ambix, Vol. 58 No.

1, March, 2011, 6277

Alchemical Poetry in Medieval and

Early Modern Europe: A Preliminary
Survey and Synthesis
Part II Synthesis
Didier Kahn
CNRS, Paris

This article provides a preliminary description of medieval and early modern

alchemical poetry composed in Latin and in the principal vernacular
languages of western Europe. It aims to distinguish the various genres in
which this poetry flourished, and to identify the most representative aspects
of each cultural epoch by considering the medieval and early modern peri-
ods in turn. Such a distinction (always somewhat artificial) between two
broad historical periods may be justified by the appearance of new cultural
phenomena that profoundly modified the character of early modern alchem-
ical poetry: the ever-increasing importance of the prisca theologia, the
alchemical interpretation of ancient mythology, and the rise of neo-Latin
humanist poetry. Although early modern alchemy was marked by the appear-
ance of new doctrines (notably the alchemical spiritus mundi and Paracel-
sianism), alchemical poetry was only superficially modified by criteria of
a scientific nature, which therefore appear to be of lesser importance.
This study falls into two parts. Part I provides a descriptive survey of extant
poetry, and in Part II the results of the survey are analysed in order to
highlight such distinctive features as the function of alchemical poetry, the
influence of the book market on its evolution, its doctrinal content, and the
question of whether any theory of alchemical poetry ever emerged. Part II is
accompanied by an index of the authors and works cited in both parts.

The medieval period

As we have already seen, alchemical poems have existed in all cultural climates where
alchemy developed: in Greek, Arabic, Latin and all the vernacular languages from the
thirteenth century, and especially the fourteenth century, onwards.1 Nonetheless, the
1
Of the languages spoken on the Iberian peninsula, I have here explored only medieval Catalan.

Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry 2011 DOI 10.1179/174582311X12947034675514
 ALCHEMICAL POETRY IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE 63

Italian language bore few fruits in this field, and one has to wait until the sixteenth
century to see Italian alchemical poetry reach the level attained in most of the other
linguistic areas of the Christian West, in quality if not in quantity. This evolution
reflects the development of Italian scientific poetry more generally. It is therefore
all the more striking to note that the first Italian alchemical treatise known to us is
written in verse, and dates from the fourteenth century.
Great didactic alchemical poems, intended to propagate an entire doctrine in
theoretical, practical and allegorical form, are rare in the Middle Ages. With the
exception of Gratheus in Middle Dutch, whose work was not widely disseminated
(if at all), we know mainly of such poems from the fifteenth century onwards, and
only in France (La Fontaine des amoureux de science and, later, Le Sommaire philos-
ophique) and England (the poems of Thomas Norton and George Ripley). It appears
that the only representative of this genre in German is the poem by Gratheus, insofar
as this text is composed in a Germanic language. However, if we consider the German
language in the strict sense, we would have to conclude that alchemical poetry,
vibrant as it was in the German cultural climate, was only expressed through fairly
brief poems and Bildgedichte.
Within the corpus of medieval alchemical poetry, we also find some authors from
outside the alchemical tradition who sooner or later became annexed to it. These are
the encyclopaedic poets who wrote on alchemy: Jean de Meun, Heinrich von Mgeln,
and John Gower. One must also add Geoffrey Chaucer.2 An exception is the case of
Pierre Chastellain, who, despite having written on alchemy, was apparently known
to (or, at least, quoted by) no contemporaneous or later alchemical author.

The functions of alchemical poetry

Alchemists soon became aware of the state of degradation of the texts that formed
their literature. Could one of their reasons for writing in verse have been the desire
to avoid such corruption of texts, given that the versified form is more stable and
constraining than prose? This reasoning was put forward by Robert M. Schuler in
order to explain the abundance of alchemical poetry in Middle English.3 However,
the abundance so characteristic of England is not found to the same degree in other
languages. Further evidence remains to be consolidated in order to corroborate this
point, beginning with critical editions of medieval alchemical poems, which might
reveal the extent to which the tradition of these texts remained stable. But what are
we to think of the declarations of Robert Duval (Robertus Vallensis) concerning the
errors of the medieval poems edited in 1561?
Yet it would be humane to pardon them, or some of them, for the errors that one might
attribute to them, and ascribe them either to time or to the perplexity and difficulty of
the subject matter or to faulty copies.4
2
See Part I of this study [Ambix 57, no. 3 (2010): 24974], 256 and n. 34.
3
Robert M. Schuler, Alchemical Poetry 15751700 From Previously Unpublished Manuscripts (New York:
Garland, 1995), xxxiv.
4
Encores sera ce humainement faict de les excuser tous, ou aulcuns diceulx, des faultes quon leur pourroit
attribuer, & en charger ou le temps, ou la perplexit & difficult de la matiere subjecte, ou bien les vices des
exemplaires corrompus. De la transformation metallique, trois anciens tractez en rithme Franoise (Paris:
Guillaume Guillard and Amaury Warancore, 1561), Aux lecteurs, fol. *3v. On Robert Duval, see: Didier
Kahn, Quelques prcisions sur Robertus Vallensis alias Robert Duval, de Rugles (before 1510 to after 1584?),
Chrysopoeia 5 (19921996), 43942; and Didier Kahn, Alchimie et paracelsisme en France la fin de la
Renaissance (Geneva: Droz, 2007), 12427.
64 DIDIER KAHN

Even the poems are not, therefore, free from errors. However, these faults should
not be attributed to the authors, Duval explains, but rather to the vicissitudes of
the transmission of texts: defective copies, the use of archaic language that is inade-
quately understood by its copyists, or even the complexity of the alchemical subject
matter.5 Such statements are diametrically opposed to the hypothesis put forward by
Robert Schuler.
Another reason to write alchemy in verse, rightly emphasised by Schuler, is in order
to gain the favour of the powerful. In medieval Europe, and even more so in the
Renaissance, it is likely that the desire for patronage often played a role,6 even where
this motive is not immediately apparent, owing to lack of information concerning a
poems authorship and the circumstances of its composition. For reasons that still
need to be elucidated, it is mainly in England that alchemical poetry seems to have
been written to attract patronage.
Be that as it may, the function of medieval alchemical poetry is primarily to
condense doctrinal points and thereby render them memorable. The success of the
alchemical sections of encyclopaedic works, such as Jean de Meuns Roman de la
Rose or Heinrich von Mgelns Der meide kranz, once removed from their context
and separately recopied, is quite telling in this respect. No alchemical section in prose
extracted from a medieval encyclopaedia experienced the same success, with the
exception of the alchemical material from the pseudo-Aristotelian Secretum secre-
torum, which was removed from the Secretum and translated into German specifi-
cally for the purposes of versification. The mnemonic function, widely represented in
all languages (most of all in German), is often stated in the texts themselves, as in the
case of Thomas Nortons Ordinall of alchemy.7
We should not, however, neglect more technical motives directed towards practical
instruction. The poems of Ripley or Norton, Jean de La Fontaine or the pseudo-
Flamel describe laboratory instruments (particularly furnaces) with a certain preci-
sion. Gratheuss poem (admittedly unique in its genre) describes not only twenty-nine
types of curiously named vessels and ovens, but also an oil press for the extraction
of his olium vivum [sic] from mercury and gold. It would be instructive to compare
such verse descriptions with those in contemporary treatises in prose.
Nonetheless, figurative expression seems to be preferred in Latin medieval alchem-
ical verse. In these cases, the use of poetic forms can have aesthetic objectives, as in
the Lumen secretorum of Johannes Ticinensis, or the 131 leonine hexameters of the
versified Visio Arislei.8 This privileging of figurative expression often leads to further
obscurity, brought about almost inevitably by the fact that the most important

