Hermann Fictuld

Title page of the Probier-Stein 1753

Cryptogram in Azoth et Ignis page 380

Hermann Fictuld was a pseudonymous author of alchemical - theosophical writings that appeared between 1730 and 1760. He is particularly important because of his influence on the order of the Gold and Rosicrucians , of which he is considered a member.

Identity and life data

There has been some speculation over time as to the identity of this influential author. The Freemason Christian Karl Friedrich Wilhelm von Nettelbladt claims in his History of Masonic Systems in England, France and Germany (Berlin 1879) that based on a manuscript Fictuld was a Johann Heinrich Schmidt von Sonnenberg, born on March 7, 1700. In 1716 he became an apprentice of a military doctor in Timisoara , Hungary , and was introduced to alchemy by him. Later a Baron Prugg von Pruggenstein from Innsbruck instructed him further in alchemy. The date of birth mentioned here contradicts a statement from Fictuld's Cabbala Mystica Naturæ (one of the treatises from his writing Hermetischer Triumph-Bogen ), namely there he writes that he finished the book on his birthday, November 14, 1739. In the same manuscript, Fictuld is said to have asked him to send correspondence to a Herr von Minsthoff in Langenthal , Switzerland. Another reference to the Oberaargau can be found in the new collection of some old and very rare philosophical and alchemical writings , according to which Fictuld is said to have been identical to a Hans Schmidt, doctor in Huttwil .

Further speculations regarding the real name of the author arose from a cryptogram found on the last page of Fictulds Azoth et Ignis (see illustration). After a brief look it turns out that it is the simplest form of the so-called Caesar encryption , whereby the alphabet is shifted by one character, omitting the J. In plain language it follows:

The author, Iohan Fesdinant Vtn
Meim-Stooff, Hess Vtn Meim-Stooff
Vnd Syltz - Stein; owner of
Divine, vnd Hermetic Arcana,
Dermallen to Avff-Hold in The
Zollerischen Havss as in The product
Pier Stone first-Avss Were Too Erse-
chen.

After correcting obvious misspellings, you get the following text: “The author, Johann Ferdinand von Meim-Stooff, Herr von Meim-Stooff and Syltz-Stein; Owner of the divine and hermetic arcane, dermal resides in the Zollerisches Haus, as can be seen from the first edition of the probing stone. ”It is obvious to read“ Herr von Meim-Stooff and Syltz-Stein ”as“ Herr von Mein- Substance and Salt-Stone ”, so not as a specific name, but as a description for an adept of alchemy.

In contrast, there is the “Herr von Minsthoff” in Nettelbladt's manuscript, furthermore the statement by Johann Ferdinand von Frydaus, according to which the tasting stone by “H. Fictuld and Baron Meinstoof ”, so they would be two different people. Further references to an identity or close relationship between Fictuld and a "Baron von Maienstof" can be found in a letter from Friedrich Christoph Oetinger and in 1779 the anonymous author of the Hermetic ABC writes , in its 3rd and 4th volumes some of Fictuld's writings are reprinted are that Fictuld died and the real name was "Weinstoof" from Langenthal (see above). This name is taken over from John Ferguson and supplemented with the information that said "Weinstof" died in 1777 at the age of 78.

In order to finally make the confusion complete, in an early writing from 1731, which can only be found in the collection of alchemical works by Denis I. Duveen, the signature “per annagrama Hermann Fictuld”, the name “Hermann Fictuld” can be found in the preface. would be an anagram , but none of the above variants by Minsthoff etc. could be anagrammatically formed from "Hermann Fictuld". And finally, in 1788, Johann Salomon Semler said that “Her M ann F IC t VLD ” should be read as a chronogram that points to the number 1656 (MDCLVI), but without explaining what this should mean.

Connection to Gold and Rosicrucians

In contrast to the Strict Observance , which the Freemasons attempt to succeed the Knights Templar, Fictuld interprets the Knightly Order of the Golden Fleece , donated by Philip the Good of Burgundy, as a mystical-hermetic community and the root of an order of the golden roses = Creutzer that exists in his presence which of course goes back even further to the mythical times of ancient sagas. In his treatise Avrevm Vellvs or Goldenes Vlae , he writes as part of his explanations on the hermetic Tabula Smaragdina :

"That is why, in addition to my ordinary name, when I was conceived by my parents in my youth, I was called the triple Mercurius or Hemes Trismegistus, which is now an owner of the great art that has all been given the name Hermes, that is , an owner of the heavenly Mercurii, or the philosopher's stone, but who subsequently grind knights, heroes, or Argonauts, Jasones, and in the times of Philippi, the great Duke of Burgundy, but after his and his son's death, fratres or brothers of the high one Order of the Golden Roses = Creutzer were titled, which last name they keep for this day, so that when this name is mentioned, the children in the street also know that it means a gold maker. "

- Fictuld Avrevm Vellvs Oder Goldenes Vloss Leipzig 1749, p. 340 f. See also p. 147 f.

It is understandable that such a provenance would appeal to actually existing Rosicrucian groups. Accordingly, the first document that can be assigned to such a group bears the title Aureum Vellus seu Iunoratus Fratrum Rosae Crucis and contains the ritual, statutes and list of members of the brothers of the so-called Prague Assembleé , a Rosicrucian group that was dissolved in 1764. The document was found by the researcher Ludwig Aigner in a Hungarian archive and dated to 1761. According to Arnold Marx, who examined the origins of the Gold and Rosicrucians in his dissertation, this text contained literal quotations from Fictuld about the origins of the Rosicrucians. Marx suspects:

“Fictuld probably came into contact for the first time around 1747 with the alliance, which up until then had been completely secretive, and which he then created the first organization, if he did not almost spontaneously set up a new association under the well-tried name. "

The audacity of such assumptions is somewhat mitigated by the fact that there was an alchemical correspondence between Fictuld and the Freemason and member of the Strict Observance Ernst Werner von Raven in the 1760s , about which he reports. Raven was the author of the manuscript to which Nettelbladt had relied (see above). Raven then reports that Fictuld's successor was a brother O. with whom there had been an argument, whereupon Brother O. threatened in 1770 to remove him from the partnership of the “Ros. C. "to emit. According to Raven, Fictuld was one of the defining members of the firm.

