Michael Maier (Alchemist)
Michael Maier (* 1568 ; † 1622 ) was a Paracelsian doctor in Rostock who later worked as a personal physician at the court of Emperor Rudolf II . There he came into contact with many court alchemists and hermeticists. After Rudolf II's death, he became the personal physician of Landgrave Moritz von Hessen. He became famous through his book Atalanta fugiens , which contains a collection of 50 copper engravings. Through his scientific, hermetic-alchemical interests, he found access to the Rosicrucian originals . Alongside Robert Fludd, Maier had an important bridge function in conveying and spreading the Rosicrucian ideas, which he redesigned with his own thoughts, to England.
Life
Higher education
Michael Maier studied languages and rhetoric as well as medicine, from 1587 to 1591 in Rostock , and from July 1592 he was preparing for the master's examination at the Viadrina in Frankfurt an der Oder , which he passed in October 1592.
In the next two years Matthias Carnarius (1562–1620) introduced the young doctor to the practical life of the medical profession. His father's friend, who was only 33 years old, recommended that he take a trip to the Baltic provinces in the summer of 1595, before completing his training in Padua, in order to get to know the medicinal plants known as Simplicia better. We don't know exactly where Maier was when he stepped on the “ancient natural path”.
On December 4th, 1595 he enrolled in Padua . Because of a duel, however, he had to flee again after a few months. Michael Maier received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Basel in 1596 with theses de epilepsia . Hans Roger Stiehle, who examined Maier's position in medicine of his time, remarks about the dissertation that its description of the clinical picture is more extensive and detailed than that of other comparable works from the time. But “religious, Neoplatonic or Paracelsian influences are not yet recognizable in Maier's doctoral theses.” In the same year he returned to Rostock, where he obtained his doctorate in philosophy a year later in 1597.
The path to becoming an alchemist
In the period between 1597 and 1607, Michael Maier, who remained a bachelor, developed from a learned philosopher to a practical occultist or alchemist. Thanks to a biographically expanded medical text Medicina regia et vere heroica, Coelidonia, which Maier had printed in Prague but not sold, his path can be traced. After a stopover in Holstein, in 1597 he again sought out “that much-visited trading center near the Baltic Sea”, which he had already visited in 1595. Figala and Neumann suspect that it could mean Königsberg or a Prussian town further east. Maier lived there in the house of a professional cutter and coin validator. Through him he got to know a local group of lovers of alchemy, witnessed an enigmatic healing with the help of an unknown golden yellow powder and began to deal systematically with alchemy. According to Maier, the medicine should come from an “Englishman”.
When an epidemic broke out in the summer of 1601, a wealthy patient invited him to wait for the end of the epidemic on his estate. Here he found a comprehensive alchemical library, from which he systematically copied the descriptions of the various stages of the process in the summer of 1601. Figala and Neumann summarize what happened next as follows:
"Because of the great variety of terms used by the various authors, Maier created a concordance of alchemical terminology for his own use. With their help he compared - and tried to put them into context - the statements of the various authors, as far as they were accessible to him. Over the summer he formulated a number of working hypotheses which he repeatedly changed and occasionally rejected altogether. In the end he believed that he had formulated a theory of the true materia philosophica that justified the expenditure of material, time and money for an experimental test. "
Figala and Neumann believed they could deduce from a few indications that the experiments had something to do with saltpeter. When his host asked him to share his findings with him, Maier returned to Kiel at the end of 1601. Now, in addition to his medical work, he began to prepare the experiments by obtaining suitable rooms and tools. In the meantime he acquired and studied other alchemical literature. In 1603 he went in search of the necessary minerals. He visited thirty mines in Germany, and in the autumn he traveled as far as northern Hungary, where certain minerals should be of higher quality because of the stronger sunlight.
Maier described in the book "De medicina regia et vere heroica, Coelidonia" ("Of the royal medicine, the truly heroic, the heavenly gift ") the preparation of a universal medicine. In addition to the tools and materials, he needed three things for this: the royal self-determining power of the self, the courageously heroic struggle with opposing forces and the gracious cooperation of heaven.
