancient writers until they possessed a fine library.

He remained Abbot of Spannheim for twenty-one years,
spending much of his time in the study of alchemy and the
occult sciences. He is reputed to have practised both magic
and sorcery, and there is a story that he raised from the grave
the spirit of Mary of Burgundy at the instance of her hus¬
band, the Emperor Maximilian. Eventually T rithemius became
Abbot of St James at Wurzburg, and remained there until his
death in 1516.

The monasteries at this period were the nurseries of the
sciences, and the fame of Trithemius spread throughout the
country, many students journeying to Spannheim to learn from
him the secrets of the arts. Among them was Paracelsus, who
is said to have remained at the monastery for some time and
gathered many secrets from the Abbot.

The story of Nicholas Flamel, who is supposed to have lived
in Paris between 1330 and the end of that century, is one of
romantic interest. He is said by some to have been a fictitious
personage, and there are certainly doubts whether he ever
existed ; on the other hand, it is probable that the story of his
life may have been woven round some alchemist who flourished
at a later date.

What is known of him is contained in an account of his life
which is said to have been discovered after his death. He tells
us that he earned his living as a scrivener in Paris and that he
lived in the Rue Notaire, near the church of Saint- Jacques-la-
Boucherie, in the year 1399. After the death of his parents
Nicholas continued to carry on his work of writing and engross¬
ing inventories and other documents, and in the course of his
avocation he one day met with a very large and ancient gilded
book, which he bought for two florins. The leaves of the book
appeared to him like the rinds of young trees, and the brass

LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

covers bore a curious kind of lettering which he took to be
Greek or some ancient language. The book contained thrice
seven leaves, so numbered at the top of each folio, and on every
seventh leaf were painted images and figures instead of writing.
On the first leaf of the first section was depicted a virgin who
was being swallowed by serpents, on that of the second section
was a cross upon which a serpent was crucified, while on that
of the last section a wilderness, watered by many fair fountains
out of which issued a number of writhing serpents, was re¬
presented. The first leaf of the book contained the following
inscribed in great characters of gold: “Abraham the Jew, Prince,
Levite, Astrologer, and Philosopher, unto the Jewish nation
scattered through France by the wrath of God; wishing health
in the name of the Lord of Israel.” Thereafter followed great
execrations and maledictions against anyone who should glance
within unless he were a priest or a scribe.

The first leaves contained consolations to the Jewish race,
and the last of the written leaves dealt with the transmutation
of metals, which the author said he set down in order to help
his captive nation in paying tribute to the Roman emperors.
No mention, however, was made of the prime agent necessary
for transmutation, but he indicated that he had figured and
emblazoned it with great care on the fourth and fifth leaves.

Nicholas then describes some of the illuminated figures on
those leaves, which included a representation of the god Mer¬
cury, a fair flower on the top of a mountain, a rose-bush in flower
in a garden, and a king carrying a falchion causing his soldiers
to destroy a multitude of little children. Perceiving that the
latter depicted the slaughter of the innocents by Herod, and
believing that he had learned the main part of the art from the
book, Nicholas resolved that he would place in the cemetery of
the Holy Innocents these symbolic representations of the secret
science.

Being unable to interpret the other emblematical pictures,
Nicholas was at length induced to show the book to one Anselm,

ALCHEMISTS OF MEDIEVAL TIMES

a licentiate in medicine and a deep student of the art. He pro¬
fessed to solve them, but, his interpretations being more subtle
than true, Nicholas states that after experimenting for twenty-
one years he gave up all hope of understanding the figures.

At last he resolved to set out on a pilgrimage to the monastery
of St James, in Spain, in the hope of meeting some Jewish priest
who might have a key to the enigma. The journey was in vain,
but when returning he met at Leon a merchant of Boulogne
who introduced him to a Master Canches, a doctor of great
learning who was a Christianized Jew. At the sight of the
figures which Nicholas had copied from the book he was ravished
with wonder and joy. He began at once to decipher them, and
agreed to accompany Nicholas back to Paris to see the originals,
but on reaching Orleans he fell sick and died.

Nicholas arrived safely back in Paris, and was welcomed with
joy by his wife, Perrenelle. He told her that he had at least
gained some knowledge from the Jewish doctor, especially of the
“first matter.” He then set to work, and after experimenting
for three years he at length succeeded in making the “prime
agent,” which was revealed to him by a “strong odour.” On
the first occasion he used it (January 17, 1392) he transmuted
half a pound of mercury into pure silver in the presence of his
wife. On April 25 he made a projection of the Red Stone on
the same amount of mercury and changed it into the same quan¬
tity of pure gold : he carried out this operation three times.

Nicholas thus soon became very wealthy and resolved to
devote his riches for the good of mankind. Before the end of
1413 he and his wife had founded fourteen hospitals, built three
chapels, provided seven churches with gifts, and restored ceme¬
teries in both Paris and Boulogne.

In concluding his story Nicholas adjures those who wish to
attain the inestimable possession of the “ Golden Fleece ” not to
purchase earthly possessions with the proceeds, but to use them
in helping their brethren and in relieving the poor and sick,
widows and orphans.

LURE e? ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

The reputed tombstone of Nicholas Flamel, which bears the
date 1418 and is said to have been found in the old church
of Saint- Jacques-la-Boucherie, is now preserved in the Cluny
Museum in Paris.

There is a tradition, related by a chronicler, that Nicholas
Flamel gave some of his Red Stone to a nephew of his wife
named Perrier, and that from him it passed to a Dr Perrier. On
his death it was found among the effects of his grandson, named
Dubois. Dubois exhibited it to Louis XIII, and with it trans¬
muted some base metal into gold in the presence of the King.
He was then asked to make some more of the Red Stone, which
he promised to do. However, he failed to produce it and,
according to the story, was hanged in consequence.

ALCHEMISTS AT WORK IN A LABORATORY

From a woodcut
Brunschwig, 1507