Alchemy and Rudolf II

Exploring the Secrets of Nature in Central Europe

in the 16th and 17th centuries

Editors
Ivo Purš and Vladimír Karpenko

3
This publication was issued with the support of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

On the book cover:

Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617), Hermes presents Pandora to King Epimetheus, 1611, Kunstmuseum Basel (Inv. Nr. 252).

Published by Artefactum, Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences

© Authors, 2016
© Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 2016

ISBN 978–80–86890–85–2

4
 Contents
Preface
Ivo Purš / 9
Edition and terminological note / 15
Alchemy in Central Europe
and in Imperial Prague
A Path to the Rudolfine World / 19
Vladimír Karpenko
Alchemy at the Aristocratic Courts
of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown / 47
Ivo Purš and Vladimír Karpenko
The Habsburgs on the Bohemian
Throne and Their Interest in Alchemy
and the Occult Sciences / 93
Ivo Purš
The Scientific Education of a Renaissance
Prince: Archduke Rudolf at the Spanish
Court / 129
William Eamon
Rudolf II’s Patronage of Alchemy
and the Natural Sciences / 139
Ivo Purš
“Transforming the Whole Corpus Solis into Liquor
Irreducibilis.” Laboratory Alchemy
at the Court of Emperor Rudolf II / 205
Rudolf Werner Soukup
Transmutation: Miracles and Doubts / 229
Vladimír Karpenko
Alchemical Manuscripts in the Collections of
Rudolf II / 249
Alena Richterová
5
Alchemical Translation in Rudolfine Prague:
The Case of George Ripley / 293
Jennifer M. Rampling
The Voynich MS in Rudolfine Prague / 297
René Zandbergen and Rafał T. Prinke
Alchemy Protagonists
in the Age of Rudolf II
Nolite de me inquirere [Do not seek to ask about
me]: Michael Sendivogius / 317
Rafał T. Prinke
Michael Maier and his Prague Activities / 335
Ivo Purš and Jaroslava Hausenblasová
Between Medicine and Politics: Oswald Croll’s
Activity in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown
during the Reign of Rudolf II / 367
Jaroslava Hausenblasová
The Word of God and the Universal Medicine
in the Chemical Philosophy
of Oswald Croll / 381
Hiro Hirai
Imagination and the Heavenly Body in
the Alchemic Cosmology of Oswald Croll / 387
Jakub Hlaváček
Matthias Erbinäus von Brandau (von
Brandow): Alchemy between Reality
and Phantasy / 393
Vladimír Karpenko
Tadeáš Hájek of Hájek and his Alchemical
Circle / 423
Ivo Purš
Tycho Brahe: Between Astronomy Sebald Schwertzer: Between Metallurgy
and Alchemy / 459 and Alchemy / 671
Vladimír Karpenko and Ivo Purš Vladimír Karpenko and Ivo Purš

Edward Kelly: A Star of the Rudolfine Era / 489 Abramo Colorni and the Secret
Vladimír Karpenko and Ivo Purš of Acquiring Niter / 691
Vladimír Karpenko
Anselm Boëthius de Boodt: Physician,
Pharmacy in the Rudolfine Age / 699
Mineralogist and Alchemist / 535
Pavel Drábek
Ivo Purš

Martin Ruland the Elder, Martin Ruland

the Younger, and the Milieu of Emperor’s Sequel Rudolfine Alchemy
Personal Doctors / 581
Ivo Purš and Josef Smolka Daniel Stolcius and Emblematic
Alchemy / 719
Simon Thadeas Budek and his Contacts Vladimír Karpenko
at the Court of Rudolf II / 607
Jaroslava Hausenblasová and Ivo Purš Joannes Marcus Marci and his Circle / 741
Josef Smolka
Cornelius Drebbel: Inventor,
Mechanic, and Alchemist / 625
Vladimír Karpenko and Ivo Purš Summary / 771

Alchemy in the Everyday Life of First Illustrations / 793

Chamber Servants of Rudolf II / 647 Sources and bibliography / 815
Václav Bůžek
Authors / 855
Index / 857
Alchemy in the Context
of Science and Economy

Mining and Metallogenesis in Bohemia during

the Sixteenth Century / 657
John A. Norris

6
 Rudolphus II.
Romanorum Imperator & Rex Bohemiæ
1552–1612

1. Portrait of Emperor Rudolf II, Liber seu Protocollum […] Ordinis Fratrum Minorum Capucinorum I, 1597–1638,
Praha, Capuchin Order Archive.

