Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire

279 Pages·2009·3.51 MB·English

by  Tara Nummedal

alchemy and authority in the holy roman empire

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alchemy and authority in
the holy roman empire
tara nummedal
the university of chicago press
chicago and london
tara nummedal is assistant professor of history at Brown University.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2007 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2007
Printed in the United States of America
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-60856-3 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-60856-5 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nummedal, Tara
Alchemy and authority in the Holy Roman Empire / Tara Nummedal.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-226-60856-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Alchemy—History.
2. Alchemists—History—Sources. 3. Holy Roman Empire—History. I. Title.
qd13.n86 2007
540.1’12094—dc22
2007002521
(cid:2)(cid:2) The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1992.
in memoriam
Lara J. Moore, 1971–2003

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contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgments xi
Note on Early Modern Weights and Measures xv
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction 1
1. Assembling Expertise 17
2. The Alchemist’s Personae 40
3. Entrepreneurial Alchemy 73
4. Contracting the Philosophers’ Stone 96
5. Laboratories, Space, and Secrecy 119
6. Betrüger on Trial 147
Conclusion: The Problem of Authority 177
Notes 181
Selected Bibliography 235
Index 255
vii

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figures
1. Distilling furnaces, as depicted in [Peter Kertzenmacher], Alchimia das ist
alle Farben, Wasser, Olea, Salia, und Alumina . . . zubereyten, 1570 26
2. An alchemist receiving the donum dei, as depicted in Thomas Norton,
The Ordinall of Alchimy, 1652 29
3. Distillation and assaying apparatus, as depicted on the title page of
Lazarus Ercker, Beschreibung allerfürnemisten mineralischen Ertzt
unnd Berckwercksarten, 1580 37
4. Engraving by Philips Galle after Pieter Brueghel the Elder, The Alchemist,
ca. 1558 41
5. Woodcut depicting alchemical folly in Francesco Petrarca, Von der Artzney
bayder Glück, des guten und widerwertigen, 1532 52
6. Woodcut accompanying the chapter “De falsariis” in Sebastian Brant,
Stultifera navis, 1498 58
7. Engraving of Stuttgart ducal gardens by Matthaeus Merian, in Esaias van
Hulsen, Repraesentatio der fürstlichen aufzug und Ritterspil, 1616 123
8. Pelican and other glassware, from Hieronymus Brunschwig, Liber de arte
Distillandi, 1512 126
9. Cupels, molds, and balls of ash, from Lazarus Ercker, Beschreibung
allerfürnemisten mineralischen Ertzt unnd Berckwercksarten, 1580 127
10. An assay balance in parts, from Lazarus Ercker, Beschreibung
allerfürnemisten mineralischen Ertzt unnd Berckwercksarten, 1580 128
11. Touch needles and touchstones, from Lazarus Ercker, Beschreibung
allerfürnemisten mineralischen Ertzt unnd Berckwercksarten, 1580 129
12. The execution of Georg Honauer, ca. 1597 157
13. Frontispiece to Michael Maier, Examen fucorum pseudo-chymicorum,
1617 165
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