In the spring of 1607 Maier had completed the third work of the great work. After two unsuccessful attempts of the fourth part, he temporarily stopped the experiments. Suspicions from neighbors, rising costs and the lack of the right “fire” are said to have led to the demolition. In 1608 Maier opened a doctor's practice in Rostock.
At the court of Emperor Rudolf II.
Around the middle of 1608 Maier moved to Prague , where the Habsburg emperor Rudolf II resided. The "brotherly quarrel in the House of Habsburg" had broken out between Rudolf II and his brothers. His family forced the emperor to renounce his traditional rights in Austria, Hungary and Moravia. Archduke Matthias had appeared with an army outside the walls of Prague for this purpose, and the emperor had to renounce his power in the Habsburg homeland. Rudolf was considered an insecure prince by his brothers and the Catholic powers. He wanted to be emperor of all subjects, whatever tongue and religion they belonged to. Matthias and his followers wanted to pave the way for the Counter Reformation . Rudolf II had a reputation for devoting little time to government business. His melancholy streak was misunderstood as pathological melancholy, and his celibacy was viewed as a threat to the monarchy.
It was no coincidence that Michael Maier was looking for his company. The emperor himself was a passionate disciple of Mercurius. Rudolf II had called dozens of alchemists to Prague. The establishment of the Alchemistengässlein in the Prague stronghold, the Hradschin , made famous by Gustav Meyrink , can also be traced back to his interest in alchemy . At that time alchemy was not regarded as something foreign to the world, but was still inextricably woven into natural science, and a marble tablet in the Hradschin still announces that the emperor and the Polish alchemist Michael Sendivogius succeeded in transmutation: “May everyone do what the Poles do Sendivogius has accomplished. "
When Maier was unable to be received by Rudolf II immediately, he wrote his Medicina regia, probably to recommend himself to the emperor. The script was printed in July 1609; Maier did not sell them in bookshops, but only gave them away to the Kaiser and selected friends. The success was not lacking. Rudolf II called the largely unknown person to be his personal physician and private secretary. In the course of the year, the emperor made him count palatine , hereditary nobility. This was not connected with any sources of income, but Maier was now his own master, and nobody was entitled to him as a child of the country.
In Prague, however, Maier did not only come into contact with court hermetics and alchemists. Rudolf II had drawn famous astronomers such as Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler to the court. Giuseppe Arcimboldo , Bartholomäus Spranger , Hans von Aachen and Roelant Savery are named as court painters. The sculptor Adriaen de Vries , the engraver Aegidius Sadeler , the alchemist and doctor Oswald Croll enriched the diverse intellectual and cultural life at the Prague court.
Christmas greeting to James I of England
In the winter of 1611/12 Maier sent a Christmas greeting to King James I of England (James I). Adam McLean's assumption that Maier's greeting card was used to gain access to the English court in the winter of 1611/12 in order to arrange the wedding of Elector Friedrich von der Pfalz with Elisabeth , the king's daughter, with whom a Protestant coalition for the protection of Rosicrucianism was forged should be is unfounded and finds no support in the document. Maier may have seen the wedding on February 14, 1613 in London before he returned to the continent. Ron Heisler's dark hints that Maier could have something to do with the death of the brilliant English Crown Prince Henry on November 6, 1612, are purely speculative.
Stay in England
In addition to the personal physician of King William Paddy, Maier's first stay in 1612/13 was with Francis Anthony , an extremely reclusive researcher of alchemy near London.
As an aftereffect of his stay in England, it is further assessed that he translated two English alchemical treatises in the book Tripus Aureus , which was also included in the Musaeum Hermeticum .
