Alchemy In Medieval Europe

Though alchemy is typically associated, especially in the West, with transmutation of elements or a search for eternal life, it has rich historical roots in religion and has tussled with it, especially in the form of the ideals of Catholic scholars during the Middle Ages. It is believed to have originated in Hellenistic Egypt, and closely tied to Hermes Trismegistus, likely a combination of the Egyptian god Thoth, and Greek god Hermes (Budge 414-415). The transmission of alchemy to Medieval Europe is believed to have occurred in the early twelfth century, with Robert of Chester serving as one of the earliest translators of Arabic texts and knowledge that Spain, under Moorish control at the time, and Italy were exposed to (Holmyard, “Early
Western Alchemy.”). In the inital Hermetic origins of alchemy, it is solely spiritual. The transmutation of elements is only a physical effect of what is happening spiritually. It serves as a metaphor for personal and spiritual purification and transformation. As Fanger shows in their review of Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion, specifically in Arthur Versluis’ essay, "Alchemy and Christian Theosophic Literature”, Versluis connects the theological to alchemy ideas of the work of two theosophical writers influenced by Boehme, Johann Georg Gichtel and John Pordage. According to Fanger, Versluis states that one would expect a choice, either between the esoteric or exoteric, but instead the writers came out with the conclusion very similar to the Hermetic idea of alchemy, that it is indeed spiritual, but with real effects in the world. According to Alchemy, by Holmyard, “[a]lchemy is of a twofold nature, an outward or exoteric and a hidden or esoteric,” and the esoteric arose from a belief that the (philosopher’s) Stone could only be obtained through divine grace or favor became a system of beliefs in which the transmutation of metals was simply symbolic of the transformation of a sinful person into a more perfect person. He continues to say that in some of the mystical treatises it becomes clear that exoteric wording is simply for the purpose of expressing mystical or spiritual aspirations (Holmyard, “Introductory”). This seems to be a clear case of mazeway resynthesis, brought on by the appeal of alchemy to the new ideas of rationalism while still retaining Catholic spiritualism. Anselm of Canterbury was one such example of an individual predating Holmyard’s estimate of the translation of Arabic texts. He worked to reconcile experimental rationalism and spiritual faith, and encouraged rationalism, granted in a specifically Christian context (Sadler). After the introduction of alchemy to medieval Europe, the attempts to reconcile theology and rationalism by those such as Anselm of Canterbury were applied to alchemy, as hinted by Holmyard.
One such individual was Roger Bacon, who was a Master of Arts and one who taught Aristotle, born c. 1214/20. In 1248, he became “an independent scholar with an interest in languages and experimental-scientific concerns,” and investigated Arabic and Greek texts, likely coming into contact with the same references and ideas of alchemy as those such as Robert of Chester (Hackett). According to Hackett, an early reader of Bacon’s works on alchemy, Bonaventure, shared his goal of “seeking a ‘reduction’ of the sciences to theology, demonstrating that this cultural spread of how to reconcile theology and science had swept up the appealing idea of alchemy. Bacon recognized something similar to his eso and exoteric forms of alchemy, though he called them ‘speculative’ and ‘practical’ (Halmyard). Bacon believed that speculative alchemy was unknown to the natural philosophers of Latin, and served a purpose more akin to the “hidden” or esoteric kind of alchemy, but, interestingly, spends more time on ‘practical' alchemy, even putting forth the idea of applying it to medicine. This shows how the transition between spiritual and experimental Europe, with no clear in-between time of harmony with theology and rationality, but instead a constant flux with a general trend away from the
theology. As the practice of alchemy grew and became more refined, so did the belief system. As pointed out by Nasr’s review of Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul, alchemy did indirectly give rise to chemistry, but it is important to note that alchemy was not a pure scientific precursor to chemistry, but rather a practice that made Europe familiar with chemical reactions. An important distinction between chemistry and alchemy is that alchemy had a very definite spiritual aspect regarding the human soul. The argument put forth is that “events in the soul of man and in nature are inextricably connected,”, an interesting departure from previous belief systems which would appear to serve the purpose of attempting to relate the human soul to nature, rather than the traditional view of the human soul and nature as a holistic part of the creation of God, or of alchemy's beginnings as solely spiritual, and treating the transmutations as metaphorical (Nasr). This spiritual part of alchemy is still present, however. Instead of it serving to purify the soul, now the physical aspects have more weight, and the whole process of alchemy is related to the physical, essentially that like the metal, your soul can be made purer in order to reunite with God. Here we can see the results of the mazeway resynthesis of the culture that took place. It adopted the traditional opinion that humanity is imperfect and that we must work to reconcile ourselves with God in order to go to Heaven, but in this view the reconciliation does not have to be done with good deeds and spiritual works, but rather worldly alchemy, something in which every step can be easily explained and is tangible. This view also allows for the easy combination of a general “spiritual view” into a Catholic view of soul and a need to heal it to become one with God. These changes in the belief system surround alchemy are taking place during the 13th century, with the Renaissance of the 15th century impending, and some of the ideas necessary for it to occur are apparent in this text. Alchemy, before being discarded as a art of thieves and sorceror, actually reached its peak during the 15th to 17th centuries (Nejeschleba, Michalík).
Nejeschleba, et. al. use Žemla’s article “Valentin Weigel and alchemy” to demonstrate that despite being known for alchemy, he was likely only minorly interested in alchemy and a victim of pseudepigraphy. Importantly, the ideals of his time shine through the midattribution of the authorship of “his” works. As Žemla points out, “as late as 1869 the Histoire de la Chimie classi es his work as the symbolic and spiritual alchemy … and [t]he image of Weigel as an alchemist was strengthened when his works appeared together with works of Paracelsus and other authors that used alchemical symbolism and natural-philosophical concepts”. What Žemla has shown is that alchemy, even up to the 16th century, during which Weigel lived, alchemy still had its ties to the roots of the Hellenistic belief. Indeed, it seems to have gone back to those roots, discussing symbolic and spiritual alchemy, something that was not very commonly discussed in absence of some Christian concepts in Middle Ages
texts. There is some of the ideals of the Middle Ages left, such as natural-philosohpical concepts mentioned, but in general it was a return to the more spiritual origins of alchemy. Yet, as the 17th century passed, interest in alchemy began to dwindle and become associated with more of how it is thought of today, which is essentially a foolish endeavor. Combined with the looming rise of modern science with an emphsasis on rigourous, repeatable testing that can be quantified and experimented with, and the tendency to throw out previous wisdom, especially the untestable or “ancient wisdom,” alchemy’s popularity dwindled. Nonetheless, there are some groups that practice it today, and it is important to realize that alchemy was not simply a foolish attempt to gain wealth through impossible transmutation, but instead arose from valid religious beliefs and became imcomportated, with some growing pains, into a major religous establishment which was the belief system of Europe, and still retained important religious aspects for those who practiced in it.