5
Even if the transition to verse results in a simplification of doctrines, there are plenty of examples of alchemi-
cal poetry in which the process of versification has resulted in further, unintended obscuration of the principal
point.
6
A clear example of this is given below, with Du Gaults Palinodie chimique.
7
Schuler, Alchemical Poetry 15751700 (see n. 2), xxxv.
8
See his characteristics in S. Limbeck, Die Visio Arislei. berlieferung, Inhalt und Nachleben einer alchemischen
Allegorie. Mit Edition einer Versfassung, in Iliaster: Literatur und Naturkunde in der frhen Neuzeit.
Festgabe fr Joachim Telle zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. W. Khlmann and W.-D. Mller-Jahncke (Heidelberg:
Manutius Verlag, 1999), 16790, on 183: knowledge of ancient mythology and the work of Virgil, use of
rare terms, unusually abundant use of Hellenism, but little research concerning rhymes and the rhetorical
ornamentation.
 ALCHEMICAL POETRY IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE 65

part of alchemical teaching must be transmitted in a veiled form, on the model of

Platos myths, fables from the Ancients, or parables of Christ. In such cases, it may
appear to modern readers that the poetic form has interfered with the didactic aim.
However, it is very probable that earlier readers viewed the situation differently: for
them, obscure passages simply indicated a need for decipherment. Yet, from the point
of view of the success achieved, it is the most accessible form the mnemonic that
attracted the greatest approval, judging by the quantity of alchemical poems written
in the Middle Ages.

The early modern period

English verses
Paradoxically, given his satirical treatment of alchemy, it is with Geoffrey Chaucer
that England became the leading nation with respect to alchemical poetry from the
fifteenth century onwards. England would retain this position until alchemical poetry
ceased to be composed in the British Isles, around the beginning of the eighteenth
century. Perhaps the widespread practice of alchemical poetry explains why England,
alone in Europe, seems not to have translated Augurelli, the model for Renaissance
alchemical verse in all other nations.9 From the sixteenth century onwards, one of the
fifteenth-century English alchemical poets, George Ripley, acquired a fame that knew
no boundaries, whether geographical, temporal, or even doctrinal, given that the
theories he disseminated could be easily adapted to new doctrines.10

French verses
In French, alchemical poetry is dominated by the influence of the Roman de la Rose
right up to the end of the sixteenth century, as can be seen from the edition of
alchemical verse of 1561, and from the commentary of Le livre de la Fontaine pril-
leuse provided by Jacques Gohory in 1572. This medieval influence does not exclude
openness to successive poetic trends of the Renaissance, such as the influence of
Marot (in the translation of Augurelli by Franois Habert), Ronsard (in the poems
by Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement and the sieur de Beauvallet), Du Bartas (in the work
of Joseph Du Chesne), and Desportes (in the second version of the Trsor des trsors
by Christofle de Gamon).
However, from the beginning of the seventeenth century onwards, alchemical
poetry was effectively a failure in France. Although such poetry was still written, it
is unclear whether it was still being read: at any rate, it was not alchemical poetry
(far from it) that would achieve the greatest success among alchemists in France. Du
Chesnes Le Grand miroir du monde was not influential, and although Christofle de
Gamon wrote, in turn, a Semaine, ou Creation du monde (1609) directed against Du

9
Jennifer Rampling informs me of a prose Paraphrasticall Compend of Augurelli in Amsterdam, Bibliotheca
Philosophica Hermetica MS 46: apparently, a seventeenth-century English translation based on the
Opuscula quaedam Chemica. Georgii Riplei Angli Medulla Philosophiae Chemicae . . . Ioan. Aurelii Augurelli
Chrysopoeiae compendium paraphrasticum . . . (Frankfurt, 1614). See also Part I, 260 and n. 58.
10
As discussed further below in relation to George Starkey. See Jennifer M. Rampling, The Catalogue of the
Ripley Corpus: Alchemical Writings Attributed to George Ripley (d. ca. 1490), Ambix 57 (2010): 125201, on
13032.
66 DIDIER KAHN

Bartas, containing some alchemical passages, this work soon fell into obscurity.
Gamons Trsor des trsors, despite the substantial alchemical commentary attached
to it in 1610, never became truly integrated into the alchemical tradition at least
not prior to 1948.11 Les Prodiges chimiques by the sieur de Beauvallet remained
unknown. As for the alchemical poems of Nuysement, if they experienced any success
in France, it was mainly in the wake of his Traictez du vray sel secret des philosophes.
Alchemical poetry survived in France, but without ever being taken seriously. Only
neo-Latin alchemical poetry acquired sufficient authority to be regularly cited in
French alchemical treatises of the seventeenth century. In France, vernacular alchem-
ical poetry therefore experienced the same fate as French poetry more generally
throughout the seventeenth century: namely, to become a kind of salon poetry
without (in the case of alchemy) ever being elevated to the level of the sublime.12

German verses
The early modern period, like the Middle Ages, yielded no great, widely known
didactic poems in German. What come closest are little works containing tens of
verses sometimes up to two hundred accompanying illustrious treatises such
as those of Basil Valentine (1599)13 or Johann Hartprecht (1656).14 Owing to their
brevity, these poems were translated into several languages, but in fact they did not
summarise the treatises to which they were organically linked. On the other hand,
German alchemical poetry from the Renaissance onwards reflects an increasing taste
for enigmatic and figurative language. The Bildgedicht experienced its full flourishing
when favoured by the fashion for emblems during the Baroque Age.

Italian verses
Italian alchemical poetry is mainly characterised by its elegance, from the Renaissance
onwards. However, the only great Italian Renaissance poems (Allegrettis De la
trasmutatione de metalli, and Ingegneris Argonautica) have remained little known,
one in manuscript and the other unnoticed. The Lux obnubilata suapte natura reful-
gens of F. M. Santinelli is the only great Italian success: a late success admittedly, but
one that was long-lasting.