7
8
 Preface
Ivo Purš
The discipline of alchemy under the rule and pa-
tronage of Emperor Rudolf II (1552—1612) is a
very attractive but little-researched topic in Czech
and Central European history. It was passed down
in Czech and German historiography in a rather
distorted manner: historical facts were mixed
with legends, which often led to incorrect inter-
pretation. The situation only began to change in
the 1970s, in the context of renewed interest in
Rudolfine art and the style of Mannerism, when
historians began to focus on other aspects of Ru-
dolfine culture, including alchemy. This renewed
interest was naturally accompanied by a change
in perspective on alchemy itself. Previously it was
seen by historians merely as a stepping stone to
modern chemistry, and thus of no interest except
as part of the history of science. It is now seen
as an important part of cultural and social history
as well, as a complex cultural-historical phenome-
non linked to other disciplines, such as medicine,
mining, and metallurgy; and areas of social life
such as religion, the fine arts, and aristocratic re-
presentation.1
This publication will examine alchemical ac-
tivities that were directly supported by Emperor
Rudolf II as well as those developed within the
broader social circles around the imperial court.
These circles were not limited to the Lands of the
Bohemian Crown, but extended to Austria and
other areas of the Holy Roman Empire.2 Chro-
1  A contemporary view of alchemy and its historical
development is provided by Principe (2013). On the
relationship between alchemy and fine art, see Read
(1947b), Principe – De Witt (2002).
2  Correspondence on alchemical topics and the
loaning and borrowing of alchemists took place
with varying degrees of intensity between Prague,
Wolfenbüttel, Stuttgart, Dresden, and Munich.
9
nologically the topic is primarily restricted to the
reign of Rudolf II from 1576 to 1612. However, in
order to understand the context we must follow
the growth of alchemy in Central Europe start-
ing about the beginning of the 16th century. It
is equally important to follow its reverberations
throughout the 17th century. The alchemical re-
search stimulated by the Emperor and his court
fell upon very well-tilled ground in the Lands of
the Bohemian Crown considering the previous
interest in this learning that had been supported
by important Czech noble families.3 Interest in
alchemy did not end with the death of Rudolf ei-
ther, nor with the defeat of the Czech Estates, or
the subsequent events of the Thirty Years’ War.
Rudolf’s interest in alchemy was not a mere reflec-
tion of some kind of personal idiosyncrasy or even
mental disturbance, as was formerly assumed even
in literature that aspired to utmost solemnity. On
the contrary, the Habsburg dynasty had shown
a continuing interest in alchemy,4 one shared by
many of the most important sovereigns and suze-
rains throughout the Holy Roman Empire and the
Lands of the Bohemian Crown.5
The older literature on the history of science
during the reign of Rudolf II has tended not to
treat alchemy as an independent subject. This was
true even for the excellent and still valuable work
by the late-19th-century German historians such as
Die Alchemie in älterer und neuerer Zeit by Hermann
Kopp (2 volumes, Heidelberg 1886). Such works
contain passages that are devoted to the alche-
mists that were in contact with him, but Rudolf is
3  For example the Rožmberks, or the family of Zajíc
of Házmburk.
4  Purš (2007a), pp. 75—109.
5  Nummedal (2007).
 Ivo Purš
mentioned only in passing. In the cultural-historic
texts, however, the idea of Rudolfine alchemy
is often misleadingly equated with the persona-
lity of the Emperor himself and the famous, but
suspect figure of alchemist Edward Kelly. In
Czech historiography and the popular litera-
ture of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, the
topic is usually approached from the nationalist
point of view: there were the honest Czech alche-
mists, represented mainly by Bavor the Younger
Rodovský of Hustiřany (probably 1526 – c. 1600),
and then there were the foreign charlatans who
defrauded the Emperor and therefore caused
harm to the entire Lands of the Bohemian Crown.
Josef Svátek was a typical representative of this
nationalist view of history. Such distortions not-
withstanding, his work brings us some valuable
observations, especially where he draws on the
Prague and Vienna archives. He fails to cite these
