RAMON LLULL RAMON LLULL AND THE ALCHEMICAL TRADITION

MIQUELA PERElRA LECTURER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORENCE

heanameof Rarnon Llull has been ple applications. The same development attached, as is commonly known, of the opus appears in two widespread LO a large number of alchemical writings,-. Euistola. accurtationis and writings since the second half of the MlNlATURE FROM THE PSEUDO-LULLIAN MANUSCRIPT BR52. COmpendium animae transmutationis NATIONAL LIBRARY IN FLORENCE fourteenth century, i.e. about fifty years metallorum. which seem to derive from after his death. Past followers and mod- the previous ones. Then there are severa1 ern scholars have shown divergent opin- works focusing on the distillation of wine ions about the attribution to Llull of al- alcohol for alchemical purposes: the first chemical works which, on their own The manuscript tradition of the alchemi- and most relevant among them is the Li- account, have always been highly appre- cal works attributed to Llull and their ber de sedretis naturae seu de quinta es- ciated by the adepts of the Hermetic tra- mutual relationship, confirmed by cross sentia, largely depending on the De con- dition. A reconsideration of the whole quotations and affinity of content, enable sideratione quintae essentiae written by problem of the pseudio-Lullian alchemy us to trace back the origin of the whole John of Rupescissa about 135 1-52. Some has been undertaken recently, starting Corpus to an original nucleus of a few minor writings concerning distilled wa- from a different point of view: instead of writings. The earliest of them, the Testa- ters, alchemical fifth essence and potable questioning whether Llull is the author mentum, written in or little before 1332, gold can also be traced back to the four- of alchemical writings or not, the works and a small number of other works by the teenth century. attributed to him are regarded as a focus same author (Liber lapidarii, Liber de in- A basic difference distinguishes the Tes- of interest per se, and their link with the tentione alchimistarum), are strictly tamentum from the ~iberde secretis na- historical figure of the Mallorcan philos- linked to the Codicillus (perhaps written turae, though in the totality of known opher is but one aspect (admittedly a by the same alchernist or by his disciple): manuscripts both texts are invariably as- very important one) of a multi-faceted al1 of them converge on the theme of the cribed to Ramon Llull: in addition to de- historical and hermeneutical problem. alchemical elixir and illustrate its multi- veloping different alchemical doctrines, RAMON LLULL

the Testamentum was completely without The attempt made in the Liber de secre- Edward (Robert's son) offered protection foundation: Lullian ideas (such as the tis naturae seu de quinta essentia to to Llull, who wrote many books for him; correlatives) and style (mainly the use of make alchemy cohere with Lullian phi- ultimately Edward's son, Charles, be- alphabet and figures) give this book a pe- losophy was soon to give way to a legend carne the beloved disciple whom the old al- culiar character inside the alchemical tra- in which many topics coalesced, which chemist entrusted with al1 his knowl- dition from which it stems; moreover, an had already appeared, though in a scat- edge, giving him the key to his secrets and authentic work by Llull is cited in it, the tered manner, in the earliest alchemical writing for him his last and clearest Arbor philosophiae desideratae. So the works attributed to Llull. The legend, in books. In this accomplished version the Testamentum shows that, within a few its final form, told that Llull had been legend introduces us to the extreme years after Llull's death, his thought had "converted" to alchemy by another great branch of the pseudo-Llullian alchemical already been brought into contact with Catalan, Arnau de Vilanova; then the dis- corpus, a collection of writings whose just those alchemical doctrines that Llull covery of the alchemical elixir had given titles imitate those of the earliest works himself had clearly rejected in many of him an exceedingly long life (a motive and whose contents orientate pseudo-Lu- his works, and especially in the famous still present in the literary production of llian alchemy towards Rosicrucian deve- dialogue between alchemist and fire in our century: see for instance Quim-Qui- lopments. the Felix. Subsequently, such an associa- ma, by Maria Aurklia Capmany). He had At the foundation of this alchemical tion was energetically fostered in the Li- been summoned to the court of the En- building we find, as we have seen be- ber de secretis naturae seu de quinta es- glish King Edward, where he had pro- fore, the Testamentum. This is a very im- sentia. Its three books concerning the duced alchemical gold to be used for the portant work not only because it stands alchemical and pharrnacological use of King's purpose of crusade against the as the cornerstone of the whole pseudo- the fifth essence are given a unitary Moors; and eventually he had been im- Lullian corpus, but, and perhaps princi- frame by means of a prologue and an epi- prisoned by the impious King, who had pally, because it is the main evidence of logue in which the author argues for the decided to use the alchemical gold for a a peculiar change in the meaning of al- continuity between Lullian natural phi- war against the French. A sixteenth cen- chemy at the beginning of the fourteenth losophy and alchemy, even assuming that tury version of the legend adds that dur- century. Indeed, the Testamentum is the Llull's sentences contrary to transrnuta- ing his captivity Llull was visited by An- largest work illustrating the development tion were directed against "false" alche- gels who revealed further alchemical of alchemy from a metallurgy imbued mists. Therefore in the Liber alchemy is secrets to him. Moreover, an imaginary with religious andlor philosophical presented as .a veritable branch of Llull's genealogy of Kings is portrayed, drawing values to an art of perfecting the entire arbor scientiarum; from our vantage on the prologues and dedications of the realm of matter, human body enclosed. point, it may rather be thought of as if it earliest works of the corpus: the treach- The author, whose name is still unknown, were a succesful graft. erous King is now called Robert, while elaborates a veritable alchemical philo- RAMON LLULL