11
At this date, some extracts from it were included in the work of Claude dYg, Anthologie de la posie herm-
tique (Paris: Montbrun, 1948; reedited Paris: Dervy, 1976), 1015. This work, while not devoid of interest, is
unfortunately marred by numerous errors: for example, recording as alchemical the pseudo-Baruch, or the
poem by Lactantius on the phoenix (not to mention Cyrano de Bergerac).
12
On this notion, see Marc Fumaroli, Rhtorique dcole et rhtorique adulte: remarques sur la rception euro-
penne du trait Du Sublime aux XVIe et XVIIe sicles, Revue dHistoire Littraire de la France 86 (1986):
3351.
13
See Part I, 263 and n. 74. Basil Valentines treatise was translated into Latin in 1618 (by Michael Maier), French
in 1624 (put back on sale in 1659), and English in 1657.
14
Joachim Telle, Vom Salz. Eine deutsche Alchemikerdichtung der frhen Neuzeit ber den Gewinn einer
Universalmedizin in Pharmazie in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Festgabe fr Wolf-Dieter Mller-Jahncke zum
65. Geburtstag, ed. Ch. Friedrich and J. Telle (Stuttgart: Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, 2009), 45784.
This poem accompanies Der verlangete Dritte Anfang der Mineralischen Dinge by J. F. H. S. [Johann Hart-
precht], translated into Latin in 1658 under the title Lucerna Salis Philosophorum, and into French in 1669
under the title Trait du sel, troisieme principe des choses minerales, attributed to the Cosmopolite (i.e.
Michael Sendivogius).
 ALCHEMICAL POETRY IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE 67

Neo-Latin verses
Neo-Latin alchemical poetry is fairly abundant. However, it included many introduc-
tory pieces but few great poems. After Augurelli, Michael Maier is the only author
of comparable magnitude.15
It is important to highlight the central importance of Augurellis Chrysopoeia, as
its success spanned all borders and centuries (from the sixteenth to the eighteenth).
This poem inspired translators, imitators and commentators writing in Latin, French
and German, and was instrumental in propagating alchemical interpretations of
ancient myths. More importantly, it marks the appearance of a new alchemical
doctrine: Ficinos equation of the spiritus mundi with the elixir and the alchemical
quintessence, which would influence alchemists for over two centuries.

Alchemical poetry and the book market

Who edited medieval alchemical poems? Although some editors of these works were
poets, such as Johannes Rhenanus or Nathan dAubign, in the great majority of
cases they were simply alchemists. Indeed, it seems to have been the content, rather
than the literary form, that determined publication. I know of only one example
contradicting this rule, namely the first gothic editions (ca. 1506, 1521, and 1527) of
Jean de La Fontaines La Fontaine des amoureux de science, where emphasis was
clearly placed on the literary form rather than the content. This is evident from
the fact that the alchemical poem is accompanied, in these editions, by numerous
nonalchemical verses, including La Fontaine des amoureux mondains (a morality play
inspired by the legend of Narcissus and Echo), an anonymous Cong damour, and
sets of rondos and ballads.16
With the advent of printing, the composition of verse was sometimes motivated by
the prospect of publication, as in the case of the sieur Du Gault, whose Palinodie
chimique (1588) was expressly conceived for print publication, in the name of public
utility. Du Gault writes in verse in order to convince his readership, which was
primarily composed of members of the court of Henri III. A century earlier, Pierre
Chastellain recounted his alchemical misadventures not with the aim of discouraging
eventual lovers of alchemy, but rather within the context of a literary movement that
brought about the increasing expansion of the autobiographical genre in lyrical
poetry (for example, in Guillaume de Machaut, Jehan Froissart, or Adam de la
Halle).17
That the existence of printing exerted some influence on both the editing and the
verse translation of alchemical poetry can be seen from the editorial rivalry between
Lyons and Paris. This resulted in competing editions of La Fontaine des amoureux

15
Discussed in Part I, 27274.
16
See Didier Kahn Recherches sur la tradition imprime de La Fontaine des amoureux de science de Jean de La
Fontaine (1413), Chrysopoeia 5 (19921996), 32385, on 32427.
17
In this regard, see: Georg Misch, Geschichte der Autobiographie, IV, 1: Das Hochmittelalter in der Vollendung
(Frankfurt: G. Schulte-Bulmke, 1967), 311; Evelyn Birge Vitz, Type et individu dans lautobiographie
mdivale. tude dHistoria Calamitatum, Potique 6 (1975): 42645; August Buck, ed., Biographie und
Autobiographie in der Renaissance (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1983); and Danielle Buschinger and
Wolfgang Spiewok, eds., Die Autobiographie im Mittelalter/Autobiographie et rfrences autobiographiques
au Moyen Age (Greifswald: Reineke, 1995), Wodan, Bd. 55.
68 DIDIER KAHN

de science (Jean de Tournes beautiful illustrated edition from Lyons in 1547, to

which the Parisians responded in 1561 with the collected edition of French alchemical
poems),18 as well as the verse translation of Augurelli by Franois Habert, a specialist
in Marotic poetry, edited in Paris in response to the prose translation of the Chryso-
poeia published in Lyons the year before (1548). Generally, however, the advent of
printing seems not to have been a crucial factor in the composition or publication of
alchemical poetry, given that many poems remained in scribal circulation throughout
the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Likewise, we cannot say that
the possibilities opened up by printing contributed much to the flourishing of the
alchemical Bildgedicht, given the superabundance of handwritten copies of such
works in the Baroque Age. Yet, here as elsewhere, printing enabled a standardisation
of iconography that would have direct effects on scribal production, as manuscripts
increasingly took printed images as their models:19 this is a relationship that calls for
greater research.

