Description

This book is the first in a three-volume set designed to make available some of the most influential alchemical manuals of the later Middle Ages. The past few decades have witnessed the growing realization of the central role played by alchemy in the intellectual history of medieval Europe. The study of alchemy inspired such authors as Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower, shaped the work of scientists such as Paracelsus and Isaac Newton, motivated some of the earliest translations of Islamic scientific and medical texts for Christian readers, and influenced the development of experimental methods underlying the modern fields of chemistry, physics, and biology.

The texts in this volume have been attributed—albeit inaccurately—to the prominent physician and theologian Arnald of Villanova (c. 1240–1311). The Rosarius alchemiae’s detailed instructions for the making of the philosophers’ stone provide one of the earliest accounts of the titration of mercury and sulfur as well as a valuable discussion of the experimental methods of medieval alchemists. De secretis naturae is a dialogue between a master and student which situates the pursuit of the philosophers’ stone within a broader philosophical and theological framework. Of greatest influence was this text’s extended comparison between the making of the philosophers’ stone and the death and resurrection of Christ.

Accompanying the editions and translations are a historical introduction, catalogue of manuscripts, glossary of alchemical terms, and detailed textual and explanatory notes.