First Hermetic Writings
After his return to Germany he published his first own work Arcana arcanissima in 1613 or 1614 . The book does not contain any time or place information. Whether it was printed in Oppenheim or somewhere in England, as the dedication to Sir Paddy suggests, is uncertain. In this work Maier interprets the Egyptian tales of gods and the Greek legends of the gods as imaginative images of alchemical processes. He also sees the 12 deeds of Hercules as a path of development, as does the Trojan War. In 1614 Maier returned to England for some time.
Gold occupies the most important place among metals, it is the most important remedy for the heart. There is a correspondence between the gold (the perfect center of metals), the heart (the center of the human body) and the sun (the center of the planetary system).
Almost simultaneously, in September 1616, the font Lusus Serius appeared in Frankfurt. In the serious game Maier interprets Mercury's versatile function: animals as representatives of the individual forces of nature appear before a tribunal and defend alchemy. Man's arbitration then declares Mercury the father of all metals and crowns him the king of all world citizens.
Finally, at the beginning of 1617, his Examen Fucorum Pseudo-Chymicorum appeared , the dedication of which was also signed in Frankfurt, September 1616. In this work Maier dealt critically with other alchemists.
Commitment to Rosicrucianism
In autumn 1616 Maier was at Michaelmas at the Frankfurt Book Fair . There he came into contact with the first two Rosicrucian scriptures. According to his own statements, he had heard of the Rosicrucians for the first time in England in 1613. In December 1616 he commented on this in his work Symbola Aureae Mensae . In the following years he wrote a number of writings in which he openly campaigned for Rosicrucianism.
The Symbola Aureae Mensae duodecim nationum 1617
The title page of the first defense document brings together the leading alchemists from twelve nations on a golden plaque (Aurea Mensa). There are seated at the top of the table: Hermes the Egyptian and Mary the Hebrew . Followed clockwise: the Greek Democrit , the Roman Morienus , the Persian Avicenna , the German Albert the Great . At the bottom of the table are the French Arnoldus von Villanova and Thomas Aquinas for Italy. The circle is closed by the Spaniard Raymundus Lullus , the English monk Roger Bacon , the Hungarian priest Melchior Cibinensis and an anonymous Sarmatian (Pole or Russian). Each of these personalities contributes their symbols in their own chapter and throws their knowledge against the enemies of alchemy into the scales.
The book is dedicated to Prince Ernst zu Holstein-Schaumburg (1569–1622), whom Maier once visited, as the preface from December 1616 reports. He resided in Bückeburg and Stadthagen. His interest in alchemy is well documented. Having become rich, the prince reformed his small state by creating a new residential city, schools, a university and a printing house. The musical life at the Bückeburg court attracted musicians like Heinrich Schütz . The prince summoned English actors to his court. The famous Golden Gate in Bückeburg Castle also demonstrates Ernst's interest in alchemy, as the figure of Mercury in the center unmistakably bears the features of Prince Ernst. The prince's heptagonal mausoleum in Stadthagen, an icon of the Weser Renaissance, resembles in many ways the “found grave” of Christian Rosenkreutz described in the Fama Fraternitatis. At the end of the voluminous book, it was reserved for this prince to make the judgment as to whether the defenders of alchemy or the attackers had got the upper hand.
There are five pagan sages and seven Christian who gather at Maier's golden table. The penultimate, who appears before the Anonymous Sarmatus, is a Hungarian priest. He is depicted on the altar at the beginning of his chapter and the change at the altar, which is supposed to have an effect right down to the substances, is expressly seen as an alchemical process. Maier viewed alchemy as an art through which man becomes a helper in Christ's work of redemption, the spiritualization of human substance into the resurrection body.
In the 6th book the contribution of Albertus Magnus, the German alchemist, is presented. Following this, Maier describes the College of Rosicrucians in more detail in a special chapter. He tries to reconstruct the outward appearance of the order from the few published reports of the original writings. If one does not want to see the procedure as a deception, one has to conclude from this that he did not belong to the inner circle of the Rosicrucians. Frick, who, like most of the others, attributes the Rosicrucian writings to a circle of friends around Johann Valentin Andreae as the ultimate responsible person, says that Maier could not have had any connection with this Tübingen circle.