sources properly, making it hard to separate the
wheat of genuine fact from the chaff of literary
fabulation.6 A much more objective work, albeit
strongly under the influence of the era’s positi-
vism and its intellectual structures, is the one by
German historian Adalbert Wraný Geschichte der
Chemie und der auf chemischer Grundlage beruhenden
Betriebe in Böhmen (Prague 1902), or the writings
of Czech researcher and chemist Otakar Zachar,
which he devoted to the Czech alchemists. It’s
worth singling out his book O alchymii a českých al-
chymistech [About alchemy and Czech alchemists]
(Prague 1911), which even today is one of the best
sources on Bavor the Younger Rodovský. Karel
Pejml drew heavily from both of these authors in
his publication Dějiny české alchymie [History of
Czech Alchemy] (Prague – Litomyšl 1933), which
remains to this day the only comprehensive work
on the topic. In it, Pejml talks about the Rudol-
fine era relatively thoroughly, even if he is not free
of the nationalistic perspective, and fails to avoid
earlier stereotypes. His work is, however, by no
6  German: Svátek (1879); Czech: Svátek (1891). To
Svátek’s work from that period we can also add Jiljí
Vratislav Jahn’s Alchemie v Čechách, Prague 1880, reprint
Prague 1993. A purely literary handling of the topic can
be found in the novel by Josef Jiří Kolár Pekla Zplozenci;
1st edition Prague 1853, latest edition Prague 2002.
10
means scholarly in the strictest sense: although he
does not resort to making things up out of whole
cloth as Svátek does, he makes his work difficult
to verify by citing his sources very sparingly.
Research on the Rudolfine culture and the
role played in it by alchemy was stimulated and
given a new foundation by an excellent, and in
many ways unsurpassed, monograph by Robert J.
W. Evans entitled Rudolf II and His World (1st edi-
tion Oxford 1973). In Chapter 6 “Rudolf and the
Occult Arts,” Evans presents the most precise and
detailed historical picture we have of alchemy at
the court of Rudolf II, and the broader context of
the Lands of the Bohemian Crown; his text is vital
to all further efforts to deal with this subject. The
second fundamental work on Rudolfine culture
and scholarly research is a piece by Erich Trunz
Pansophie und Manierismus im Kreise Kaiser Ru-
dolfs II., which was written in the 1940s but was
first published in 1986 in the comprehensive work
Die österreichische Literatur. Ihr Profil von den Anfän-
gen im Mittelalter bis ins 18. Jahrhundert (1050—1750).7
It was published independently in 1992 under the
title Wissenschaft und Kunst im Kreise Kaiser Ru-
dolfs II. 1576—1612.8 An important contribution
to Rudolfine research was the Leids Kunsthistorisch
Jaarboek from 1982, which presented some impor-
tant studies of Rudolfine art and culture, including
the treatise by M. E. H. N. Mout “Hermes Trismegis-
tos Germaniae: Rudolf II en de arcane wetenschappen.”
A milestone in the effort to present Rudolfine
art was the exhibition Prag um 1600 – Kunst und
Kultur am Hofe Kaiser Rudolfs II (Essen and Vienna
1988—1989). It included an extensive catalogue
and collection of articles from the accompanying
conference. The fine art that flourished at the court
of Rudolf II was presented in an extraordinary
breadth; nevertheless, the natural sciences or even
alchemy itself were touched on only marginally.
After almost a decade of intensive preparation,
the topic was taken up again by the Prague exhibi-
tion Rudolf II. a Praha – Císařský dvůr a rezidenční
město jako kulturní a duchovní centrum střední Evropy
[Rudolf II and Prague – the Imperial Court and
7  Trunz (1986).
8  Idem (1992).
 Preface
Residential City as the Cultural and Intellectual
Capital of Central Europe] (Prague May 30 – Sep-
tember 7, 1997), which stood apart from the Essen
and Vienna exhibitions for its ambitious goal of
presenting Rudolfine art in its full cultural and so-
cial context. Major attention, for example, was de-
voted to the presentation of the Emperor’s Cabi-
net of Curiosities (German Kunstkammer), which
was related to alchemy research through their mu-
tual interest in minerals. Contemporary natural
sciences as such were not neglected either. The
principal among those was astronomy, because it
had already been the subject of a detailed study.
Moreover, it had always been associated with the
idea of science in the modern sense, which was
never the case with alchemy. It was an important
step forward, for Rudolfine alchemy is thought of
