Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire PDF
Preview Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire
alchemy and authority in the holy roman empire G 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 G 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 G 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 ix
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