The Atalanta fugiens 1618
Michael Maier's best-known work is probably the artistically composed collection of treatises called Atalanta fugiens, published by Johann Theodor de Bry in Oppenheim in 1618 , to which de Bry's son-in-law Matthäus Merian contributed a cover picture, a portrait of Maier and 50 copper engravings in the text.
The structure of Atalanta fugiens indicates a spiritual concern and knowledge of Michael Maier. After the title page, to which an explanatory poem is attached, follows a dedication from August 1617, as well as a preface to the reader. The main part consists of 50 chapters of 4 pages each, the four-part structure of which is repeated in all 50 chapters. On the first page a three-part canon is printed on a Latin text. Including a German translation of the song. On the second page there is a copper engraving by Merian on the text of the poem. Including the Latin text of the song. The third and fourth pages each contain an alchemical treatise in prose, which should explain the picture, song and poem. In this point Maier's writing differs fundamentally from older alchemical writings. He endeavors to make the three forms of spiritual experience, namely imaginative image, inspired sound and intuitively heard word, accessible to the common mind by adding a purely thought and empirical part to them. The texts of these explanations - as well as the songs - naturally contain an abundance of quotes from the chemical literature, which Helena de Jong has meticulously proven, but also "reasonable considerations".
The title page tells the story of the light-footed Atalante, the king's daughter in the Peloponnese. Atalante had long withdrawn from attempts to marry her cheaply. When the father refused to tolerate this any longer, she decided how a worthy man was to be found. Being a fast runner, she promised to be her own who would defeat her while running. The suitors should pay for a defeat with their lives. After many unfortunates, Hippomenes tried it too. At his request, he received three golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides from Venus. With the help of these apples he succeeded in defeating Atalante. Sure of victory, she had given Hippomenes a head start at the start. When she overtook him in the race, he tossed one of the golden apples to one side in a high arc so that she could see its shine. Attracted by the curiosity of the female sex, she deviated from the course in order to seize the golden gem. So Hippomenes was able to pass her again. When she caught up with him again, he threw the second apple; this time, too, she let the prospect of another piece of jewelry put her off the path. This was repeated a third time and this time she did not succeed in catching up with the youth in time, so that he had won her. The couple immediately entered the Temple of Venus and passionately united. Venus, enraged by this, turned them into a pair of lions.
The 50 short canons that Maier composed himself bring the meaning of this parable to experience and reveal it. Maier names the upper part Atalanta Fugiens, the middle part Hippomenes Sequens and the lower part Pomum Morans . The course of the melody now reflects the idea of the Nicomachean Ethics that the right center must be observed in everything. The fleeing upper part (the fleeting atalante), which hurries away, is integrated into the middle part following it, in that it is opposed by a dull, throbbing, slow lower part (the apple striking rhythmically on the floor). Two dangers threaten the middle path of every human being: flight from the world and addiction to the earth. Hippomenes maintains the balance between these two, between the lazily flowing basso continuo in long notes and the fleeting tones of the upper part. In his foreword, Maier demands that everyone should write poetry and make music, as was customary in Plato's circle of friends. So he hoped that his three-part songs would be sung and have their moderating effect.
