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PDF Hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. https://hdl.handle.net/2066/217422 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-10-06 and may be subject to change. 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -1 The General Reformation divini et humani 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -2 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -3 The General Reformation divini et humani The Rosicrucian Call for Change, Its Sources, and Early Impact Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M. van Krieken, volgens besluit van het college van decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 26 maart 2020 om 14.30 uur precies door Alyke Zwaantina de Vries geboren op 15 oktober 1990 te Groningen 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 12:36] page -4 Promotoren Prof. dr. C.H. Lüthy Prof. dr. H. Hotson (University of Oxford, Verenigd Koninkrijk) Copromotor Dr. P.J. Forshaw (Universiteit van Amsterdam) Manuscriptcommissie Prof. dr L. Spruit Em.prof. dr. C. Gilly (Universität Basel, Zwitserland) Prof. dr. T.E. Nummedal (Brown University, Verenigde Staten) Prof. dr. D. Kahn (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Frankrijk) Prof. dr. V. Urbánek (Akademie vˇedČeské Republiky, Tsjechië) Cover: Leonhard Thurneysser, Quinta essentia, das ist/ die höchste subtilitet/ krafft und wirckung/ beyder der fürtrefflichsten/ und menschlichem geschlecht am nützlichsten Künsten/ der Medicin und Alchemy […] (Leipzig, 1574), fol. xxxvii. © 2020, Lyke de Vries Printed by Ipskamp Printing, Enschede Typesetting by TAT Zetwerk, Utrecht 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -5 The General Reformation divini et humani The Rosicrucian Call for Change, Its Sources, and Early Impact Doctoral thesis to obtain the degree of doctor from Radboud University Nijmegen on the authority of the Rector Magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M. van Krieken, according to the decision of the Council of Deans to be defended in public on Thursday, 26 March 2020 at 14:30 hours by Alyke Zwaantina de Vries born on 15 October 1990 in Groningen (the Netherlands) 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 12:36] page -6 Supervisors Prof. dr. C.H. Lüthy Prof. dr. H. Hotson (University of Oxford, uk) Co-supervisor Dr. P.J. Forshaw (Universiteit van Amsterdam) Manuscript Committee Prof. dr L. Spruit Em.prof. dr. C. Gilly (Universität Basel, Switzerland) Prof. dr. T.E. Nummedal (Brown University, usa) Prof. dr. D. Kahn (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France) Prof. dr. V. Urbánek (Akademie vˇedČeské Republiky, Czech Republic) 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -7 Caeterum ut plerumque in eo ipso loco, ubi nova lues exsurgit, Natura remedium aperit, ita inter tantos Philosophiae paroxysmos, patriae nostrae satis idonea, imo ad sanitatem unica media succrescunt, per quae revalescat et nova, vel renovata, mundo renovando appareat. Just as, where a new plague arises, nature reveals a remedy in that same place, so also during these great crises of philosophy, unique means arise in the least for the sanity [of philosophy], sufficiently suitable to our fatherland, through which philosophy can recover and appear in a new or renewed form through the renovation of the world. Confessio Fraternitatis 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -8 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -9 Table of Contents Acknowledgements xiii Abbreviations xv Figures xvii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 The Furore 1 1.2 The Rosicrucian Story 8 1.3 A Programme 14 part i The Origins 2 Back to the Sources 23 2.1 The Rosicrucian Reformation 25 2.1.1 The Papal Antichrist 25 2.1.2 The Rise of the Lion 34 2.2 The Revolution of the Ages 47 2.2.1 The Revolution of the World 57 2.2.2 ‘Great Signs of the Great Plan’ 59 2.3 The Renovation of Philosophy 67 2.3.1 Wisdom Returning 76 2.4 Concluding Remarks 90 3 The Paracelsian Impetus 97 3.1 Visions of a Golden Time 101 3.2 Apocalypticism: The Revelation of Secrets 112 3.2.1 Apocalyptic Alchemy 114 3.2.2 Christian Rosencreutz, Elias, and Paracelsus 119 3.3 Alchemy and Medicine: Christian Rosencreutz and Paracelsus 122 3.4 Philosophical Inspirations 132 3.5 Primeval Wisdom 148 3.6 Concluding Remarks 156 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -10 x table of contents part ii The Bibliographical Origins 4 The Authors and the Rosicrucian Worldview 161 4.1 Authorship in Question 165 4.2 Apocalyptic Expectations 173 4.3 Andreae’s Societies and Attempts at Reform 179 4.3.1 The Reform of Religion, Politics, and Knowledge 185 4.4 Paracelsian Motivation 199 4.5 Concluding Remarks 202 part iii The Response 5 Rosicrucianism Praised: