Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento Jahrbuch des italienisch-deutschen hzstorischen Instituts in Trient 43, 2017 Ι 2 Preface p. 5 Essays Introductίon, by Fernanda Alfieri and Kά"rin Nickelsen 9 Alcherny and Chrίstίan Relίgίousness: The Latίn Mίddle Ages, by Chiara Crisciani 17 Myth, Nature, and Chance: Medical Hίstories and Relίgίon, by Maria Con/orti 39 The Weight of the Brain. The Catholίc Church ίη the Face of Physiology and Phrenology (First Half of the Nίneteenth Century), by Fernanda Alfieri 57 Theological Advocates of the Unity of the Hurnan Species (1815-1853), by Renato G. Mazzolinz 79 Catholίc Dίscourse on Sexualίty and Medίcal Knowledge. Changing Perspectives between the Nίneteenth and the Twentieth Centurίes, by Lucia Pozzi 95 Contingency, Ethics of Finitude, and Theology, by Telmo Pievani 115 Reviews Nicolo Maldina, Ariosto e la battaglia della Polesella. Guerra e poesia nella Ferrara di inizio Cinquecento (Μ. Rospocher) p. 133 Alessandro Vanoli, I:ignoto davanti α noi. Sognare terre lonta­ ne (C. Ferlan) 135 Anna Bellavitis, ΙΖ lavoro delle donne nelle cittd dell'Europa moderna (Κ. Occhi) 137 Monica Bisi, Manzoni e la cultura tedesca. Goethe, l' idillio, l' estetιί:aeuropea (Μ. Largaiolli) 139 Ν ews from the Institute Calendar of Events 147 Publications 151 The Library 153 Authors 155 Alchemy and Christian Religiousness: The Latin Middle Ages by Chiara Crisctani Abstract - The main characteristίc of alchemy (also in the Latin-Chrίstian context) is its being a structured scientίfic and operative knowledge, with however conspicuous religious and hermetic traits. The present essay examines texts (from the twelfth to the fifteenth century) ofLatin alchemy in which this double nature is particularly clear. These texts emphasize that the alchemical operative prograιn is linked to internal betterment, prophecy, divine enlightenment, and the Scriptures. The alchemist is represented as God's elect and collaborator in "taking care" of and perfecting nature. 1. The historiographical context: problems and definitions In recent decades, studies ση the history of alchemy have flourished1; some of the more substantial achievements are summarized in the fol­ lowing'. Traditional, positivist historiography (characterized by categories of "accumulation" and "precursors") conceived of alchemy as the "dawn of chemistry", at best-as a first inkling, pervaded with superstition, of what would become a true science'. This has been cha)lenged since as the Translation by Gavin Taylor Α decisive ίmpulse for the renewal of research was ρrovided by R. HALLEUX, Les textes alchimiques, Turnhout 1979. It is impossible here to ρrovide an exhaustive bibliography (contributors of parti­ cular note include R. Halleux, Μ. Pereira, Α Clericuzio, C. Crisciani, W. Newmann, L.M. Principe, Α. Calvet, S. Moureau, Β. Obrist, S. Matton, C. Viano, Ρ. Carusί). An outstanding overview is ρrovided by the Bibliogra/ia essenzt"a1e which completes the volume edited by Μ. PEREIRA,Alchimia. Ι testi della tradizione occidentale, Milano 2006, pρ. 14 93-1518. Excellent, also in view of its focus ση the historiographical debate, is Μ. PEREIRA, Saggio introduttt"vo; see also C. CRISCIANI- Μ. PEREIRA,I.}alch imia nel medtΌevo (medi@evi), Firenze 2016; C. CRISCIANI -Μ. PEREIRA (eds), J}arte de/ so/e e de/la luna. Alchz"mia e filoso/ia nel medioevo, Sρoleto 1996. See also Μ. PεREtRA, Arcana sapienza. I.}afchimia dalle origini α Jung, Roma 2001. See the studies by Antonio Clericuzio and Ferdinando Abbri, in particular Ε ABBRI, Alchemy and Chemiitry, in ''Early Science and Medicine", 5, 2000, 2, ρp. 214-226, ίn which the author intervenes in the historiographic debate regarding the interrelations ΙSSN 0392-0011 Annali Ι Jahrbuch ISIG- 43, 2017 I 2 © Socιeta editrice il Mulino- Duncker & Humblot 18 C. Crisciani specificity of the discourses and practices of alchemy emerged in a more visible manner. The fieldclearly dίffers from chemistry, not so much in its technical procedures and laboratory equipment but in its essential aims and purposes, the core of which is the idea of transformation in order to achieve perfection (mainly in terms of matter and materia\)-a purpose that chemistry does not share. In the early days of the development of chemistry, the aspirations of the two fields overlapped and exchanges between the disciplines are documented, especially in terms of instru­ mentation and terminology. However, there is no effective chronological continuity between the two fields that would imply that alchemy was no more than a confused prelude to the subsequent luminous triumph of chemistry, the latest arrival in the register of positive sciences over the course of the scientific revolution. In the early modern age, the two fields are separate and distinct, proceeding alongside into an ever growing distance. From this perspective, the specific nature of alchemy can no longer be reduced to being a preliminary draft of something else. Another interpretation of alchemy, very popular during the 1900s and persisting today in esoteric and New Age-oriented trends, conceives it as an exclusively