The 27th and 42nd treatises contain a kind of epistemological theory of the Rosicrucian spiritual path. While the man in Emblem 27 has no feet and does not move his hands, the researcher in Emblem 42 carefully follows in the footsteps of the goddess Natura with his feet, using a lantern, glasses and a stick. One must trace the spiritual being in nature, such as B. to produce the forms of a plant with one's own soul activity and to hug it completely (foot in footprint), then one experiences the activities of the goddess. It is a vivid description of Goethean phenomenology. The man in emblem 27 has no feet and cannot encounter the forms of nature. He has to speculate about what is hidden behind the wall of natural phenomena. In the explanation of Emblem 27, Maier says that every person not only has two legs with feet on them, but two soul activities, namely experientia and ratio , i.e. H. Perception and thinking. If he uses it correctly, the locks on the gate will pop open and he can enter the locked garden. Otherwise he is like Erichthonius, who was born without feet. The blacksmith Vulkan fell in love with Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Not heard from her, he tried to do violence to her. She managed to wriggle out of him successfully, but his excitement discharged. The seed flew to earth and Erichthonius grew out of it. The picture indicates that it takes patience to attain the (goddess of) wisdom. She does not surrender to the unruly will. She only shows herself to the patient lover of her tracks who follows her for a long time in the dark. In the poem for the 42nd emblem, Maier characterizes the tools of the true and patient disciple of the goddess:
Your guide is nature, which you must follow from
afar , Willly, otherwise you err where it does not ley you, Reason
is your staff, and experience must strengthen
your face so that you can see what is laid is far and wide,
That reading is like a lamp in the dark, shining brightly and clearly,
By doing this you may avoid the danger of things and words.
The Themis Aurea 1618
In the text Silentium post clamores published in 1617 , he again advocated the existence of the order. He defended his persistent silence in response to requests and requests to identify himself on the grounds:
“Anyone who doubts the existence of the Rosicrucian Society should realize that the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Arabs, etc., had such secret societies; to what extent is it supposed to be absurd that they exist today? Her main principles of self-education are 'to honor and fear God above all things, to do as much good to others as they can.' What is contained in the 'Fama' and the 'Confessio' is true. It is a very childish objection that the Brotherhood promised so much and carried out so little. The Masters of the Order offer the rose as a distant gain, but they place the cross on all who enter. Like the Pythagoreans and Egyptians, the Rosicrucians demand vows of secrecy and silence. Ignorant men treated the whole thing as a free invention; but it is based on the five-year test to which even well-prepared novices submit before they are admitted to the higher mysteries; within this time they have to learn to watch their tongues. "
Maier's Themis Aurea was also published by Lucas Jennis in 1618 . The purpose of this work is also a defense of the Rosicrucians. Maier explains and justifies the laws of the Rosicrucian Order described in the Fama , which were adopted in 1413 and now, after having proven themselves for 200 years, have been published. In this writing, too, he points to the very old age of knowledge of the Rosicrucians. It already existed in the form of the Seven Liberal Arts before the Flood and survived it because it was carved into two pillars that could not be destroyed by fire or water. The Jewish Kabbalah only contains fragments of these secrets.
Last years
In 1619 the Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel, who had been involved in the publication of the Rosicrucian writings in Kassel, appointed Michael Maier as his personal physician. Since Maier lived in Magdeburg as early as 1620, it may only be a financial contribution without medical work.
His last self-published work was published in 1622, strangely enough in Rome, and again a year later in Rostock, the Cantilenae intellectuales de Phoenice redivivo . The spiritual chants about the resurrection of the phoenix, according to the translation of the title, are composed throughout in Latin and French rhymes.
In Magdeburg his trace is lost in the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War in 1622 .
Afterlife
While Michael Maier translated several writings from English into Latin and published them in Germany, his works - at least some - were not translated into English until thirty years after his death. In 1654 John Hall Maiers is said to have translated 'Lusus Serius' and in 1656 the Themis Aurea followed from another source. The translators NL and TSHS dedicated their book to "the only philosopher of the present time" Elias Ashmole . When asked who the authors of the appropriation were, he is said to have said that he had forgotten. In England, the genuine Rosicrucian scriptures were viewed as symbolic representations of the Templar secrets and the degrees of Freemasonry. So there was no interest in the competent circles in promoting the distribution of these writings. But there have been handwritten translations into English. One such "late 18th century" translation of Viatorium was edited by Adam McLean. A considerable history of impact must therefore be expected among those who were able to find or sought occult knowledge in his work. This is expressed in the dedication to Elias Ashmole as well as in his reply, which blurs tracks.