as an integral part of the culture at the imperial
court, important for understanding the nature of
its complex creativity.
The exhibition and accompanying publica-
tions were the culmination of an era in Rudolfine
research. Then, in 2000, the main designers of the
Prague exhibition founded the “Studia Rudol-
phina – Center for Research on Art and Culture
during the Era of Rudolf II” at the Institute of
Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences. Its goal
is to open up new themes that extend into further
areas of Rudolfine research. The center coope-
rates with experts on Rudolfine research from all
over the world; its main publication is the bulletin
Studia Rudolphina.9 The center is also the birth-
place of this publication.
Today Evans’ chapter on Rudolfine alchemy
is no longer the only worthwhile text on the sub-
ject. During the 1980s and 1990s, a number of
contributions were made to our understanding
of the individual protagonists of Rudolfine al-
chemy. A portrait of the life and work of doctor
and alchemist Michael Maier (1569—1622) was es-
pecially enriching. Maier resided in Prague from
1608 to 1610; he was taken into the service of Ru-
dolf II, and was elevated to the hereditary nobility.
The work of Karin Figala and Ulrich Neumann,
9  See http://www.udu.cas.cz/.
11
based on the discovery of new sources,10 brought
a fundamental shift in our view of Maier. This was
later followed up in studies by Erik Leibenguth11
and Hereward Tilton.12 Maier’s sojourn in Prague
in particular was the subject of a study by Ivo Purš
and Jaroslava Hausenblasová based on the archival
sources.13 Of the other important contributions
to the history of alchemy in the Rudolfine milieu,
three works should be mentioned: the monumental
project by Wilhelm Kühlmann and Joachim Telle
Corpus Paracelsisticum I–III,14 and also two recent
publications: the book Mystical Metal of Gold,15
containing a fundamental biographical article on
Edward Kelly, and a wide-ranging monograph by
Rudolf Werner Soukup Chemie in Österreich. Berg-
bau, Alchemie und frühe Chemie. Von den Anfängen bis
zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts (Vienna 2007), which
devotes much attention to Rudolfine alchemy.
Other important studies have been written
over the last twenty years dealing with the sub-
ject of alchemy patronage in the Holy Roman
Empire. Bruce T. Moran described the alchemi-
cal circles around Landgrave Moritz of Hesse-
-Kassel,16 and Jost Weyer turned his attention to
Count Wolfgang II von Hohenlohe.17 In 1997 Mo-
ritz of Hesse-Kassel was a subject of an exhibition
which included the publication Moritz der Gelehrte,
ein Renaissancefürst in Europa.18 This publication, in
addition to a number of new facts about Moritz,
his scientific contacts and his philanthropic patro-
nage of alchemy, also contains an important study
by Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann on the topic of art
and alchemy. Moran’s and Weyer’s research was
10 Figala – Neumann (1985), pp. 303—329; Figala
– Neu­ mann (1990), pp. 34—50; Neumann (1993),
pp. 307—326; Figala – Neumann (1994), pp. 121—147;
Figala – Neumann (1995), pp. 651—664. For an over-
view of the works about Michael Maier, see Ivo Purš
(2002), pp. 58—67.
11 Leibenguth (2002).
12  Tilton (2003).
13  Purš – Hausenblasová (2005), pp. 51—65.
14  Corpus Paracelsisticum I (2001); Corpus Paracelsisticum
II (2004); Corpus Paracelsisticum III (2013).
15 Linden (ed.) (2007).
16 Moran (1991).
17  Weyer (1992).
18  Borggrefe – Lüpkes – Ottomeyer (1997).
 Ivo Purš
followed up by Tara E. Nummedal with the book
Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire. Her
comparative research includes Czech topics, name-
ly the alchemy patronage of Emperor Rudolf II
and Vilém of Rožmberk.19 A number of valuable
bits of information on the study of alchemy in the
16th century and its cultural and social context have
been produced for academic conferences orga-
nized over the last three decades. The first of these
was the 16th symposium in Wolfenbüttel in 1984,
which published the compendium Die Alchemie in
der europäischen Kultur- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte
(ed. Christoph Meinel, Wiesbaden 1986). The last
broadly conceived conference on this topic was
CHYMIA, Science and Nature in the Early Modern
Europe (1450—1750) at El Escorial in Spain in 2008.
In this brief overview, which makes no claim
to completeness,20 several other researchers and
