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Alchemy Archive
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Visualization in Medieval Alchemy
Posted on April 14, 2013 | No CommentsTherefore, rather than attempting to establish an exhaustive inventory of visual forms in medieval alchemy or a premature synthesis, the purpose of this article is to sketch major trends in visualization and to exemplify them by their earliest appearance so far known. -
The Rise of Alchemy in Fourteenth-Century England
Posted on February 6, 2013 | No CommentsHowever the alchemical source of the early fourteenth century also explicitly maintained that knowledge of the secret of secrets involved an understanding of the hidden forces within the earth, and this in turn would bring earthly power. The most obvious manifestation of this interest in alchemical secrets lay in the belief that controlled experimentation with mercury and sulphur could effect transmutation of base metals into gold. -
Fools, Devils, and Alchemy: Secular Images in the Monastery
Posted on December 9, 2012 | No CommentsThe fool is one of the most popular and stable character types throughout cultures and times. This is especially true of medieval Europe. The fool, sometimes a jester, sometimes a clown or a trickster, is always recognizable through his abnormal appearance. -
Understanding the Language of Alchemy
Posted on September 30, 2012 | No CommentsThe editing of medieval alchemical texts poses a number of challenges to the modern scholar. -
Towards a Context for Ibn Umayl, Known to Chaucer as the Alchemist ‘Senior’
Posted on August 18, 2012 | No Commentshis article will present what we know of the life and times of an important alchemist, Ibn Umayl. -
Harley MS. 3469: Splendor Solis or Splendour of the Sun – A German Alchemical Manuscript
Posted on August 13, 2012 | No CommentsSplendor Solis oder Sonnenglanz is the title of an illuminated manuscript that can rightfully be called one of the principal works of the alchemical tradition (fig. 1). The text survives in many witnesses dating from the early sixteenth to the nineteenth century, of which Harl. MS. 3469 is definitely the most famous and best preserved example. -
The Magic of Image: Astrological, Alchemical and Magical Symbolism at the Court of Wenceslas IV
Posted on May 22, 2012 | No CommentsThe Czech Renaissance man of letters Vaclav Hajek of Libocany explained the representations of kingfishers and half naked bathmaidens that he saw painted on some Prague buildings, as records of saucy affairs from the life of the King Bohemia Wenceslas IV. -
Contributions of contemporary science to Chaucer’s work
Posted on May 3, 2012 | No CommentsThe thesis shows that the Medieval Sciences made a significant contribution to Chaucer's mind and art, and that Chaucer shared the attitude of great scholars before and after him -
Technology and Alchemical Debate in the Late Middle Ages
Posted on March 11, 2012 | No CommentsThe medieval world view was marked by a deep division between art and nature. Stemming partly from Aristotle, and partlyfrom other Greek, Latin, and Arabic sources, this view placed strict boundaries on the conceptual limits of technical innovation. -
Magic
Posted on January 16, 2012 | No CommentsNo one knew the risks and rewards of magic better than Agrippa. His notorious handbook, De occulta philosophia, circulated in manuscript by 1510, though it was printed only in 1533, over the complaints of Dominican inquisitors. -
Dreaming of dwarves: Nightmares and Shamanism in Anglo-Saxon Poetics and the Wid Dweorh Charm
Posted on January 8, 2012 | No CommentsPsychological and psychiatric ailments must have baffled early medical practitioners. -
Conference on ‘Alchemy and Medicine from Antiquity to the Enlightenment’ taking place at University of Cambridge
Posted on September 23, 2011 | No CommentsThe University of Cambridge is hosting an international conference – Alchemy and Medicine from Antiquity to the Enlightenment – which will include over 25 papes ranging from the ancient Greeks... -
Adelard of Bath and Roger Bacon: early English natural philosophers and scientists
Posted on September 5, 2011 | No CommentsAdelard of Bath and Roger Bacon: early English natural philosophers and scientists Hackett, Jeremiah M. Endeavour, Vol. 26(2) 2002 Abstract The image of Roger Bacon as a ‘modern’ experimental scientist was propagated... -
Early Medieval Crystal Amulets: Secular Instruments of Protection and Healing
Posted on June 28, 2011 | No CommentsThe Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing I: Images and Objects Sponsor: AVISTA: The Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science, and Art and... -
A Comprehensive History of Beer Brewing
Posted on June 26, 2011 | No CommentsBrewing has been a human activity ever since the beginning of urbanization and civilization in the Neolithic period -
LETTING THE GENIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE: EVOLUTION OF AROMATHERAPY THROUGH THE AGES
Posted on April 10, 2011 | No CommentsLETTING THE GENIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE: EVOLUTION OF AROMATHERAPY THROUGH THE AGES Lyubetska, Valeria (University of Manitoba) The Proceedings of the 11th Annual HISTORY OF MEDICINE DAYS, FACULTY OF MEDICINE THE... -
Ibn Wahshiyya and Magic
Posted on March 6, 2011 | No CommentsIbn Wahshiyya and Magic Anaquel de Estudios Árabes X (1999) HÁMEEM-ANTTILA, JAAKKO Magic has always had a role to play in Islamie society’. Its use has often been condemned by religious... -
Do Medieval and Renaissance Androids Presage the Posthuman?
Posted on February 20, 2011 | No CommentsDo Medieval and Renaissance Androids Presage the Posthuman? LaGrandeur, Kevin Comparative Literature and Culture, Volume 12, Issue 3, (September 2010) Article 3 Abstract In his article “Do Medieval and Renaissance Androids... -
A Previously Unidentified Fragment of ‘Pearce the Black Monke Upon the Elixir’ in MS. Mellon 43
Posted on January 6, 2011 | No CommentsA Previously Unidentified Fragment of ‘Pearce the Black Monke Upon the Elixir’ in MS. Mellon 43 Timmermann, Anke Marginalia, Vol.1 (2005) Abstract Among the manuscripts of the Mellon collection, which... -
Islamic Alchemy and the Birth of Chemistry
Posted on March 16, 2009 | No CommentsExamines the development of the science of chemistry in the Arabic world, from its religious and philosophical background, and focusing on two famous Islamic scholars - Jabir ibn Hayyan and Muhammad ibn Zakariyaa Razi.