Questions pertaining to languages and translations

Why write alchemical poems in a language other than Latin in the Middle Ages? It
should be recalled that vernacular languages enjoyed a status and dignity established
by illustrious models, including models for the development of alchemical poetry
(Jean de Meun and Geoffrey Chaucer, for example). However, more precise reasons
should be mentioned. In at least two cases, poems written in vernacular languages are
explicitly addressed to those who are not clerks: the poems of Gratheus in Middle
Dutch, and those of Jean de La Fontaine in French.20 Such declarations provide rare
exceptions, although it is, of course, possible that this intention tacitly influenced the
vernacular composition of many other alchemical poems.
Alchemical poems were more often translated into prose than into verse. We should
nonetheless mention the Epistola solis ad lunam crescentem, attributed in Latin
to Senior Zadith. This text is the prose translation of an Arabic alchemical poem,
which was unwittingly restored to the poetic form of the original Arabic when it was
translated into German verses as a fifteenth-century Bildgedicht, the Sol und Luna.
Likewise, Thomas Nortons Ordinall of alchemy was translated by Michael Maier
(1618) into Latin prose, which was then retranslated into German verses in 1625.21
We also know of a medieval Latin poem, the Lumen secretorum of Johannes
Ticinensis, that was translated into German verse in the sixteenth century, while
Augurelli was translated not only into prose, but also into verse (moreover, by a
poet who was not an alchemist, Franois Habert). Schuler has also edited an English
verse translation, completed around 1650, of the 1561 collection entitled De la
transformation metallique, comprising translations of the Sommaire philosophique
attributed to Flamel, the Remontrances de Nature lalchymiste errant of Jean

18
M. M. Fontaine, Banalisation de lalchimie Lyon au milieu du XVIe sicle, et contre-attaque parisienne, in
Il Rinascimento a Lione, ed. A. Possenti and G. Mastrangelo (Rome: Ateneo, 1988), 263322.
19
As may be seen by leafing through, for example, Jacques van Lennep, Alchimie. Contribution ltude de lart
alchimique (1984), 2nd ed. (Bruxelles: Crdit Communal, 1985).
20
See Part I, 256 (n. 36), and Kahn, Recherches sur la tradition imprime de La Fontaine des amoureux de
science (see n. 14), 33037.
21
Schuler, Alchemical Poetry 15751700 (see n. 2), xxviii.
 ALCHEMICAL POETRY IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE 69

Perral, and La Fontaine des amoureux de science.22 Another noteworthy case is that
of the images of the Bildgedicht by Lamspring, which a century later inspired an
alchemical poem entitled Les Visions hermtiques by Nuysement. By contrast, Nuyse-
ments Pome philosophic de la verit de la phisique mineralle was later translated
into English during the seventeenth century, but in prose.23
Another question that should be raised here concerns geographical borders.
Whether considering the cases discussed above, or thinking of the sonnets from the
Discours dautheur incertain sur la pierre des philosophes (1590), the versification
of a Latin prose treatise by a Central European alchemist (the Tractatus de coelo
terrestri of Venceslas Lavinius), or recalling the great fashion for George Ripleys
English alchemical poems that circulated in manuscript in sixteenth-century France
and Germany long before their print publication, we must acknowledge the tremen-
dous diffusion of alchemical poetry across Europe, which transcended both chrono-
logical and linguistic barriers. Such diffusion is the case not only for alchemical
poetry, but also for alchemical treatises more generally, all equally the common
property of Europa chemica.

Outsiders
As for the Middle Ages, some texts foreign to the alchemical tradition have been
integrated into this overview. It is worth remarking the role of the Argonautica
those of Apollonios de Rhodes no less than those attributed to Orpheus. Subjected to
alchemical exegesis both in the Renaissance and the seventeenth century, they were
even imitated by an alchemist, Angelo Ingegneri, in Italian (1606), and thereby pro-
vided Ingegneri with a poetic model, once translated alchemically. In contrast, for
Elias Ashmole (discussed below), the Argonautica provided weighty support for the
thesis of the antiquity of alchemical poetry.
Another text that is foreign to the alchemical tradition is the Fontaine prilleuse,
an allegorical poem of the fifteenth century interpreted alchemically by Gohory
(1572). As with the Argonautica, we are here confronted with a situation familiar to
historians of alchemy: the alchemical reading of these poems is, in fact, only one
among many other such phenomena (that would multiply from the fifteenth century
onwards) of an alchemical exegesis of literary texts.24

Doctrinal, or practical, content

German alchemical poems continuously transmitted medieval doctrines until the
seventeenth century, although this did not exclude the incorporation of early modern
elements into such verses. To some extent, the situation was similar in France, where
poetry influenced by the Roman de la Rose, and Nuysements Les Visions herm-
tiques, also follows medieval models. George Ripleys immense success also propa-
gated medieval doctrines in England and throughout Europe. However, medieval
texts were often reinterpreted in the seventeenth century in the light of more recent
approaches. For instance, the alchemy of George Starkey (Eirenaeus Philalethes)

22
Schuler, Alchemical Poetry 15751700, 71199.
23
Schuler, Alchemical Poetry 15751700, xxxii, n. 26.
24
See Part I, 268, n. 80.
70 DIDIER KAHN

could, in part, be described as a rereading of Bernard of Trier (end of the fourteenth

century) influenced by the work of Michael Sendivogius (15661636) and Jan Baptist
van Helmont (15791644).25 Thus alchemical poetry provided one of the vehicles
through which medieval alchemy survived into the very heart of the early modern
period.
Given that, doctrinally speaking, it is the influence of Paracelsus that marks the
transition from medieval to Renaissance alchemy, how was alchemical poetry
affected by Paracelsian ideas? As discussed in Part I, the imagery of a Paracelsian
alchemical treatise, De tinctura physicorum, was employed in several German
alchemical poems. Nevertheless, Paracelsianism seems to have had very little doctri-
nal influence, strictly speaking, on German alchemical poetry. In France, the main
manifestation of this influence was Joseph Du Chesnes Le Grand miroir du monde,
an attempt at a Paracelsian imitation of Du Bartas La Sepmaine. It was long believed
that this poem was the vehicle for transmitting the doctrine of the five elements and
principles (earth, water, salt, sulphur, and mercury), which became widespread in
(al)chemical textbooks (especially French ones) throughout the seventeenth century.
However, more precise research has shown that, although this doctrine is exhibited
in the poem, the poetic discourse (a web of circumlocutions) actually provided an
obstacle to its transmission. The direct vehicle of this doctrine was, rather, a treatise
that appeared slightly later in Latin prose, written by Helisaeus Rslin, who, starting
from the same sources, had independently reached the same conclusions as Du
Chesne.26 Yet, while these circumstances do not detract from the Grand miroir as a
locus of doctrinal innovation, the work was not recognised as such by contemporaries,
even though Du Chesne himself referred readers to it some years later, in one of his
Latin treatises.27
Alchemical poetry has nevertheless been shown to be capable of transmitting
coherent doctrines. Jennifer Rampling has demonstrated, for example, how, in
the Compound of Alchymy, George Ripley adapted pseudo-Lullian doctrines to the
contradictory alchemy of Guido de Montanor, thereby putting forward a new
theory that would soon spread throughout Europe before being itself subjected to
subsequent reinterpretation by some of Ripleys readers.28 We also know that the
popularity of Augurellis Chrysopoeia established it as the first vehicle of the new
alchemical spiritus mundi doctrine based on Ficinos De vita libri tres. As for the
sonnets in the Discours dautheur incertain, although their poetic quality contributed
much to the success of this treatise, it would also be quite correct to attribute part of
this success to the role of its sonnets in transmitting, in a more general form, the
Ficinian doctrine of the alchemical spiritus mundi.