their work should be pointed out. For example,
György E. Szönyi or Vera Keller have studied the
important personages of the Rudolfine milieu such
as John Dee and Cornelius Drebbel. Pierre Béhar21
produced a remarkable analysis of Rudolf II’s in-
terest in the occult and its effect on his activity as
a collector. Nor can we overlook the contribution
made to Rudolfine research by the little-used cata-
logue of Rudolfine alchemical manuscripts from
the collection of Isaac Vossius, on deposit at the
University Library in Leiden, by P. C. Boeren.22
Rafał T. Prinke has devoted long-standing atten-
tion to Michael Sendivogius (1566—1636), and for
several years Peter Forshaw has been intensively
studying the influential and very complex figure
of Heinrich Khunrath (1560—1605). Valuable per-
spectives on some aspects of theory of the impor-
tant Rudolfine protagonists of alchemy were sup-
plied by Hiro Hirai.23 Nor should we neglect the
studies by William R. Newman and Lawrence M.
Principe, whose focus is mainly Anglo-Saxon, but
who make a number of observations both factual
and methodological that can serve to steer Rudol-
fine research towards valuable comparisons.
19  Nummedal (2007).
20  See the bibliography at the end of this publication.
21  Béhar (1996).
22  Boeren (1975).
23  Hirai (2005).
12
In the Czech environment, the first funda-
mental and still-underappreciated publication on
the topic was a monograph about doctor Matthias
Borbonius by Gustav Gellner; the unfortunate
timing of its publication, on the eve of the Second
World War, ensured that it was quickly forgot-
ten.24 Since the 1970s, the leading researcher on al-
chemy in this country has been Vladimír Karpen-
ko, who has published in recent years a number of
studies in prestigious foreign periodicals, as well
as two independent publications.25 In the 1990s,
Petr Vágner published several valuable contribu-
tions on the topic. Since 1997, the author of the
present chapter has likewise published articles
about alchemy in the era of Rudolf II, especially in
the bulletin Studia Rudolphina. Rudolfine alchemi-
cal manuscripts have been the long-term interest
of Alena Richterová. The echoes of Rudolfine al-
chemical philosophy in the works of post-White
Mountain (1620) Czech protestant emigrants are
followed in works by Vladimír Urbánek.26 A num-
ber of sources became available to Czech readers
in new editions after 1990 by Trigon publishers,
headed by the late Vladislav Zadrobílek and nowa-
days by his daughter Zuzana.
The publication you are reading represents
a partial summary of the old and new insights
about alchemy during the era of Rudolf II. It
takes into account the era’s cultural context and
the social and intellectual relations that alchemy
in its many form influenced. It shows this topic
as an organic part and a hight point of alchemy re-
search in Central Europe. This book is not meant
as an exhaustive monograph on the topic. The
main task that remains to be completed in this
field would be an analysis of the potential influ-
ence of the alchemical interests of Rudolf II on his
other activities, especially his interests as a collec-
tor and patron of the fine arts, as well as his poli-
tics and plans. The purpose of this collection of
findings is to provide the necessary background
by outlining the nature of the Emperor’s personal
interest in alchemy, and stake out the profile and
24  Gellner (1938).
25  Karpenko (2007a) and (2008).
26 Urbánek (2007) and (2008).
 Preface
context of Rudolfine alchemy as a Central Euro-
pean cultural-historical phenomenon.
In choosing the book’s illustrations, we em-
phasize those that directly document the topic in
its precise historical context. We also use icono-
graphic material that is more loosely related to
the given context, but enriches the matter at hand
with useful comparisons. Knowledge of the ico-
nography of alchemy is an absolutely necessary
prerequisite for understanding its symbolism;
therefore, we have tried to capture in this area the
greatest possible variety as it existed at the turn
of the 17th century, especially in the Central Euro-
pean region.
Acknowledgements
Although our perspectives on the protagonists in
the field of alchemy are sometimes critical, the
effort we have made to delve into the subject is
also a salute to the men who often worked under
incomparably harsher and more dangerous condi-
tions than the scientific community enjoys today,
while struggling to address problems that were