The Early Response 209 5.1 Avoiding Tribulations: The First Response to the Fama 212 5.1.1 Apocalyptic Changes 217 5.1.2 The Study of the Natural and Supernatural Realms 226 5.1.3 Paracelsian Primeval Philosophy 229 5.2 The Instauration of Original Wisdom 233 5.3 The Rosicrucian Study of Alchemy and Medicine 245 5.4 The Reform of Medicine and Science 251 5.5 Rosicrucian Theosophy and the Reform of the Divine and the Human 257 5.5.1 Know God 257 5.5.2 Know Thyself 266 5.6 Concluding Remarks 282 6 Rosicrucianism Challenged: Early Debates 287 6.1 The Rosicrucian Manifestos Debated 1 289 6.1.1 Libavius: Protecting Faith and Science 289 6.1.1.1 A General Reformation 292 6.1.1.2 Prophecy and Paracelsus 297 6.1.1.3 Academic Reform and Paracelsian Magic 302 6.1.2 Fludd: Academic Reform and Magical Aspirations 310 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -11 table of contents xi 6.2 The Rosicrucian Manifestos Debated 2 323 6.2.1 Grick: Protecting State and Science 325 6.2.2 Mögling: Academic Reform and Theosophy 333 6.3 Concluding Remarks and Further Challenges: Official Investigations 346 7 Conclusions 359 7.1 Conclusions 359 7.2 Rosicrucian Reform in Context 367 Appendix: Theca gladii spiritus (1616), nrs. 175–202 379 Bibliography 389 Summary 429 Samenvatting 431 Curriculum Vitae 435 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -12 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -13 Acknowledgements This dissertation is the result of the help and support of many people, without whom it could not have been written. My greatest debt of gratitude goes to my supervisors, Christoph Lüthy and Howard Hotson, whose contributions to this dissertation are numerous, and who continuously motivated me to do more than seemed possible, guided me along the way, and generally taught me to be a researcher. I am equally indebted to the third member of my supervisory team, Peter Forshaw, whose insightful suggestions regularly introduced me to new fields of research and outlandish texts. I am also grateful to Carlos Gilly, who took the time to teach me about the important aspects of our area of research. A special thanks goes to my paranymphs, Davide Cellamare and Chiara Beneduce, as well as to Elena Nicoli, for their dear friendship and support. I am also thankful to the past and current members of the Center for the History of Philosophy and Science in Nijmegen, including Hans Thijssen, Carla Rita Palmerino, Cees Leijenhorst, Frederik Bakker, Paul Bakker, Erik- Jan Bos, Delphine Bellis, Antonio Cimino, Oki Utamura, Leen Spruit, Carli Coenen, Lukas Wolf, Arianne Moerland, Fiammetta Iovine, Carlo Ierna, and Mattia Mantovani, with whom over the years I have shared many lunches, only to afterwards continue our discussions while obediently taking the stairs to the sixteenth floor. Many thanks also go to the Dutch Research Council (nwo) and to the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, for funding my research both in Nijmegen and in Oxford. I further wish to express my gratitude to the people at St Anne’s College, Oxford, for supporting me during my studies at Oxford; and to the people at Bodleian Library Oxford, Wellcome Library London, Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv Wolfenbüttel, Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek Hannover, Universitätsbibliothek Salzburg, and Universitätsarchiv Tübingen, for granting me access to their splendid collections and for their invaluable support in doing so. 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -14 2019288 [DeVries] 001-Prelims-proof-final [version 20170704 date 20200210 11:41] page -15 Abbreviations cf Confessio Fraternitatis, in: Gabella, Phillip. Secretioris Philosophiae Consi- deratiobrevisaPhilippoaGabellaPhilosophiaeSt.Conscripta,etnuncprimum una cum Confessione Fraternitatis, pp. 55–68. R.C. Kassel: Wilhelm Wessel, 1615. Confessio Confessio Fraternitatis, in: Fama Fraternitatis R.C. Das ist/Gerücht der Brüderschafft des Hochlöblichen Ordens R.C. An alle Gelehrte und Heupter Europae. Beneben deroselben Lateinischen Confession, Welche vorhin in Druck noch nie ausgangen/ nuhnmehr aber auff vielfältiges nachfragen zusampt derenbeygefügtenTeutschenVersionzufreundtlichengefallen/allenSittsamen gutherzigen Gemühtern wolgemeint in Druck gegeben und communiciret. Von einem des Liechts/ Warheit/ und Friedens liebhabenden und begierigen Philomagro. Kassel: Wilhelm Wessel, 1615. cp DerFrühparacelsismus.CorpusParacelsisticum.DokumenteFrühneuzeitlicher Naturphilosophie in Deutschland. Edited by Wilhelm Kühlmann and Joachim Telle. Vols. 1–3. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2001–2004. ea Luther, Martin. Reformations-historische deutsche Schriften, 26. Erlangen: Carl Heyder, 1830.
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