25
Eirenaeus Philalethes, Sir George Riplyes Epistle to King Edward unfolded (1655), edited without the authors
consent; the official version appeared after his death with the title Ripley revivd (1678). See William R.
Newman, Gehennical Fire. The Lives of George Starkey, an American Alchemist in the Scientific Revolution
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994), 263 (n. 16), 26869 (No. 22 ), 272 (MS 13).
26
See my article La thorie des cinq lments et principes, de Joseph Du Chesne et Helisaeus Rslin Sbastien
Basson, tienne de Clave et Guy de La Brosse, forthcoming.
27
The Ad Veritatem Hermeticae Medicinae (1604). See my forthcoming article mentioned above, n. 26.
28
Jennifer M. Rampling, Establishing the Canon: George Ripley and His Alchemical Sources, Ambix 55 (2008):
189208. See also Jennifer M. Rampling, Dee and the Alchemists, Studies in History and Philosophy of
Science Part A, forthcoming.
 ALCHEMICAL POETRY IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE 71

Among the poems mentioned here, many deal closely with matters related to
the practice of alchemy. Although Du Chesnes Grand miroir was judged to be disap-
pointing in this respect by the sieur de Ravignan, the anonymous poem The Hermets
Tale clearly served practical aims, at least in the opinion of George Starkey and
probably also of its editor, Elias Ashmole. This was the case with much other
alchemical poetry, starting with the medieval poems that gained such wide diffusion
from the sixteenth century onwards. However, the amount of Renaissance and
seventeenth-century poetry that does not deal with questions of alchemical practice
in a detailed manner is also substantial.

The conceptualisation of alchemical poetry

Did any authors present a theory of alchemical poetry, to explain what its goals and
methods should be? Here, we have very little at our disposal. George Ripley did not
elaborate, it seems, on his choice of a poetic medium for the transmutative art.
Augurelli did not provide a preface to his Chrysopoeia, and nor did he assign any
particular goal or programme to neo-Latin alchemical poems. In his commentary on
La Fontaine prilleuse, Gohory did not concern himself with the specificities of genre.
According to him, poetry, romances and theoretical treatises are all one and the same,
inasmuch as they are works that contain, as he says, the sacred knowledge of the
secrets of Nature.29 Other than mentioning in passing that novels merely imitate
poetry in this respect (thereby alluding to the cardinal notion of poetic theology
proper to the prisca theologia), Gohory dealt mainly with questions concerning the
dialectic of romance and history, and with the defence of chivalric romances. Poetry
in itself therefore received little attention from him.30 Even Robert Duval (Robertus
Vallensis), in his edition of the collection De la transformation metallique (1561),
remained fairly vague when presenting the alchemical poems inspired by the Roman
de la Rose: I believe that you shall not undervalue the said authors for their style
because, even though their verses do not have (with respect to the words) the grace
of those of Marot or many other poets of our time, it is enough that they teach
exquisite and precious things which are often hidden under some vile clothing.31 The
only theorising element that appears here is the alchemical topos of the precious stone
hidden under vile disguise.32 In other words, Duval apologises for the lack of elegance
of the poems that he is editing, and justifies this lack by the fact that, in alchemy,
valuable things are often hidden beneath vile appearances. In truth, this is a lame
defence and illustration of alchemical poetry.

29
Jacques Gohory, dedicatory epistle to Marguerite of France (the sister of King Henri II), in Le Dixiesme Livre
dAmadis de Gaule, trans. J. Gohory (first ed. 1552; reissued Paris: Robert Le Mangnier, 1563), fol. 4r.
30
See Didier Kahn, Prsence et absence de lalchimie dans la littrature romanesque mdivale, to appear in
Savoirs et fictions au Moyen Age (Paris: PUPS, 2011).
31
Or croy-je bien que vous ne depriserez cesdictz autheurs pour leur stile: car encores que leurs vers ne ayent,
quant aux motz, la grace de ceulx de Marot, ou de plusieurs aultres potes de nostre temps, cest asss
quilz enseignent choses exquises & precieuses, lesqueles sont sovent caches soubz quelque vil habit. De la
transformation metallique (see n. 3), Aux lecteurs, fol. *3v.
32
See, for example, the Latin verses of the fourteenth century quoted at the beginning of the first part of this
study (Est lapis occultus . . . fimo vel stercore tectus, etc.).
72 DIDIER KAHN

Nor is it clear how one could build upon the sieur de Ravignan, member of the
Navarre Academy and friend of Joseph Du Chesne, whose only advice on scientific
poetry, given in 1601 concerning Le Grand miroir, consisted of denying scientific
poetry any practical value or role in teaching the sciences, thereby granting it only
the capacity to bring out the wit of the author.33 As for Michael Maier, what can
be learnt from his conceptions hardly appears in his dedicatory epistles or in his
theoretical texts, and can therefore only be deduced, through force of erudition, from
an intimate knowledge of his work, his sources, and the literary intellectual circles
that he frequented.34
One has to wait until seventeenth-century England for real theoretical engagement
with the genre of alchemical poetry, likened to the notion of poetic theology.
Such considerations are encountered simultaneously in Elias Ashmoles preface to
Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (1652) and, to a greater extent, in Bassett Joness
Lithochymicus (ca. 1650). As discussed below, it is possible that such engagement may
represent a thoughtful reaction to Francis Bacons open hostility to the alchemical
interpretation of mythology.
Elias Ashmole, inquiring into the superiority of prose or poetry, resolutely opts for
the latter by calling upon the antiquity of Orpheus and his poem on the Argonauts
(the pseudo-Orphic Argonautica), which is, he argues, an alchemical treatise. Besides
its antiquity, poetry has innate qualities: it is so Naturall and Universall that
Ashmole considers it to be a form of Hereditary eloquence belonging to humanity
as a whole do not all nations have a Homer, a Virgil, or an Ovid?35 Later,
Ashmole considers the case of England, whose earliest poet, he believes, is Rasis
Cestrensis, to whom were attributed some of the medieval Latin alchemical poems
published by Johannes Rhenanus in 1625.36 Among these, Ashmole highlights the
existence of a Responsio Rasis Cestrensis filio suo Merlino,37 which shows that Rasis
Cestrensis was a contemporary of Merlin himself, and his master in this art (just as
Linus, whom Ashmole had mentioned earlier, was the master of Orpheus). Ashmole
also points to the case of Hortulanus, an apparently French fourteenth-century
author,38 recast as an Englishman by Ashmole. As evidence, Ashmole relied upon a
1560 publication from Basel: the Compendium alchimiae mistakenly attributed to
the English poet and grammarian, John Garland (ca. 1190ca. 1270), under whose
name Hortulanuss commentary on the Emerald Tablet was published.39 Ashmole
takes these two individuals to be one and the same author, and considers Garlands
erroneous biography, which concludes the Compendium alchimiae (and which dates