often insoluble. In the face of this, they often
showed personal qualities such as determination,
diligence, strength of will, indomitable energy,
and sincerely held faith, that made them stood out
far above many of the people around today. They
were philosophers “per ignem,” people sorely tried
by hard lives, which they lived with such intensity
that in comparison the life of a person today is
nothing more than a pale shadow passing over
the ever-more-perfect displays of a virtual reality.
Therefore, over a gulf of four centuries and more,
we would like to express our thanks to those vene-
rable philosophers whose forgotten legacy we
have become re-acquainted with, and express our
honor and affection for so many of the figures who
appear in this book. We have no greater ambition
than to try and relate to the reader their ideas and
their lives, as well as something of that peculiar
light that so often seemed to shine out upon us
from between the lines of the early printed books
and manuscripts.
It is also our pleasant duty to thank not only
those whom the winds of time have long taken
away, but those who share with us our hic et nunc;
13
all those individuals and institutions without whose
contribution this publication could never have been
undertaken. In the very first place, we would like
to thank PhDr. Miroslava Hejnová and PhDr. Ve-
ronika Procházková of the Department of Manus-
cripts and Early Printed Books at the National Li-
brary of the Czech Republic, who provided a large
portion of the illustrations for this book. We found
support for this project among other library insti-
tutions that provided us reproduction rights, and
so we would like to thank the National Museum
Library, where we are indebted to PhDr. Richard
Šípek, Ph.D.; PhDr. Petr Mašek and PhDr. Luboš
Antonín, the Chateau Library Department of
the National Museum Library; Mgr. Hedvika
Kuchařová, Ph.D., and Mgr. Jan Pařez, Ph.D., the
Library of the Royal Canonry of Premonstrati-
ans at Strahov; the Library of the Knights of the
Cross of the Red Star and the Capuchin Provin-
cial Library. Among the foreign institutions and
persons, we would like to thank Dr. André Bouw-
man, the Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden. For
providing reproduction rights, we are indebted to
the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Univer-
sitätsbibliothek Basle, Universitätsbibliothek Salz-
burg, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Öster-
reichisches Staatsarchiv in Vienna, Landes- und
Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt Kassel, and the
Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen.
We owe a great debt of thanks to the Grant
Agency of the Czech Academy of Sciences, which
supported the project at its inception, and offi-
cials of the Czech Academy of Sciences, namely
Prof. PhDr. Jaroslav Pánek, DrSc. and Ing. Petr
Bobák, CSc., who arranged the funds for the Eng-
lish translation. We also very much appreciate the
support for our work expressed by the Chairman
of the Academy of Sciences CR, Prof. Ing. Jiří
Drahoš, DrSc.
Our great thanks go out to all of the co-authors
who took up our offer of cooperation and contri-
buted articles for this publication. We would like
to express special thanks to PhDr. Alena Rich-
terová, CSc., and RNDr. Josef Smolka, CSc.,
who besides their articles also took on much of
the related work, such as transcription or trans-
lation of archival sources. Equal thanks go to
 Ivo Purš and Vladimír Karpenko
Mgr. Jakub Hlaváček, Ph.D. for his help with latin
texts. Martin Bedřich, a very valuable colleague
and critic for both editors, who has earned our
warmest thanks, did a great deal of work on the
Czech version of the book.
Much of the work on the English translation
was done by Ivana Horacek, M.Sc. and Joan Boy-
chuk, M.Sc. of the University of British Columbia,
and most of all by Todd Hammond (†), a excellent
colleague and person who entirely unexpected-
ly left us on April 15, 2014 and whom we will
long remember. For their efforts, as well as that
of the other translators, we extend our warmest
thanks; likewise, we thank Sean Mark Miller, MA,
who took on the final language editing, Mgr. Dan
Török, who took up the editing of the personal
names, and Mgr. Lucie Doležalová, Ph.D., M.A.,
who together with Mgr. Dana Adámková trans-
lated the Latin citations into English.
In this place Ivo Purš would like to thank French
historian of hermetics René Alleau (1917—2013) for