MlNlATURES FROM THE PSEUDOLULLIAN MANUSCRIPT BR52. NATlONAL LIBRARY IN FLORENCE

sophy, whose main purpose is to explain most universal doctrine revealing the ller; second, our alchemist travelled in philosophical terms (Le. using the truth concealed or only partially ex- around Catalonia, France and England Aristotelian language of medieval nat- pressed in the languages of medicine and and his book represented a seminal work ural philosophy) the production of -an natural philosophy. The author of the in the development of medical (or better agent of material perfection named eli- Testamentum -who is likely to have been pharmacological) alchemy, which John xir. The peculiar character of the elixir a physician trained in Montpeller- defi- of Rupescissa was to accomplish a few consists in the fact that it can pass its per- ned alchemy as "an occult part of philo- decades later. This medical trend of al- fection on to every being with which it sophy, the most necessary, a basic art chemy characterized much of the follow- is put in touch (projected, as the alche- which cannot be learned by just anyone. ing pseudo-Lullian production, and es- mists say), developing a virtue that grows Alchemy teaches how to change al1 pecially -as we have already seen- the to an infinite degree by means of con- precious stones until they achieve the Liber de secretis naturae seu de quinta secutive solutions and "circulations" in true balancing of qualities; how to bring essentia, which eventually happened to the alchemical vessel. So the elixir, also human bodies to their healthiest condi- supersede the book of John of Rupescis- called "philosophers' stone" (lapis phi- tion; and how to transmute al1 metals into sa: it was the refashioning attributed to losophorum) or "our gold" (aurum nos- the true Sun (gold) and true Moon Llull, not Rupescissa's original elabora- trum), is not merely an amount of inert (silver), by means of a unique body, uni- tion, the main vehicle for the advocacy precious metal resulting from the trans- versal medicine, to which al1 particular of the alchemical use of the fifth es- mutation of a baser one, but a material medicines are reduced." sence of wine. So the name of Llull thing endowed with energy through the The above quotation comes from the bi- played a significant part in this important cooperation of human being (artifex) and lingual (Catalan and Latin) Testamentum, chapter in the history of medieval and nature. It unites in itself incorruptibility, preserved only in one manuscript (Ox- early Renaissance science, paving the that is the highest perfection of inani- ford, Corpus Christi College, 244). Al- way for Paracelsus' research. mate bodies (and, indeed, in its prepara- though the priority of the Catalan versus We know very little about the diffusion tion the most perfect of them, gold and the Latin text does not seem today as of pseudo-Lullian alchemy in the four- silver, are used as "seeds" of perfection), sure as Pere Bohigas suggested severa1 teenth century, mainly because of the ex- and the virtue to reproduce this same per- years ago, the two versions are practi- treme poverty of alchemical manuscripts fection (a dynamic power akin to what cally contemporaneous and point to a dating from this epoch: a problem shared life is to living bodies). In its most phi- Catalan origin or early diffusion of this by the whole category of alchemical texts losophical definition, the elixir is "true important writing. Further research is written by (or attributed to) medieval complexion" (verum temperamentum) needed, yet two elements at least are authors. On the contrary, the growth of produced by means of manual opera- clear: first, there is a link between the idea the pseudo-Lulliaii alchemical corpus tions: this artificial character prevented it of elixir as universal medicine (mater me- was impressive throughout the whole fif- from being encompassed within the cat- dicinarum), developed in the Testamen- teenth century, when newly written egories .of the Scholastic philosophy of tum, and the medical teaching of Arnau works were added to the corpus and the nature, as the English philosopher Roger de Vilanova, whose Aphorismi de gradi- first manuscript collections began to ap- Bacon suggested when he defined al- bus were included in 1309 in the curri- pear. Severa1 of them are lavishly illu- chemy (theoretical and practical) as the culum of the medical faculty at Montpe- minated, like some famous manuscripts RAMON LLULL

