A useful Bergbüchlin

Title page of the edition of 1527

The book A useful Bergbüchlin (also A useful mountain booklet ) is one of the first scientific and the first German-language work on the mining industry . It appeared for the first time around 1500 without specifying an author or publisher. The language of the book is German ( East Central German , Upper Saxony).

In his main work De re metallica , Georgius Agricola refers to the Bergbüchlin, to which he based the content and form of numerous sections of his work, and names Calbus Freibergius as its author, Ulrich Rülein von Calw (Ulrich von Kalbe). The book reflects the level of knowledge of the late Middle Ages, both about the formation of ores and the storage and exploitation of deposits . It comprises 46 pages of text and 11 woodcuts. A dialogue is used as a literary form: the expert Daniel answers a young squire's questions .

Only three copies of the first edition ("Edition A") exist today. However, the book was reprinted several times in the 16th century and thereafter.

structure

The book is divided into ten chapters:

Eyn Collation of Mountain Fortunes
The first chapter or the first part is of common origin of the Ertz
The other chapter, or Teyl, is the mountain of common skill
The third chapter, or Teyl, is enough and cleft from the deletion and starting out
The .iiii. Chapter is of the Silberertz and is sufficient
The fifth chapter, or part, is from Goldertz
The .vi. cap is from the zeynertz
The .vii. cap is from the Kupferertz
The eighth chapter is from the Eysenstein
The .ix. Chapter is from Pleyertz
The .x. Chapter is from the common mercury

content

Genesis of ores

The science of the Middle Ages was heavily influenced by astrology and alchemy . The Bergbüchlin explains the genesis of ores with events in the firmament . The seven classic metals gold, silver, copper, iron, mercury, tin and lead are assigned to the five planets plus the sun and moon. The eighth metal mentioned in the fourth chapter is Wissmad ärcz as a companion to silver ore. This is probably the oldest mention of the mineral bismuth .

Veins

The Bergbüchlin describes the occurrence of ores in passages. It differed significantly from the views of medieval scholastics . They said that nature was too complicated and that actual observations were not possible.

literature

A useful Bergbüchlin. Erfurt 1527. ( digitized version )
Ulrich von Kalbe: Bergbuchlein, the Little Book on Ores: The First Mining Book Ever Printed . a translation from the German of the Bergbuchlein: a sixteenth-century book on mining geology. Ed .: Cyril Stanley Smith, Mary Ross. Oxshott Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-9568322-6-9 (German: A useful Bergbüchlin . Translated by Anneliese Grunhaldt Sisco).
Karl Lüdemann : Ulrich Rülein von Kalbe, the author of the first German book on mining (= communications from the Freiberg Altertumsverein . No. 64 ). Gerlach, Freiberg 1934, p. 67-75 .
Wilhelm Pieper: Ulrich Rülein von Calw and his mountain booklet . In: Freiberg research books . Culture u. Technology. D 7th Academy, Berlin 1955.

Individual evidence

^ Wolfram Schmitt: German technical prose of the Middle Ages . De Gruyter, 1972, ISBN 978-3-11-003801-9 , p. 35 .
↑ Gundolf Keil , with the participation of Johannes G. Mayer and Monika Reininger: "a little Leonardo". Ulrich Rülein von Kalbe as a humanist, mathematician, mining scientist and doctor. In: Würzburg specialist prose studies. Contributions to medieval medicine, pharmacy and class history from the Würzburg Medical History Institute [Festschrift Michael Holler]. Edited by Gundolf Keil and edited by Johannes Gottfried Mayer and Christian Naser, Würzburg 1995 (= Würzburg medical historical research , 38), pp. 228–247; here: p. 244.
↑ David Rickard : Pyrite: A Natural History of Fool's Gold . Oxford University Press, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-020367-2 , pp. 148 .
↑ ^a ^b Herbert Pforr: Start of the mining science age with "A useful mountain booklet" by Freiberg renaissance scholar Doctor Ulrich Rülein von Calw (1465-1523), Freiberg, Saxony . In: Reports of the Federal Geological Institute . tape 35 , 1996, pp. 279-286 ( [1] [PDF]).
↑ Entry in "The Mineralogical Record"
↑ In the print it says incorrectly Dsa instead of Das
↑ David Rickard: Pyrite: A Natural History of Fool's Gold . Oxford University Press, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-020367-2 , pp. 119 .
↑ Thomas Witzke : The discovery of bismuth (bismuth) at www.strahl.org
↑ David Rickard: Pyrite: A Natural History of Fool's Gold . Oxford University Press, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-020367-2 , pp. 133-134 .

[1] Wolfram Schmitt: German technical prose of the Middle Ages . De Gruyter, 1972, ISBN 978-3-11-003801-9 , p. 35 .

[2] Gundolf Keil , with the participation of Johannes G. Mayer and Monika Reininger: "a little Leonardo". Ulrich Rülein von Kalbe as a humanist, mathematician, mining scientist and doctor. In: Würzburg specialist prose studies. Contributions to medieval medicine, pharmacy and class history from the Würzburg Medical History Institute [Festschrift Michael Holler]. Edited by Gundolf Keil and edited by Johannes Gottfried Mayer and Christian Naser, Würzburg 1995 (= Würzburg medical historical research , 38), pp. 228–247; here: p. 244.

[3] David Rickard : Pyrite: A Natural History of Fool's Gold . Oxford University Press, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-020367-2 , pp. 148 .

[Pforr-4] Herbert Pforr: Start of the mining science age with "A useful mountain booklet" by Freiberg renaissance scholar Doctor Ulrich Rülein von Calw (1465-1523), Freiberg, Saxony . In: Reports of the Federal Geological Institute . tape 35 , 1996, pp. 279-286 ( [1] [PDF]).

[5] Entry in "The Mineralogical Record"

[6] In the print it says incorrectly Dsa instead of Das

[Rickard119-7] David Rickard: Pyrite: A Natural History of Fool's Gold . Oxford University Press, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-020367-2 , pp. 119 .

[8] Thomas Witzke : The discovery of bismuth (bismuth) at www.strahl.org

[Rickard133-9] David Rickard: Pyrite: A Natural History of Fool's Gold . Oxford University Press, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-020367-2 , pp. 133-134 .