John Dastin

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John Dastin (* around 1293 in Greet , Gloucestershire ; † shortly before 1386) was a British clergyman and alchemist .

Ordained a deacon in 1311, Dastin studied at Oxford and was vicar of the Church of Bringhurst in Leicestershire . In 1317 he traveled to Avignon , where the Pope resided at that time, and was in the service of Cardinal Napoleon Orsini (from 1288 Cardinal Deacon of St. Adrian, died 1342) and was in Italy for a long time in this context. He was known there as Magister Johannes Anglicus. In 1341 he was back in Oxford at Oriel College and provided with a benefice as Vicar of the Church of Aberford in Yorkshire .

Some of his writings are printed in the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum , whose editor Elias Ashmole knew little about him (but suspected the texts would have to be revised by a later author, as the English would be too good). He wrote a letter to Pope John XXII. in defense of alchemy. He describes a transmutation of metals with the philosopher's stone (according to him, through transformation into their original form (materia prima) from mercury, which is also the only basic component of the philosopher's stone) and its use as universal medicine. In other letters and writings he compares the work of the alchemists with the ordeal, death and resurrection of Christ, the creation of the philosopher's stone with God's creation of the soul (so that the alchemist has a share in the divine creative power) and considers the success of the alchemists to be dependent on the grace of God.

literature

  • CH Josten: The text of John Dastin's' Letter to Pope John XXII, Ambix, Volume 4, 1949, pp. 34-51
  • Wilfred Theisen: John Dastin's Letter on the Philosophers' Stone, Ambix, Volume 33, 1986, pp. 78-87
  • Wilfred Theisen: John Dastin: the Alchemist as Co-Creator, Ambix, Volume 38, 1991, pp. 73-78
  • Wilfred Theisen: The letters of John Dastin, Ambix, Volume 55, 2008, pp. 153-168.
  • Wilfred Theisen: John Dastin's alchemical vision, Ambix, Volume 46, 1999, pp. 65-72
  • Ferguson Bibliotheca Chemica , Glasgow 1906, Volume 1, p. 199f (under John Dausten)
  • Joachim Telle : Dastin, John (Dausten, Johann), alchemical specialist writer , Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Volume 3, 1986, Sp. 573-574

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ José Rodríguez-Guerrero, “ Un Repaso a la Alquimia del Midi Francés en el Siglo XIV (Part I) ”, in: Azogue, 7, 2010–2013, pp. 75-141, cf. pp. 92-101.
personal data
SURNAME Dastin, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dausten, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British clergyman and alchemist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1293
PLACE OF BIRTH Greet , Gloucestershire
DATE OF DEATH before 1386