33
See Part I, 267, n. 94.
34
This is one of the remarkable aspects of the work of Erik Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock. Die
Cantilenae intellectuales Michael Maiers (Tbingen: Max Niemeyer, 2002).
35
Elias Ashmole, Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum. Containing Severall Poeticall Pieces of our Famous
English Philosophers, who have written the Hermetique Mysteries in their owne Ancient Language (London:
J. Grismond for Nathan Brooke, 1652), fol. [B3]r.
36
See Part I, 25051, nn. 68.
37
It is the title of the second chapter of Lumen luminum, attributed to Rasis Cestrensis, in Hermann Condeesya-
nus [Johannes Rhenanus], Harmoniae inperscrutabilis Chymico-Philosophicae, sive Philosophorum antiquorum
consentientium . . . Decas I. (Frankfurt: Conrad Eifrid, 1625), 94.
38
As appears from as yet unedited research by Jean-Marc Mandosio, based on several manuscripts of Hortulanuss
commentary of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes.
39
[Pseudo]-Jean de Garlande, Compendium Alchimiae. Joannis Garlandii Angli philosophi doctissimi . . ., ed.
Basilius Joannes Herold [Basel: s.n.e. (Pietro Perna), 1560], 132.
 ALCHEMICAL POETRY IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE 73

Garland to around the year 1040), to be true.40 Alluding to John Garlands long
sojourn in France, he explains that Hortulanus was named Garland by virtue of his
hermetic and poetic crown: He was the first Christian Philosopher after Morienus,
who (travelling abroad and returning hither in the Raigne of William the Conquerour)
because he was the first that Transplanted the Chemicall Muses from remotest Parts
into his own Country, is called Garland, ab Coronam Hermeticam & Poeticam.41
Having thus established the primacy of alchemical poetry over prose on the basis of
its antiquity, Ashmole turns to its Effects: poetry possesses Life, a Pulse, and such
a secret Energy, which leaves a more profound impression on the spirit than does
prose. Moreover, it is in the Parabolical & Allusive part of poetry that the Ancients
wrapped their most important mysteries, the most Sacred, and Venerable in their
Esteeme, and the securest from Prophane and Vulgar Wits.42 Accordingly, their
Wisdome and Policy lay in first finding a way to teach their knowledge and,
second, finding a way of concealing it. This art was poetry.
Ashmole thus prolonged until the mid-seventeenth century the discourse identifying
ancient poetry with prisca sapientia so characteristic of the whole Renaissance and,
earlier still, the medieval period.43 This discourse had early on been annexed by
alchemists for the benefit of their art, beginning with Pietro Bono (first third of
the fourteenth century), who provided alchemical interpretations of a number of
Graeco-Roman myths.44 Nevertheless, it should be acknowledged that Ashmoles
Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum marked the first time that such a discourse was
specifically applied to alchemical poetry as a literary genre, distinct from prose and
endowed with its own properties. As mentioned above, it is likely that, by reempha-
sising this discourse so forcefully, Ashmole sought to magisterially counter Francis
Bacons damning critique of the alchemical exegesis of ancient fables, placed at the
top of the preface to his Sapientia veterum (1609).45 Ashmoles conception of poetry
also explains why, in spite of the often prosaic character of the alchemical poems
in his Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, he spent so much energy in collecting and
annotating the pieces of this anthology.46
40
[Pseudo]-Garlande, Compendium Alchimiae, 174.
41
Ashmole, Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, fol. [B3]r.
42
Ashmole, Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, fol. [B3]v.
43
Besides the works cited in Part I, 259 and n. 47, it suffices to refer to the classic studies of: Peter Dronke,
Fabula. Explorations into the Uses of Myth in Medieval Platonism (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974; reissued 1985);
and Daniel P. Walker, The Ancient Theology. Studies in Christian Platonism from the Fifteenth to the Eight-
eenth Century (London: Duckworth, 1972).
44
See the passages translated by Sylvain Matton, Lhermneutique alchimique de la Fable antique, in A.-J.
Pernety, Les Fables gyptiennes et grecques dvoiles & rduites au mme principe [1786; repr. Paris: La Table
dmeraude, 1982 (corrected reedition 1992)], at the start of the first volume. A reworking of this study can
be found in S. Matton, Le sicle des Lumires et linterprtation alchimique de la mythologie antique,
Dix-Huitime Sicle 27 (1995): 7387.
45
Francis Bacon, De Sapientia Veterum, Praefatio; English translation by Arthur Gorges (1619), in Francis
Bacon, The Essays, or Councils, Civil and Moral (London: A. Swalle and T. Childe, 1696; digitised on Archive.
org), at the end, nonpaginated: Neither am I ignorant . . . how great the commodity of Wit and Discourse is,
that is able to apply things well, yet so as never meant by the first Authors. But I remember that this liberty
hath been lately much abused, in that many, to purchase the reverence of Antiquity to their own Inventions
and Fancies, have for the same intent laboured to wrest many Poetical Fables: Neither hath this old and common
Vanity been used only of late, or now and then: For even Chrysippus long ago did (as an Interpreter of Dreams)
ascribe the Opinions of the Stoicks to the Ancient Poets; and more sottishly do the Chymists appropriate the
Fancies and Delights of Poets in the Transformation of Bodies, to the Experiments of their Fornace.
46
Schuler, Alchemical Poetry 15751700 (see n. 2), xlixlii.
74 DIDIER KAHN

In the same period, and still in England, a comparable view is found in Bassett
Joness Lithochymicus. As Robert M. Schuler observes:
Not only does his long poem often allude directly to poetry, rhetoric, metaphor and allegory,
but Jones also conflates the Harper sun-god (Apollo) with King David, celebrates musics
restorative powers, and even conceives of himself as a magus-bard-alchemist in the line of
Merlin. Moreover, his favorite Platonic figure is Diotima, and it was she who pointed out
that while all creative writers produce and arrange language to express human emotion in
words, only the poet expresses himself musically, and his music is the very essence of his art.47

The only statements on the conceptualisation of alchemical poetry that adequately

express its most elevated ambitions therefore appear late, towards the end of its his-
tory, in a cultural climate characterised by a general enthusiasm for Paracelsianism,
alchemy, and Millenarianism. It appears that these statements had hardly any influ-
ence outside England, and sank promptly into obscurity.
To conclude, alchemical poetry presents the historian with a vast and fertile field,
endowed with great richness and variety. Yet alchemical poetry as a whole represents
only a lesser branch of alchemical literature, with some rare local exceptions: in
Germany, with the fashion for Bildgedichte; in France, with the poems inspired
by the Roman de la Rose; in late seventeenth-century Italy, with Santinellis Lux
obnubilata; and in neo-Latin poetry, with Augurelli. Only in England, the principal
exception, did alchemical poetry come to rival prose.