The book Atalanta Fugiens has been reprinted several times in Germany. The increasing lack of understanding of Maier's intentions is evident in the development of the editions. When the work was published in Frankfurt in 1687, the fifty canons to which the original title of the book alluded and whose structure is so helpful for understanding were deleted. The Latin text was adjusted so that there was no longer any reference to the music. Even in the completely changed title there was talk of the eyes and the intellect. In 1708 the Atalanta fugiens was published again in Frankfurt, again under a new title: " MICHAELIS MAJERI Chymisches Cabinet, whose great secrets of nature are represented by well thought out ingenious copper engravings and EMBLEMATA ... " The explanations of the pictures have been shortened considerably for this edition and ins German translated, whereby not only the references carefully inserted by Maier, but also partly the meaning was lost. Possibly it was already about the marketing of the engravings.
Fonts
- Lusus series, quo Hermes sive Mercurius Rex Mundanorum Omnium sub Homine existentium. Oppenheim 1616, 1619. Frankfurt 1617 (German translation Frankfurt 1615, English London 1654).
- Symbola aureae mensae duodecim nationum. Frankfurt 1617.
- Silentium post clamores. Frankfurt 1617.
- Atalanta fugiens, hoc est emblemata nova de secretis naturae chymica. With 52 engravings by Matthaeus Merian the Elder. Ä. Oppenheim 1618. Reprint: Bärenreiter, Kassel, 1964 and Schalksmühle 2006, ISBN 978-3-935937-42-9 . Further edition: Frankfurt 1687 (as Scrutinium Chymicum), digitized . German translation: Chymisches Cabinet. Frankfurt 1708.
- Viatorium, hoc est De Montibus Planetarum Septem seu Metallorum. Oppenheim 1618.
- Tripus aureus. Frankfurt 1618 (collection of the font Practica by Basilius Valentinus and one each by the English alchemist Thomas Norton and the fictional John Cremer from the pseudo-Lull environment).
- Examination Fucorum Pseudochymicorum. Frankfurt 1617.
- Jocus Severus. Frankfurt 1617.
- Symbola Aureae Mensae Duodecim Nationum . Frankfurt a. M. 1617. Reprint: Akademische Druck und Verlags Anstalt, Graz 1972.
- Themis aurea. Frankfurt 1618. Reprint: Los Angeles 1976.
- Verum Inventum hoc est munera Germaniae. Frankfurt 1619.
- Arcana Arcanissima. (without date and place, probably 1613/1614).
- Cantilenae Intellectuales et Phoenice redivivo. Rostock 1622. French edition: Chansons sur la resurection de Phoenix. Paris 1758. New edition: Erik Leibenguth: Hermetic poetry of the early baroque. The 'Cantilenae intellectuales' Michael Maiers. Edition with translation, commentary and bio-bibliography. Tübingen 2002.
- Civitas Corporis Humani. Frankfurt 1621.
- De Circulo Physico Quadrato. Oppenheim 1616.
- Septimana Philosophia. Frankfurt 1620.
- Viridarium Chymicum, that is: Chymical pleasure garden. Frankfurt 1678.
- Tractatus posthumus sive Ulysses. Frankfurt 1624 (with other Rosicrucian tracts).
literature
- George-Florin Calian: Spiritual alchemy and the function of image: coincidentia oppositorum in Michael Maier's Atalanta fugiens . Budapest: CEU, Budapest College, 2009,.
- James Brown Craven: Count Michael Maier: Life and Writings, 1568-1622, William Peace & Son, Kirkwall, 1910, Ibis Press 2003
- Helena Maria Elisabeth De Jong: Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens. Sources of an Alchemical Book of Emblems. Leiden (EJ Brill) 1969, reprint Maine (Nicolas-Hays, Inc. York Beach) 2002 (= Janus. Suppléments, 8).