Another indication of a really existing connection between Fictuld and the beginnings of the Gold and Rosicrucians is the apparently high esteem that Fictuld enjoyed in their circles. Fictuld's writings belonged to the canon of the Gold and Rosicrucians and were printed , for example, in the 3rd and 4th volumes of the Hermetic ABCs ( edited by Wöllner based on a presumption by Frick ) .

Fonts

• Paths to the great universal, or, the philosopher's stone. O. 1731, OCLC 53712418 .
• Chymic writings ... in which the philosopher's stone is traded in 12 royal palaces. Göpner, Frankfurt & Leipzig 1734, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3DP_ETAAAAQAAJ~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D .
• The long-desired and promised chemical-philosophical tasting stone, on which the writings of the true adeptorum as well as the deceitful sophists have been tried […] In two classes composed by Hermann Fictuld. Michael Blochberger, Frankfurt & Leipzig 1740, doi : 10.3931 / e-rara-5455 . Extended version Leipzig 1753.
• Hermetic triumph arch, mounted on two miraculous pillars of the big and small world: That is: Two tracts of true, eternal and some wisdom for the human being's temporal and eternal well-being; The first, called Cabbala Mystica Naturæ, deals with the Fiery Love Salts of Divine Mercy, otherwise called Lapis Philosophorum: and the second, Occulta Occultissime, deals with the first Materia Lapidis Philosophorum, and with man, but especially with its purification, to promote them to the ultimate purpose of wisdom. Veraci Orientali Truth and Ernst Lügenfeind, Petersburg, Copenhagen & Leipzig 1741 (fictitious publisher's information), digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dhermetischertriu00fict~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D .
• Azoth Et Ignis: This is the true elemental water and fire, Or Mercurius Philosophorum, As the few necessary […] of the Philosopher's Stone. Blochberger, Leipzig 1749, doi : 10.3931 / e-rara-5453 . This includes: Avrevm Vellvs or Goldenes Fleece ...
• Hermetica Victoria: This is perfectly fought victory and triumph, of the world-calling and nevertheless despised Herma-Phroditi, over the whole host of gods and patrons of the metallic and mineral realms; ... Presented during a Reichstag seen in a dream and conversations heard there and promoted to print. Blochberger, Leipzig 1750.
• Treatise on Alchemy, and the same certainty. Tetzschner, Erlangen 1754, doi : 10.3931 / e-rara-5450 .
• Tvrba Philosophorvm: that is the collected sayings of the wise to explain the hermetic emerald tablet or of the philosopher's stone, how it is to be prepared and obtained. o. O. 1763.
• Princely and Monarchical Roses of Jericho. That is: Moses testament and the bestowal of the arts and sciences ... In: Friedrich Roth-Scholtz: New collection of some old and very rare philosophical and alchemical writings [...] as a new continuation of the well-known German Theatri Chymici. Third part Frankfurt & Leipzig 1771.

literature

• Antoine Faivre : Fictuld, Hermann . In: Wouter J. Hanegraaff (ed.): Dictionary of gnosis & Western esotericism. Brill, Leiden 2006, ISBN 978-90-04-15231-1 , sv, pp. 367-370.
• Antoine Faivre: The Golden Fleece and Alchemy . State University of New York Press, Albany 1993, pp. 40-46, 81-85.
• Karl RH Frick : The Enlightened (Part 1). Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1973, ISBN 3-201-00834-6 , pp. 314-317.
• Christopher McIntosh: The rose cross and the age of reason. Eighteenth century rosicrucianism in Central Europe and its relationship to the enlightenment. Brill, Leiden u. a. 1992, pp. 46-48.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Johann Ferdinand von Frydau: Letter to a most noble prince of a high ducal house of the German Empire in which the great hermetic secret of the Philosopher's Stone is traded. Biesterfeldische Buchhandlung, Quedlinburg & Leipzig 1762.
2. ^ Friedrich Christoph Oetinger to LF Castell-Rehweiler from May 13, 1763, in: Friedrich Christoph Oetinger's life and letters, as a documentary commentary on his writings. Edited by Carl Chr. Eberh. Husband. Steinkop, Stuttgart 1859.
3. ↑ Hermetic ABC of the true wise men of old and new times from the Philosopher's Stone, ed. from a true friend of God and man. Vol. III. Berlin 1779, p. 251.
4. ^ John Ferguson: Bibliotheca Chemica. London 1954. Vol. I, p. 273.
5. ↑ The group carried the name of the lodge "to the black rose" and had connections to the Masonic lodge "to the three crowned stars". After the Prague Assembleé was abolished , its three leaders were each sentenced to 6 years in prison.
6. ↑ Ludwig Aigner (Abafi): The emergence of the new Rosicrucians. In: The Bauhütte. 36, No. 11 (March 18, 1893), pp. 81-85.
7. ^ Arnold Marx: The Gold and Rosicrucians. A mystery association of the late 18th century in Germany. Sporn, Zeulenroda & Leipzig 1929, pp. 16-19.
8. ^ Antoine Faivre: Fictuld, Hermann . In: Dictionary of gnosis & Western esotericism. Leiden 2006, p. 368 f.