Erratum
Although one of the first occurrences of the acrostic VITRIOL is in a work
translated and published by Gerard Dorn in 1577, as stated in Part I (263 and n. 72),
one of its very earliest occurrences is in a Dorn autograph manuscript of 1565.
See Didier Kahn, Les dbuts de Grard Dorn daprs le manuscrit autographe de
sa Clavis totius Philosophiae Chymisticae (1565), in Analecta Paracelsica. Studien
zum Nachleben Theophrast von Hohenheims im deutschen Kulturgebiet der frhen
Neuzeit, ed. Joachim Telle (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1994), 59126 (7576). The
author is indebted to Dr. Annelies van Gijsen (Antwerpen Universiteit) for this refer-
ence. Dr. van Gijsen is currently working on the Hollandus corpus, in which still
earlier occurrences may yet be found. In addition, it should be noted that more
alchemical poems in diverse languages have been edited in her book, Joos Balbian en
de steen der wijzen. De alchemistische nalatenschap van een zestiende-eeuwse arts
(Leuven: Peeters, 2004).

Acknowledgements
This article includes the essential points of a study that will appear in French in the
proceedings of the international conference La Posie scientifique de Lucrce nos jours
(directed by Jean Dhombres, Peyresq, 1419 June 2008). The article was translated
from the French by Alireza Taheri, University of Cambridge. The author warmly
thanks him as well as Jennifer Rampling for her considerable help in revising the two
parts of the translation.
47
Schuler, Alchemical Poetry 15751700, xxxix.
 ALCHEMICAL POETRY IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE
Index for Parts I and II
Adam de la Halle: Part II, 67
gidius de Vadis, see Du Ws
Afferri, Antonio Francesco: Part I, 270 n. 114
Agrippa von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius:
Part I, 260
Agrippa, Johannes: Part I, 260
Alain de Lille: Part I, 253
Allegretti, Antonio: Part I, 260, 269; Part II, 66
Apollonios of Rhodes: Part I, 270; Part II, 69
Archelaos: Part I, 250
Argonautica pseudo-orphica: Part I, 2701;
Part II, 69, 72
Aristotle (pseudo-): Part I, 254; Part II, 64
Arnaldus of Villanova: Part I, 255
Ashmole, Elias: Part I, 2534, 256 n. 34, 257 n.
37, 268 n. 1023, 26970; Part II, 69, 713
Aubign, Nathan d: Part I, 272; Part II, 67
Aubign, Thodore-Agrippa d: Part I, 267, 272 Epistola solis ad lunam crescentem: Part I, 250
Augurelli, Giovanni Aurelio: Part I, 25960,
2645, 26872; Part II, 65, 678, 701, 74 Est lapis occultus : Part I, 250 n. 6, 251; Part
Bacon, Francis: Part II, 723
Barnaud, Nicolas: Part I, 261
Basilius Valentinus: Part I, 261, 263; Part II, 66
Beauvallet, sieur of: Part I, 265; Part II, 656
Bembo, Pietro: Part I, 259
Bernard le Trvisan: Part I, 258 n. 45, 263, 266
n. 87
Bernard of Trier: Part II, 70
Bildgedicht: Part I, 258, 2613; Part II, 63, 66,
689, 74
Blomfild, William: Part I, 269
Burgh, Benedict: Part I, 254
Cantilena: Part I, 252, 255, 271 n. 118, 2734,
274 n. 135; Part II, 72 n. 34
Cecco dAscoli: Part I, 255
Chastellain, Pierre: Part I, 258, 265; Part II, 63,
67
Chaucer, Geoffrey: Part I, 256; Part II, 63, 65, 68
Condeesyanus, Hermann, see Rhenanus
Crassellame Chinese, Fra Marc-Antonio, see
Santinelli
Daniel of Capo dIstria: Part I, 255
Daniel of Justinopolis, see Daniel de Capo
dIstria
Dante Alighieri: Part I, 2545
75
Dastin, John: Part I, 268
De Tinctura physicorum: Part I, 262; Part II, 70
Desportes, Philippe: Part I, 265; Part II, 65
Discours dautheur incertain sur la pierre des
philosophes: Part I, 266; Part II, 6970
Du Bartas, Guillaume de Salluste: Part I, 265,
267; Part II, 656, 70
Du Chesne, Joseph: Part I, 265, 267; Part II,
65, 702
Du Clo, Gaston: Part I, 271
Du Gault, see Frgeville
Du Ws, Gilles: Part I, 260
Duval, Robert: Part I, 264 n. 77; Part II, 634, 71
Elias of Cortona, brother: Part I, 255
loge (L) du Pome lirique de lOpra de
Zoroastre: Part I, 268 n. 98
Emerald Tablet, see Tabula smaragdina
n. 3, 258; Part II, 68
II, 71 n. 32
Explication de lenigme trouv en un pilier de
lEglise Nostre Dame de Paris: Part I, 266
n. 88
Ficino, Marsilio: Part I, 259, 266; Part II, 67, 70
Flamel, Nicolas: Part I, 257, 264, 272 n. 123;
Part II, 64, 68
Fontaine prilleuse (La): Part I, 264; Part II,
65, 69, 71
Fracastoro, Girolamo: Part I, 271
Frgeville, Antoine de, sieur Du Gault: Part I,
265; Part II, 64 n. 6, 67
Froissart, Jehan: Part II, 67
Furichius, Johann Nicolaus: Part I, 272
Gamon, Christofle de: Part I, 2656; Part II,
656
Garlande, Jean de: Part II, 723
Gemma salutaris: Part I, 250 n. 6, 251
Georgics: Part I, 249, 259
Ginceum Chimicum: Part I, 270
Giraldi, Lilio Gregorio: Part I, 270, 271
Gohory, Jacques: Part I, 264; Part II, 65, 69, 71
Gower, John: Part I, 2534; Part II, 63
Grand Olympe (Le): Part I, 259, 265
Grands Rhtoriqueurs: Part I, 258
76 DIDIER KAHN
Gratheus filius philosophi: Part I, 251 n. 7,
2567; Part II, 634, 68
Guillaume de Lorris (see also Romance of the
Rose): Part I, 264
Habert, Franois: Part I, 260, 265; Part II, 65, 68
Heinrich von Mgeln: Part I, 2524; Part II,
634
Heliodoros: Part I, 250
Hermaphroditisches Sonn- und Monds Kind:
Part I, 262
Hermes Trismegistus: Part I, 255; Part II, 72 n.
38
Hermes Trismegistus, see also Tabula smara-
gdina
Hermets Tale (The): Part I, 268; Part II, 71
Hesteau de Nuysement, Clovis: Part I, 262,
265; Part II, 656, 69
Hierotheos: Part I, 250
Hirschenberg, Christoph von: Part I, 261, 263
Homer: Part II, 72
Hortulanus: Part II, 723
Ibn Umail, Muhammad: Part I, 250 n. 23
Ingegneri, Angelo: Part I, 269; Part II, 66, 69
Jamsthaler, Herbrandt: Part I, 271
Jean de La Fontaine: Part I, 2578, 2645; Part
II, 634, 679
Jean de Meun (see also Romance of the Rose):
Part I, 250, 2523, 258, 264; Part II, 634, 68
Jean de Murs: Part I, 253
Johannes Ticinensis: Part I, 252, 261; Part II,
64, 68
Johannes von Teschen, see Johannes Ticinensis
Jones, Bassett: Part I, 269; Part II, 72, 74
Justinopolis, see Daniel of Justinopolis
Khlid ibn Yazd: Part I, 250 n. 2, 251 n. 10
Knorr von Rosenroth, Christian: Part I, 260
n. 58
La Borde, sieur of: Part I, 266
La Fontaine, Jean de, see Jean de La Fontaine
Laigneau, David: Part I, 272 n. 123
Lamspring: Part I, 2612, 265; Part II, 69
Laudabile sanctum: Part I, 250 n. 6, 251
Lavinius, Venceslas : Part I, 266; Part II, 69
Limojon de Saint-Didier, Alexandre-Toussaint:
Part I, 272
Linthaut, Henri de: Part I, 265
Lucretius: Part I, 273
Lullius, see Raymundus Lullius
Lumen luminum: Part I, 250 n. 6, 251; Part II,
72 n. 37
Lux obnubilata, see Santinelli
Lydgate, John: Part I, 254
Machaut, Guillaume de: Part II, 67
Maier, Michael: Part I, 271-274; Part II, 66 n.
13, 678, 72
Manne terrestre (La) venant du ciel sur les
enfens de la science: Part I, 268 n. 98
Manzolli, Pier Angelo, see Palingenius
Marot, Jean: Part I, 260, 265; Part II, 65, 68, 71
Marulle, Michel de: Part I, 273
Merlin: Part I, 250 n. 6, 251; Part II, 723
Mesmes, Pierre de, sieur de Ravignan: Part I,
267; Part II, 712
Moscherosch: Part I, 272 n. 121
Mgeln, see Heinrich von Mgeln
Mullner, Leonhart : Part I, 262
Murs, see Jean de Murs
Norton, Thomas: Part I, 2578, 268; Part II,
634, 68
Nuysement, see Hesteau de Nuysement
Orpheus: Part I, 26970, 274; Part II, 69, 72
Ovid: Part I, 259, 265, 272; Part II, 72
Ovid moralized: Part I, 259
Palingenius, Marcellus (Pier Angelo Manzol-
li): Part I, 271
Paracelsus and pseudo-Paracelsus (see also
De Tinctura physicorum): Part I, 249, 260
n. 58, 2623, 267, 271; Part II, 70, 74
Pautonnier, Pierre: Part I, 266
Perral, Jean: Part I, 257, 264; Part II, 269
Petrarca, Francesco: Part I, 254
Philalethes, Eirenus: Part I, 268; Part II, 6970
Pico della Mirandola, Gianfrancesco: Part I,
2701
Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni: Part I, 270
Pierre de touche (La), ou lEguillon des Sages:
Part I, 268 n. 98
Pietro Bono: Part II, 73
Pliade: Part I, 265
Quercetanus, see Du Chesne
Rasis Cestrensis: Part I, 250 n. 6, 251; Part II, 72
Ravignan, see Mesmes
Raymundus Lullius (pseudo-): Part I, 252, 255,
257, 269; Part II, 70
 ALCHEMICAL POETRY IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE 77

