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Alchemical Belief: Occultism in the Religious Culture of Early Modern England PDF

238 Pages·2011·12.841 MB·English
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ALCHEMICAL BELIEF THE MAGIC IN HISTORY SERIES FORBIDDEN RITES BATTLING DEMONS A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the Richard Kieckhefer Late Middle Ages Michael D. Bailey CONJURING SPIRITS Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic PRAYER, MAGIC, AND THE STARS IN THE Edited by Claire Fanger LATE ANCIENT AND ANTIQUE WORLD Edited by Scott Noegel, Joel Walker, RITUAL MAGIC and Brannon Wheeler Elizabeth M. Butler BINDING WORDS THE FORTUNES OF FAUST Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages Elizabeth M. Butler Don C. Skemer THE BATHHOUSE AT MIDNIGHT STRANGE REVELATIONS An Historical Survey of Magic and Magic, Poison, and Sacrilege in Divination in Russia Louis XIV’s France W. F. Ryan Lynn Wood Mollenauer SPIRITUAL AND DEMONIC MAGIC UNLOCKED BOOKS From Ficino to Campanella Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval D. P. Walker Libraries of Central Europe Benedek Láng ICONS OF POWER Ritual Practices in Late Antiquity Naomi Janowitz The Magic in History series explores the role magic and the occult have played in European culture, religion, science, and politics. Titles in the series will bring the resources of cultural, literary, and social history to bear on the history of the magic arts, and will contribute towards an understanding of why the theory and practice of magic have elicited fascination at every level of European society. Volumes will include both editions of important texts and significant new research in the field. y r o t s i h AlchemicAl Belief in the Occultism ReligiOus cultuRe n of eaRly mOdeRn england i bruce Janacek c i g a m the pennsylvania state univeRsity pRess univeRsity paRk, pennsylvania I would like to thank Cambridge University Press for permission to reprint an earlier version of chapter 4 that appeared in Rethinking the Scientific Revolution, ed. Margaret Jacob (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 89–118. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Janacek, Bruce, 1961– Alchemical belief : occultism in the religious culture of early modern England / Bruce Janacek. p. cm. — (Magic in history) Summary: “Explores the practice of alchemy in the context of the religious and political tensions in late Elizabethan and early Stuart England, and the use of occult knowledge to demonstrate proof of theological doctrines”—Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. isbn 978-0-271-05013-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. England—Church history—1485– . 2. Alchemy—Religious aspects—Christianity—History. 3. Alchemy—England—History. I. Title. BR757.J36 2011 261.5'13094209031—dc22 2011015428 Copyright © 2011 The Pennsylvania State University All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA 16802–1003 It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Material, ANSI Z39.48–1992. This book is printed on Natures Natural, which contains 50% post-consumer waste. In Loving Memory of Susan Beaudette “But thy eternal summer shall not fade” William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18, line 9 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. . . . —Genesis 2:8–12 (KJV) Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. —Malachi 3:1–4 (KJV) CONTENTS List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1 Thomas Tymme and Natural Philosophy: Schism and Alchemical Unity in the Book of Nature 16 2 Robert Fludd, Natural Theology, and the Alchemical Debate of 1623 43 3 Francis Bacon, Alchemy, and the Great Redemption 75 4 Catholic Natural Philosophy: Alchemy and the Revivification of Sir Kenelm Digby 99 5 Elias Ashmole: The Collection and Culmination of Alchemical Thought 128 Epilogue 160 Notes 165 Bibliography 193 Index 211 ILLuSTRATIONS Fig. 1 | Thomas Tymme’s explanation of the Trinity according to alchemical elements in his Light in Darkness. Ashmole MS 1459, p. 475. By permission of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. 28 Fig. 2 | Anthony Van Dyck, Venetia Stanley, Lady Digby, on Her Deathbed, 1633. By permission of the Trustees of Dulwich Gallery. 100 Figs. 3 and 4 | A letter Ashmole copied in the blank interleaves of his personal copy of the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum and his notes on the printed page. Ashmole MS 972, fol. 190v. By permission of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. 130–131 Fig. 5 | Ashmole’s description and sketch of George Ripley’s sepulcher in a blank interleaf of Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum. Ashmole MS 972, fol. 286r. By permission of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. 153 Fig. 6 | Ashmole’s description of Samuel Norton’s sepulcher in a blank interleaf of Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum. Ashmole MS 972, fol. 300v. By permission of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. 154

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