Nicolas Barnaud

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Nicolas Barnaud , Latinized Barnaudus, (* 1538 in Crest ; † 1604 ) was a French Huguenot , political writer, alchemist and doctor. His name has also been quoted Bernaudus , Bernardus and in similar forms. Because of its origins from the Dauphiné , it was also nicknamed Delphinas.

Life

Barnaud published in 1597 (In Aenigmaticum quoddam Epitaphium Bononiae lapidi insculptum commentariolus) an alchemical interpretation of a well-known enigmatic marble inscription in Bologna ( Aelia Laelia Crispis ), reprinted with other of his writings in the Theatrum Chemicum (and in the Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa ). He published collections of alchemical writings, in which he reprinted, among other things, the alchemical mass of Melchior Cibinensis . In his Quadriga aurifera of 1599 (Leiden) he collected alchemical writings (including by George Ripley ) and also in his Triga Chemica of 1599 ( Leiden ), in which Lambspringk's book is printed, which he translated into Latin. Another work is De occulta philosophia (Leiden 1601, in the form of a letter from a father to his son).

Since he traveled a lot towards the end of the 16th century, it was suspected that he would set up a secret network, some associated with the Rosicrucians . Among other things, he was in the Netherlands, Geneva and Prague (where he practiced as a doctor). In 1559 he was after John Ferguson in Spain, 1575 in Basel, 1599 in Leiden and 1601 in Gouda. Much is not known about his travels, but after Didier Kahn he was a citizen of Geneva, where he fled France after Bartholomew's Night (1572), was acquainted with the Paracelsist Joseph Duchesne , was matriculated at the University of Basel in 1574/75 and was in 1592 in Prague, where he met his friend Bernard Gilles Penot again. From 1597 to 1601 he was after Kahn in Leiden (and then a doctor in Gouda ) and published alchemical writings and collections during this time. According to Kahn, faced with socinian charges , he sold his Crest house in 1604, and may have died soon after.

He was one of the monarchomachs , anti-monarchist Protestants, especially in the aftermath of the massacre of Bartholomew's Night, and various political pamphlets are ascribed to him, for example Réveille-matin des François (1574, by Eusèbe Philadelphe Cosmopolite). Kahn also sees connections to radical Protestant pamphlets in Barnaud's alchemical collections and their forewords.

In Prague he frequented the court of Rudolf II and lived with his personal physician Thaddaeus Hagecius and is said to have witnessed transmutations there by Edward Kelley (1583).

His motto was Nihil sine numine (Nothing without God's will).

literature

  • Ferguson Bibliotheca Chemica , Glasgow 1906, Volume 1, pp. 73ff
    • Ferguson refers to Prosper Marchand Dictionaire Historique , Den Haag 1758, Volume 1, pp. 82-87 as a source for the life of Barnaud
  • Didier Kahn : Alchimie et paracelsisme en France à la fin de la Renaissance (1567-1625) , Droz 2007

Fonts

Alchemy, occult:

  • Commentariolum in aenigmaticum quoddam epitaphium, Bononiae studiorum, ante multa secula marmoreo lapidi inculptum, Leiden: Thomas Basson 1597 (on Aelia Laelia Crispes, but also with Melchior Cibinensis, dedicated to Moritz von Nassau , also reprinted in the Theatrum Chemicum), digitized version
  • Triga Chemica, de Lapide Philosophico tractatus tres, Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud C. Raphelengium, Leiden 1599, dedicated to Anna, Princess of Sweden , contains:
    • Lambspringk, De Lapide Philosophico
    • Philosophus Gallus Anonymus: Liber secreti maximi totius mundanae gloriae
    • Arcanum Philosophorum, with a brief explanation by Barnaud, dedicated to Nicolas Wolski
  • Quadriga Aurifera, Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud C. Raphelengium, Leiden 1599, dedicated to Heinrich Friedrich von Nassau (meaning Friedrich Heinrich von Oranien ), Gallica , contains:
    • Tractatus de Philosophia Metallorum
    • George Ripley: Liber duodecim portarum
    • George Ripley: Liber de Mercurio et Lapide
    • Scriptum ... Elixir solis Theophrasti Paracelsi tractans
  • De occulta philosophia, Leiden: Thomas Basson 1601, Gallica
  • Tractatulus chemicus Theosophiae palmarium dictus, anonymi cujusdam philosophi antiqui, Leiden: Thomas Basson 1601

His Triga Chemica and Quadriga Aurifera are also reprinted in the Theatrum Chemicum (Volume 3).

Political pamphlets, anonymous or under a pseudonym (attributed to him):

  • Le Secret des Finances de France, découvert et departi en trois livres, et maintenant publié, pour ouvrir les moyens légitimes et nécessaires de payer les dettes du Roy, descharger ses sujets des subsides imposez depuis trente un ans, et recouvrer tous les deniers prins à Sa majesté. Without place, 1581, (under the pseudonym Nicolas Froumenteau)
  • Le Cabinet du Roy de France, dans lequel il ya trois Perles précieuses d'inestimable valeur: Par le moyen desquelles sa Majesté s'en va le premier Monarque du monde, & ses sujets du tout soulagez, without location, 1582 (anonymous, Heinrich IV. Dedicated)
  • Le Miroir des Francois, compris en trois livres. Contenant l'estat et maniement des affaires de France, tant de la justice, que de la police, avec le reglement requis par les trois Estats pour la pacification des troubles, abolition des excessives tailles, & gabelles: dons gratuits & cha & ritatifs equipolans à decimes , suppression des supernumeraires officiers, demolition des citadeles, restauration des universitez, colleges & hospitaux, taux & appreation de vivres, & autres machandises: punition contre les usuriers, tyrans, & rongeurs de peuple. Et generalement tous les secrets qu'on a peu recueillir pour l'embellissement, & enrichissement du Royaume, & soulagement du public. Le tout mis en Dialogues by Nicolas De Montand. A la Royne regnante. Without place, 1582 (under Nicolas de Montand)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Christoph Schmieder History of Alchemy , Halle 1832, p. 298
  2. ^ Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica, Volume 1, p. 74
  3. ↑ Lyndy Abraham, Edward Kelly's Hieroglyph, in Alison Adams, Stanton J. Linden (Eds.) Emblems and Alchemy, Glasgow Emblem Studies, Volume 3, 1998, p. 96
  4. ↑ a b Information from Ferguson, Bibl. Chemica
  5. ↑ Thomas Basson (1555-1613), worked 1585-1612, English printer in Leiden, CERL
personal data
SURNAME Barnaud, Nicolas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Huguenot, political writer, alchemist and doctor
DATE OF BIRTH 1538
PLACE OF BIRTH Crest
DATE OF DEATH 1604