Benedictus Figulus

Benedictus Figulus ( German Benedikt Heffner , born December 29, 1567 in Uttenhofen near Schwäbisch Hall , missing after 1619) was a German alchemist , priest , poet and editor . He was an important exponent of Paracelsism in the early 17th century .

His name is usually mistranslated back as Benedikt Töpfer .

Life

Benedikt Heffner (Figulus) was born in 1567 as the eldest son of the Uttenhofen pastor Andreas Heffner and his wife Margarethe Seemann. He came to Westheim with his father in 1571 and from 1582 until at least 1588 attended the newly opened Ansbach Princely School in Heilsbronn Monastery . He continued his studies at the University of Wittenberg , where he matriculated on December 29, 1591. From 1593 Figulus worked as a pastor in Lipprichhausen , but had to flee from there in 1601 because of adultery with his maid . By Paul Melissus for poet laureate crowned, he published in the following years some occasional poems and psalms - Versifikationen , mostly in Erfurt appeared. Since 1604 Figulus publicly known himself as a follower of Paracelsus . After a few years of unsteady wandering, which took him to Tyrol and Carinthia , temporarily residing in Hagenau , he published a large number of alchemical writings in a very short time from 1607–1609, among others. a. Works by Paracelsus and Alexander von Suchten . Figulus repeatedly experienced difficulties because of his illegitimate partnership and was imprisoned for a long time. After he was expelled from Strasbourg at the end of 1617 “because of all sorts of erroneous opinions” , he is hardly accessible for research. The last dated life testimony to date is a collection of alchemical recipes for a goldsmith in Buchsweiler from 1619, accordingly Figulus is still believed to be in the Alsatian region.

According to the judgment of Joachim Telle , Figulus cannot be considered an independent author, but he belongs in a row with the important editors of German-language alchemical literature Joachim Tancke and Johann Thölde . Figulus' often claimed belonging to the Rosicrucian Movement, however, still requires sound evidence.

Works (selection)

• Carmen heroicum, Insignia Megalandri Lutheri complectens , Stuttgart 1600 at Google Books
• Pandora magnalium naturalium aurea et benedicta , Strasbourg 1608 on Google Books
• Paradisus aureolus hermeticus: fluens nectare et ambrosia , Frankfurt 1608 in the Dresden Digital Library
• Rosarium novum olympicum et benedictum, that is: A newer given-key philosophical rose garden , Basel 1608 on Google Books
• Rosarium novum olympicum et benedictum… Pars altera , Frankfurt 1608 in the Dresden digital library
• Paracelsus : Kleine Wundarzney (edited by Figulus), Strasbourg 1608 at Google Books
• Thesaurinella olympica aurea tripartita , Frankfurt 1608, 1682 edition at Google Books
• Guido Magnus de Monte: Auriga benedictus spagyricus minor (edited by Figulus), Nuremberg 1609

bibliography

• Joachim Telle : Benedictus Figulus. On the life and work of a German Paracelsist. In: Medizinhistorisches Journal, 1987, Volume 22, No. 4, pp. 303-326.
• Julian Paulus: Alchemy and Paracelsism around 1600. Seventy portraits. in: Joachim Telle (Ed.), Analecta Paracelsica, Stuttgart 1994, pp. 352-354 at Academia
• Joachim Telle: Figulus, Benedictus. In: Wilhelm Kühlmann (Ed.): Killy Literaturlexikon , Volume 3, Berlin 2008, pp. 440–441.
• Carlos Gilly: Adam Haslmayr, the first publisher of the Rosicrucian manifestos. Amsterdam 1994, Chapter V (pp. 93-105).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Following Schmieder's history of alchemy , Hall 183, p. 349.
2. ↑ Uttenhofen baptismal register
3. ^ Wilhelm Dannheimer: The Heilsbronn prince students from 1582-1631. In: Journal for Bavarian Church History 28 (1959), 169, No. 552.
4. ^ Album Academiae Vitebergensis, Older Series, II, Halle 1894, p. 387.
5. ↑ Georg Kuhr: Ritterschaftliches Pfarrerbuch Franken. Neustadt an der Aisch 1979, p. 127.
6. ↑ Joachim Telle: Figulus, Benedictus. In: Wilhelm Kühlmann (Ed.): Killy Literaturlexikon , Volume 3, Berlin 2008, p. 440.
7. ↑ Joachim Telle: Benedictus Figulus. On the life and work of a German Paracelsist. In: Medizinhistorisches Journal, 1987, Volume 22, No. 4, p. 307.
8. ^ Carlos Gilly : Adam Haslmayr, the first publisher of the Rosicrucian manifestos. Amsterdam 1994, pp. 98-99.
9. ^ Carlos Gilly: Adam Haslmayr, the first publisher of the Rosicrucian manifestos. Amsterdam 1994, p. 103; see. Julian Paulus: Alchemy and Paracelsism around 1600. Seventy portraits. in: Joachim Telle (Ed.), Analecta Paracelsica, Stuttgart 1994, p. 353.
10. ↑ Joachim Telle: Benedictus Figulus. On the life and work of a German Paracelsist. In: Medizinhistorisches Journal, 1987, Volume 22, No. 4, pp. 319-320.
11. ↑ Joachim Telle: Benedictus Figulus. On the life and work of a German Paracelsist. In: Medizinhistorisches Journal, 1987, Volume 22, No. 4, pp. 324-326.