all the inspiration found in his texts, and for his
personal friendship; he also thanks the colleagues
at the Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of
Sciences and the research center Studia Rudolphi-
na for providing optimal conditions for the task of
editing, and who have followed the work’s progress
with understanding and interest. The most impor-
tant contribution to the book’s completion, how-
ever, was the love of his wife Pavla and daughter
Alena, to whom he dedicates this work.
Vladimír Karpenko remembers with grati-
tude the English historian of alchemy Harry Jo-
seph Sheppard (1914—1991), who many years ago
introduced him to the topic, and to whom he is
extremely grateful for the long letters devoted to
various aspects of alchemy, and for sending him
books on these teachings during an era when
the Czechoslovak political system did not allow
him to visit Great Britain. For other extensive
assistance, he would like to thank (in alphabeti-
cal order) the late Prof. Allen G. Debus (Univer-
14
sity of Chicago), the late Prof. Karin Figala (TU
Munich, Germany), Dr. Tomáš Klíma (Houston,
USA), Mr. Adam McLean (Glasgow), Prof. Chris-
toph Meinel (Universität Regensburg, Germany),
Prof. William R. Newman (University of Indiana,
USA), Prof. Claus Priesner (Ludwig-Maximilians-
Universität, Munich, Germany), Prof. Lawrence
M. Principe (Johns Hopkins University, USA),
Prof. Peter Spargo (University of Cape Town,
South Africa), and Dr. Johann Strauss (Université
Marc-Bloch, Strasbourg, France)..
For truly extraordinary support over long
years, he is grateful to two persons who unfortu-
nately did not live to see the results of their as-
sistance. These were Her Highness Princess Gina
von Liechtenstein and His Highness Prince Franz
Josef II von Liechtenstein. He would also thank
his aunts, the late Miss Berta Nothhelfer and the
late Mrs. Mathilde Rohrer (both of Gernlinden,
Germany). He is no less grateful to his aunt, the
late Mrs. Marie Hledin (Dorion, Canada), and his
cousins Claudia Thierry, Alex, Richard, and Peter
Hledin (in Canada and USA).
He thanks his colleagues at the Faculty of
Natural Science, Charles University, who provided
him with a warm and friendly environment that al-
lowed him to devote his time to this difficult work.
Crucial of course was the support of his family,
who provided him with a base that gave him the
peace and quiet to study and carry out his work.
In conclusion, both authors humbly apologize
to those who have been inadvertently left off this
long list.
This is a book about a past that seems distant to
us. In those long-ago centuries, authors would
sometimes apologize that they wrote their work
as best they could, but not as well as they would
have liked. This formulation largely expresses our
feelings as well. As the editors responsible for the
work as a whole, all of the inevitable mistakes and
faults are solely our own.
 Edition and terminological note
The texts collected in the presented publica-
tion are by their professional focus in the field
defined on the one hand by cultural history and
on the other by the history of science. One field
or the other is more or less accented in it accord-
ing to the main focus of the author. Neverthe-
less the editors aimed for both areas of histori-
cal research to be thematically balanced in the
publication. Naturally, they strived to do the
same in the jointly written texts, but in the texts
written by individuals one or the other slightly
dominates.
In a work of this type, in which more authors
have taken part, it is not possible to avoid oc-
casional repetition of some facts as they are used
by individual authors in their chapters. They al-
ways did that in a singular context and it is better
to repeat some data to make it easier to under-
stand than to expect the reader to look for it in
some other chapter. We judge and hope that as a
whole the publication provides a relatively com-
plete picture, although it was not possible – and
considering the time limitation of a grant project
it would not be possible – to discuss all of the
aspects of such a broad topic in single book.
The level of professionalism of the texts was
set to satisfy both the expert on the given period
and the field and the relatively educated person,
who is interested in and is just becoming ac-
quainted with the topic or is approaching it from
another area or context.
Considering the nature of the topic, it is ne-
cessary to clarify the method of the use of the