- Karin Figala , Ulrich Neumann: Chymia - the true queen of the arts. Life and writings of the Holstein poet, doctor and alchemist Michael Maier (1569-1622) , Chemistry in Our Time, Volume 25, 1991, No. 3, pp. 143-147
- Karin Figala, Ulrich Neumann: Michael Maier (1569-1622): New Bio-Bibliographical Material , in: ZRWM von Martels (ed.), Alchemy revisited, Brill 1990, pp. 34-50, Google books
- Karin Figala, Ulrich Neumann: Author, cui nomen Hermes Malavici. New light on the Bio-Bibliography of Michael Maier (1569-1622) , in: Piyo Rattansi, Antonio Clericuzio (Ed.), Alchemy and Chemistry in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Kluwer, 1994, pp. 121-148
- Wlodzimierz Hubicki: Maier, Michael . In: Charles Coulston Gillispie (Ed.): Dictionary of Scientific Biography . tape 9 : AT Macrobius - KF Naumann . Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1974, p. 23-24 .
- Nils Lenke, Nicolas Roudet, Hereward Tilton, Michael Maier: Nine Newly Discovered Letters, Ambix: The Journal of the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry, Vol. 61, Issue 1 (February 2014), pp. 1-47.
- Ulrich Neumann: Maier, Michael. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 5, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-043-3 , Sp. 562-564.
- Ulrich Neumann: Maier, Michael. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , p. 703 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Ulrich Neumann: Michael Maier. In: Claus Priesner, Karin Figala (Ed.): Alchemie. Lexicon of a Hermetic Science. Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-44106-8 .
- Joachim Telle : Maier, Michael. In: Walther Killy (Ed.): Literaturlexikon . Bertelsmann-Lexikon-Verlag, Gütersloh & Munich 1990, Vol. 7, p. 438 f ..
- Hereward Tilton: The Quest for the Phoenix. Spiritual Alchemy and Rosicrucianism in the Work of Count Michael Maier (1569-1622). de Gruyter, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-11-017637-8 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Michael Maier in the catalog of the German National Library
- Chymisches Kabinet (German, Frankfurt, 1708)
- Michael Maier and Robert Fludd
- Symbola aureae mensae on Google Books
- Atlanta fugiens, hoc est, emblemata nova de secretis naturæ chymica, Oppenheim, 1618, e-book from the Vienna University Library ( e-books on demand ).
- Atlanta fugiens, hoc est, emblemata nova de secretis naturæ chymica . Oppenheim, 1617, doi : 10.3931 / e-rara-7300 (unlimited access and download).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 43 .; Harald Lamprecht : Material and additions to the book “Neue Rosenkreuzer. A manual. ” Michael Maier and Robert Fludd.
- ↑ See the entry of Michael Maier's matriculation in the Rostock matriculation portal .
- ↑ Hans Roger Stiehle: Michaelus Maierus holsatus (1569-1622), alchemist and physician. A contribution to natural philosophical medicine in his writings and to his scientific qualification profile . Diss. Munich. 1991, p. 269.
- ↑ Only one copy has survived: Copenhagen. Royal Library. 12, −159.4 °.
- ^ Michael Maier: Medicina regia et vere Coelidonia . Quoted from Karin Figala and Ulrich Neumann: "Author Cui Nomen Hermes Malavici". New Light on the Biobibliography of Michael Maier (1569-1622) . In: Alchemy and Chemistry in the 16th and 17th Centuries . Ed. Piyo Rattansi & Antonio Clericuzio. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dordrecht / Boston / London 1995, p. 127.
- ^ Michael Maier: Medicina regia et vere Coelidonia. Quoted from Karin Figala and Ulrich Neumann: "Author Cui Nomen Hermes Malavici". New Light on the Biobibliography of Michael Maier (1569-1622) . In: Alchemy and Chemistry in the 16th and 17th Centuries . Ed. Piyo Rattansi & Antonio Clericuzio. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dordrecht / Boston / London 1995, p. 128.
- ↑ Hans Roger Stiehle: Michaelus Maierus holsatus (1569-1622), alchemist and physician. A contribution to natural philosophical medicine in his writings and to his scientific qualification profile . Diss. Munich. 1991, p. 270.
