Vincenz Koffsky

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Vincenz Koffsky , also Latinized Vincentius Koffsky , Polish Wincenty Koffski or Kowski, (* in the 15th century; † 1488 in Danzig ) was an alchemistic author.

According to Karl Christoph Schmieder , who in his History of Alchemy from 1832 reflects the views of older authors, he was a native of Poland and died as a Dominican in a monastery in Gdansk in 1488. He would be the earliest known Polish alchemist. His writing on the Philosopher's Stone, dated 1478, was allegedly found walled in in the cloister of the Black Monastery in 1560 as part of the Reformation (Schmieder) and then distributed in copies (first printed in 1608) and translated into German in 1612 (first published in 1681).

According to Schmieder, he belongs to the school of Basilius Valentinus (whom Schmieder and other authors dated to the 15th century), as he taught the use of "antimony". According to recent research, the author's name and vita are fictional and a pseudonym for a group of authors who are close to the Rosicrucians . The editor Benedictus Figulus , under whom the Tractatus von Koffsky first appeared in 1608, is counted among the circle of the first Rosicrucians and the ideas presented in the script are close to those of the Fama Fraternitatis .

Fonts

  • Vincentius Koffsky: Hermetic writings: described to the true students and successors of our secret Spagirische Kunst for use and left the 4th Oct. 1478, 2 volumes, Nuremberg: Stein 1786
  • Vincenz Kofsky: A detailed, beautiful and concise report from the First Tinctur-Wurtzel and also materia prima des given clock-old stone of the wise, Danzig 1681 (published by Bruno Tancken, printed by Johann Friedrich Graefen)
    • also reprinted with a writing by Pseudo-Lull and Alphidius in: Trinum Chymicum or Drey Chymische Tractätlein, Strasbourg 1699
    • Latin original in: Benedictus Figulus : Thesaurinella Olympica Aurea Tripartita (with writings by Bernhardus Trevisanus , Paracelsus ), Frankfurt 1608, 1682 (as Tractatus de prima materia veterum lapidis philosophorum)

literature

  • John Ferguson , Bibliotheca Chemica, Volume 1, Glasgow 1906, pp. 477f
  • Wlodzimierz Hubicki, O Wincentym Koffskim i jego traktacie, Kwartalnik historii nauki i techniki, Volume 1, 1956, pp. 259-281 (Polish, About Wincenty Koffski and his treatise), pdf

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Schmieder, Geschichte der Alchemie, Halle 1832, p. 239f
  2. ↑ Malgorzata Nodzynska, A short history of science and education in poland in the middle ages, in: From alchemy to the present day - the choice of biographies of polish scientists, Malgorzata Nodzynska, Pawel Ciesla, Faculty of Chemistry, Pedagogical University Krakow 2012, P. 9, pdf
  3. ↑ Will-Erich Peuckert , Die Rosenkreutzer, 1928, p. 81
personal data
SURNAME Koffsky, Vincenz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Koffsky, Vincentius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish alchemist
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH 1488
Place of death Danzig