specialized terminology, especially in the case
of the alchemical terms. We write the names
of the planets with a capital letter, but if they
indicate a metal then we use the lower case.
The titles of mercury and sulfur, if they are real
substances (chemical elements), are written so.
If they indicate difficult to define principles in
alchemy, which should be constitutional com-
ponents of metals or matter as such, we write
them as “sulphur” and “mercurius”. Sometimes
15
they are labeled also as “philosophical mercury”
and “philosophical sulfur”. Paracelsus’ third prin-
ciple is labeled as “sal” to distinguish it from the
chemical term salt.
In most cases, the old units are either directly
changed to the modern units or their conversion
is listed in the footnotes.
Foreign terms, which are suitable to present
in its original form, are written in italic or are
listed in the footnotes. In some cases, they are
old Czech specialized terms. Direct citations
from the original sources are in quotation marks
and italics.
We label the workplaces of the alchemists
with the old term “laboratorium” to distinguish
it from a modern chemical laboratory.
For the labeling of chemical research in the
Early Modern Period in the contemporary fo-
reign literature devoted to the history of science,
the ever more accepted terms were proposed by
William R. Newman and Lawrence M. Principe.1
According to them the period terms “chymia”
(German chymie) is used for chemical research of
the 17th and 18th centuries. centuries. The early
chemical research is thus distinguished from
modern chemistry that began with Lavoisier. It is
necessary to add to that statement that between
the 16th and 18th century the term “chemia”
was also used, namely as a synonym of the term
“chymia” (see e.g. the title of the collection of
tractates Artis auriferae quam chemiam vocant...,
1572, and Theatrum chemicum, 1603). Besides that,
also the traditional term “alchimia” (German
Alchemie) continued to be used until the end of
the 18th century, again as a synonym. It however
took on a negative connotation from the se-
cond half of the 16th century, because alchemical
frauds were frequent. Some important figures,
who for us almost personify alchemy of that pe-
riod, e.g. Michael Maier, expressly refused the
1  Newman – Principe (1998), pp. 32 – 65.
 Edition and terminological note
label “alchemist”.2 It therefore is no wonder that
according to period opinion3 the term “chymia”
emerged as a “cleansing” of the original Greek
label from the Arabic prefix of al-. According to
Robert Halleux,4 the terms “chymia” (“chemia”)
and “alchimia” (“alchemia”) were definitively se-
parated from one another only in the time of the
Enlightenment, when in 1722 the French chemist
E. F. Geoffroy issued his work called Supercheries
concernant la pierre philosophale, in which he sarcas-
tically criticized alchemy.
Considering that in the Central European
milieu the presented terminological difference
between “alchimia” – “chymia” – “chemia” is
not very common and therefore potentially
confusing, we have decided to maintain the
existing terminology, i.e. we only used the
terms “alchemy” and “chemistry.” Although,
it should be pointed out that the latter term
refers in majority of cases to early chemis-
try, which was at that time still vastly differ-
ent from modern chemistry. We use the term
“chymie” only in direct citations (e.g. the title
of the work Basilica chymica was translated as
2 Maier called himself a “philosopher and physician” and
called the science he dealt with “chymia”.
3  Vallensis (1593).
4  Halleux (1979b).
16
“Royal Chemistry”). For the alchemy based on
Paracelsus and focused on the production of
medications, we have used the term “chymia-
try”, which has a widespread synonym “iatroche-
mistry”. Compared to the Czech edition of this
publication (Praha 2011), the texts were in places
adjusted and expanded, and the most recent lite-
rature complemented. We have also added one
chapter (“Abramo Colorni and the Secret of Ac-
quiring Niter”).
Acronyms used
ÖNB – Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
NL of the CR – National Library of the Czech
Republic
KHM – Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
NML –National Museum Library
UB Leiden – Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden
UB Kassel – Universitätsbibliothek Kassel
UB Basle – Universitätsbibliothek Basle
UB Salzburg – Universitätsbibliothek Salzburg
The Editors