Rhenanus, Johannes: Part I, 250; Part II, 67, 72
Ripley, George: Part I, 2578, 2689; Part II,
635, 6971
Romance of the Rose: Part I, 250, 2523, 257,
264; Part II, 645, 69, 71, 74
Ronsard, Pierre de: Part I, 265, 273; Part II, 65
Rosarium philosophorum: Part I, 251 n. 9, 258
Santinelli, Francesco Maria: Part I, 270; Part
II, 66, 74
Scaliger, Giulio Cesare: Part I, 273
Secretum secretorum: Part I, 254, 2567; Part
II, 64
Senior Zadith, see Epistola solis ad lunam
crescentem
Sept visions (Les) de Marie la Prophetesse:
Part I, 268 n. 98
Sol und Luna: Part I, 258, 261; Part II, 68
Sommaire philosophique (Le): Part I, 257, 264;
Part II, 63, 68
Sonetti sopra la Pietra filosofica [. . .] contro
loppinione di Democrito: Part I, 270 n. 114
Starkey, George, see Philalethes, Eirenus
Tabula smaragdina: Part I, 254 n. 25, 258, 263,
268; Part II, 72
Testamentum: Part I, 255, 257
Theophrastos: Part I, 250
Ticinensis, see Johannes Ticinensis
Toxites, Michael: Part I, 271 n. 115
Tschoudy, baron of: Part I, 270
Turba philosophorum: Part I, 252, 256 n. 35,
261 n. 60, 266 n. 87
Umail, see Ibn Umail
Vadis, gidius de, see Du Ws
Valeriano, Pierio: Part I, 271
Vallensis, Robertus, see Duval, Robert
Verba Aristei patris ad filium: Part I, 272 n.
123
Virgil (see also Georgics): Part II, 64 n. 8, 72
Visio Arislei: Part I, 252, 266 n. 87; Part II, 64
Vitriol: Part I, 263; Part II, 74
Vom weien Adler und roten Lwen: Part I,
262
Vom Wunderstein: Part I, 263
Von der Wahrheit der alchemischen Kunst:
Part I, 263 n. 71
Voyage du terrestre Apollon: Part I, 266
Zodiacus vit, see Palingenius, Marcellus

Notes on contributor
Didier Kahn is a researcher at the CNRS. He is working on both Diderots
complete works and the history of alchemy in the Centre dtude de la langue et de
la littrature franaises des XVIe et XVIIe sicles (CELLF 17e18e). He is the author
of Alchimie et paracelsisme en France la fin de la Renaissance (15671625) (Geneva:
Droz, 2007). His latest book is an annotated edition of Montfaucon de Villars
Le Comte de Gabalis (1670) (Paris: Champion, 2010). Address: CELLF 17e18e,
Universit de Paris IV, 1 rue Victor Cousin, 75230 Paris Cedex 05, France. Email:
dkahn@msh-paris.fr