spiritual process of subjective personal improvement where the alchemic and metallurgical terminology is understood as a means to obfuscate/communicate this process. The writings of alchemists, which are often exuberant and allegorical, are thought to represent a linguistic masking of a much more profound and more potent "secret". lt is clear that also in this case history is lost; in fact, we would be dealing with a nucleus of revealed truth-as such outside of time and immutable-ac­ cessible to only precious few people over the centuries. The result is an elect chain of followers who recognize each other and pursue the same truth over time and in very different socio-cultural contexts. ln this view, the opinions of the Hellenist, Zosimos, and those of the German mystic, J akob Bohme', are effectively equivalent and above all equally valid, even if not the same: both are expressions of a single unchanging quest for perfection. These two perspectives are opposite but analogous ίη their ahistorical and reductive approach and are incapable of grasping dίfferences and between chemistry and alchemy initiated by Newman and Pricipe: a good summary of the discussion can be found in the Ph.D. thesis of Μ.Α. ZUBER, University of Amsterdam (in progress). See J.F. JIJARQUET, Alchimie et thέologie chez ]acob Boehme, in D. ΚΑΗΝ- S. ΜΑΤΤΟΝ (eds), Alchιmie. Art, histoire, mythes, Paris - Milano .1995. I Alchemy and Christian Religiousness: The Latin Middle Ages 19 similarities. They were thus progressively criticized in favor of a histor­ ical analysis that might carve out the specific features of the alchemical quest and provides a precise definition for this approach on the one hand, and might trace how this specific nature manifested itself in dif­ ferent periods and contexts on the other. This would make it possible to define the differences between the ideas of the Latin Geber (thir­ teenth century) and those of Paracelsus, between the pages of Jean de Roquetaillade (Iohannes de Rupescissa, fourteenth century) and those of the Alessandrian alchemists. Ultimately, it has become necessary to investigate and identify the developments, crises, and transformations5 in the millennial affairs of alchemy and to establish its history. This history, in turn, is obviously linked to coeval social realities, cultural phenomena, and religious aspirations. And these in turn are themselves variable and historically determined. The first problem for this relatively new approach consists in establishing the specific nature of alchemy. What makes it detectable as such, despite its numerous mutations and the different appearances through history? Ι agree with the definition proposed many years ago by H.J. Sheppard in a short but fundamental article6: alchemy strives to implement concrete operations that are designed to bring about a transformation, or, more specifically, perfection (in many cases promoting an acceleration with regard to nature's timetable) in various spheres of reality. The specific areas in which alchemy operates include matter (metals, but not only), the human body and living organisms in general, and the soul (the in­ ner reality, the personality) of the operator. These very lofty objectives embrace matter, body and soul, humankind and nature. Sometimes they are present simultaneously and interlaced, and at times separately and distinctly. Sheppard's definition is quite generic but appears to be acceptable, although it does require one essential initial clarification. While alchemy is definitely a process of perfection, not every process of perfection is alchemic. This clarification makes it possible to distin­ guish between mystical propositions and alchemic procedures despite See the essays collected in Le crisi dell'alchimia = The Crisis of Alchemy, in «Micro­ logus", 3, 1995: noteworthy regarding the specific features of Medieval alchemy and its historical periods, the Conclusion of Α. BouEEΛU, ibid., pp. 34 7-353. See Η.]. SHEPPARD, European Alchemy z'n the Context of α Universal De]inition, in C. MEINEL (ed.), Die Alchimie z'n der europά'ischen Kultur- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Wiesbaden 1986, pp. 13-17; Μ. PEREIRA,Alchimia, and Μ. PEREIRA, Projecting PerfecttΌn. Remark.r on the Origin ο/ the Άlchemy ο/ the Elixir', in "Micrologus", 24 ,2016, pp. 73-93. 20 C. Crisciani possible analogies. Furthermore, a few specific observations are neces­ sary to support the above clarification. First, a transformation project of this type-whatever the area in which it is exercised-presupposes an underlying natural philosophy that describes the structure of the matter, the organisms, or psyche/soul that the alchemist is attempting to transform. This philosophy (and note that most alchemists in any era define themselves as philosophers) can be more or less expounded upon and adjusted with respect to the standards of coeval knowledge, but this philosophical context is a necessary background for the theo­ ries and doctrines that the alchemists elaborate, and for the formulas and operative procedures they prescribe and according to which they proceed.