now in libraries of Florence, London, is not surprising to find severa1 alchemi- French Lullists of the sixteenth and Oxford and Yale. So from the beginning cal works attributed to Llull in the man- seventeenth centuries. of '400 we find traces of alchemy even uscript collection once owned by Nico- Such episodes could easily be multiplied; in unexpected circumstances, like the laus Pol, the Lullist physician who lived on the whole, they fully confirm what presence of a copy of the Liber de se- in Tyrol at the end of the fifteenth cen- Anthony Bonner has recently written, cretis naturae seu de quinta essentia tury. And neither, perhaps, should we that during the Renaissance the Lullian among the books owned by the hermit wonder at discovering that Bernard of Ars was considered as a general intro- Mario de Passa, in Mallorca. Lavinheta included the Ars operativa me- duction to the occult sciences. Moreover, Alchemy had clearly become an dica, as well as abstracts from Rupescis- the undisputed fame of Llull as alchemist interesting subject for fifteenth century sa, in his Lullian encyclopaedia, which in the Renaissance is clearly the back- physicians, perhaps searching for more was to influence so many Renaissance ground for the firm belief in the authen- efficacious remedies than the traditional thinkers from Giordano Bruno to Hein- ticity of "Llull's" alchemical books de- Galenic ones; and often this interest ac- rich Alsted. When, however, we realise fended by Ivo Salzinger, who issued tually focused on "Llull's" treatises. In that Cusanus not only owned a manu- the monumental eighteenth century Florence an illiterate goldsmith, Loren- script of the Testamentum, but also had collection of Raimundi Lulli Opera zo da Bisticci, applied his craft know- it specifically copied for himself, we may omnia and advocated Lullian alchemy ledge to the use of medicinal waters, ob- be at first genuinely bewildered. And we against the scholars Sollier and Custurer. taining a wonderful medicine which he are similarly surprised to find that in ~owever, they seem to have been compared to Christ: he had just read the Florence, about twenty years before Gio- eventually successful, as Salzinger never Ars operativa medica, whose author vanni Pico della Mirandola introduced published the planned alchemical avers to be Ramon Llull and to have Lullian matters into the philosophical volumes. learnt the wonderful art of distillation circles, a wonderfully illuminated manu- On the other side, the fame of Llull in from King Robert, who in his turn had script with pseudo-Lullian alchemical Hermetic circles was longlasting: al1 the been taught it by Arnau de Vilanova. treatises was manufactured for an un- most important printed collections of al- In England, in 1456, a group of distin- known patron in 1475. The painter depic- chemical writings, since the 1540s to the guished physicians signed a petition to ted Llull, with long white beard and Bibliotheca chemica curiosa issued by the king in order to be allowed to make Franciscan habit, in various alchemical Jean Jacques Manget in 1702, contain a the elixir, mater medicinarum. Among scenes, giving him the status of a Her- "Lullian" section, and Hermetic writers the petitioners was John Kirkeby, chap- metical alchemist and magus, which was continued (and still continue) to extol lain to the King, who one year before to foster his fame in severa1 Renaissance Llull's name, following an unbroken tra- had endorsed the execution of an im- philosophical milieus. An important col- dition condensed by Dom Pernety in a portant collection of pseudo-Lullian al- lection of alchemical manuscripts, single sentence of his Dictionnaire my- chemy focusing on the Testamentum and gathered in the sixteenth century in France tho-hermétique (1787): "Ramon Llull, the Liber de secretis naturae seu de (now Caprara collection in the Bibliote- Hermetic philosopher of the most wise quinta essentia: the bilingual Oxford ca Universitaria of Bologna) shows a and subtle, whose reading is specially re- manuscript already mentioned. specific Lullian interest, confirming the commended, as he eminently penetrated Given this medical interest in alchemy, it extent of alchemical interest among al1 the secrets of Nature."