- ^ Letter of August 4, 1610 from Maier to Prince August von Anhalt-Plötzkau. See: Karin Figala and Ulrich Neumann: "Author Cui Nomen Hermes Malavici". New Light on the Biobibliography of Michael Maier (1569-1622) . In: Alchemy and Chemistry in the 16th and 17th Centuries . Ed. Piyo Rattansi & Antonio Clericuzio. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dordrecht / Boston / London 1995, p. 129 and note 47.
- ↑ Bruce T. Moran: The Alchemical World of the German Court. Occult Philosophy and Chemical Medicine in the Circle of Moritz of Hesse . Stuttgart 1991, p. 103.
- ^ Gertrude von Schwarzenfeld : Rudolf II. The Saturnian Emperor. Munich 1961, p. 71.
- ↑ Erich Trunz: Science and Art in the Circle of Emperor Rudolf II. 1576–1612 . Neumünster 1992. With many illustrations of copper engravings.
- ↑ Adam McLean. A rosicrucian manuscript of Michael Maier. In: The Hermetic Journal. 1979. No. 5, pp. 4-7. With a tracing of the flower, the rendering of the Latin text, however, is full of errors.
- ^ Roy Strong: Henry Prince of Wales and England's Lost Renaissance . London 1986.
- ^ Ron Heisler: Michael Maier and England . In: The Hermetic Journal . 1989. He also links it to the alleged poisoning of Overbury in the Tower on the basis of very little evidence.
- ^ Ron Heisler: Michael Maier and England . In: The Hermetic Journal . 1989.
- ↑ Extensive paper in English in JB Craven: Count Michael Maier . Pp. 31-50.
- ↑ Wolfgang Beck: Michael Maiers Examen Fucorum (Diss. TU Munich), 1992.
- ↑ Helge bei der Wieden : A North German Renaissance Prince. Ernst to Holstein-Schaumburg. 1569-1622. Bielefeld 1994. p. 29.
- ^ Marie-Theres Suermann: The mausoleum of Prince Ernst zu Holstein-Schaumburg in Stadthagen . Berlin 1984. p. 67 ff.
- ↑ Karl RH Frick. Introduction. In: M. Maier: Symbola Aureae Mensae duodecim nationum. Reprint Graz 1972. S. XVIII.
- ↑ HME de Jong: Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens: sources of an alchemical book of emblems. Leiden 1969., 2nd edition, York Beach 2002.
- ↑ Michael Maier: Atalanta Fugiens. Frankfurt. 1618. p. 176.
- ↑ Quoted from JB Craven: Count Michael Maier. … Life and writings. P. 67. - John Yarker erroneously states that this statement is contained in the Themis Aurea : John Yarker: Notes on the scientific and religious Mysteries of Antiquity . London 1872, p. 77.
- ^ Michael Maier: Themis Aurea. The Laws of the Fraternity of the Rosie Crosse. London 1656. pp. 24 and 120.
- ^ Michael Maier: Themis Aurea. The Laws of the Fraternity of the Rosie Crosse. London 1656. p. 109.
- ↑ Erik Leibenguth offers a German translation: Hermetic Poesie des Frühbarock. The 'Cantilenae intellectuales' Michael Maiers. Edition with translation, commentary and bio-bibliography. Tübingen 2002.
- ^ John Yarker: Notes on the scientific and religious Mysteries of Antiquity . London 1872, p. 77.
- ^ Yale University Library. Mellon Collection. Ms. 114. The Viatorum of Michael Maier. Edited by Adam McLean. A 17th century English manuscript translation . Glasgow 2005.
- ↑ Michaelis Majeri… Secretioris Naturae Secretorum Scrutinium Chymicum, per oculi et intellectui… Francofurti… M.DC.LXXXVII. Eutin State Library: Rc 118.
- ^ Yale University Library: German Baroque Literature. No. 677.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Maier, Michael |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Paracelsian doctor, alchemist and Rosicrucian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1568 |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1622 |