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Illustrious Providence and the Supernatural Art. a Renaissance Alchemist and His Pursuit of Salvation

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Illustrious Providence and the Supernatural Art. a Renaissance Alchemist and His Pursuit of Salvation ILLUSTRIOUS PROVIDENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL ART. A RENAISSANCE ALCHEMIST AND HIS PURSUIT OF SALVATION Zoë Van Cauwenberg Studentennummer: 01306878 Promotor: Prof. dr. Steven Vanden Broecke Commissarissen: Prof. dr. Peter Van Nuffelen en dr. Micol Long Masterproef voorgelegd voor het behalen van de graad master in de richting geschiedenis Academiejaar: 2016 – 2017 Verklaring ivm auteursrecht De auteur en de promotor(en) geven de toelating deze studie als geheel voor consultatie beschikbaar te stellen voor persoonlijk gebruik. Elk ander gebruik valt onder de beperkingen van het auteursrecht, in het bijzonder met betrekking tot de verplichting de bron uitdrukkelijk te vermelden bij het aanhalen van gegevens uit deze studie. Het auteursrecht betreffende de gegevens vermeld in deze studie berust bij de promotor(en). Het auteursrecht beperkt zich tot de wijze waarop de auteur de problematiek van het onderwerp heeft benaderd en neergeschreven. De auteur respecteert daarbij het oorspronkelijke auteursrecht van de individueel geciteerde studies en eventueel bijhorende documentatie, zoals tabellen en figuren. De auteur en de promotor(en) zijn niet verantwoordelijk voor de behandelingen en eventuele doseringen die in deze studie geciteerd en beschreven zijn. i ii Abstract English version The historiographical construal of the relations between science and religion in terms of conflict has long undermined the legitimacy of the study of spiritual alchemy. Recent studies have illustrated the compatibility of natural philosophy and theology during the early modern period. This project will follow the recent trend in reassessing this conflict by examining the work of an illustrious renaissance alchemist, Gerhard Dorn (c. 1530/5 – after 1584). I will approach Dorn as a ‘secular theologian,’ a natural philosopher who attempted to restore harmony and unity in the world by means of a scientific-philosophical discourse. Dorn’s practice of alchemy serves him in the creation of the universal medicine which needs to be understood in two ways. Alchemy can be understood as a reprise of Creation and as an internal process where man can restore his unity through a conjunction of the body, the spirit and the soul. This study will explore how alchemy was employed to inquire and contemplate the cosmos on both a physical and a metaphysical level through a study of Gerhard Dorn’s De Artificio Supernaturali (1594). By studying the junctures and mutual dependencies of theology and empirical research in early modern alchemy, this project will enhance our knowledge of the precise relation of the physical and the metaphysical and how these two cohere and come together in a soteriological praxis. Dutch version De historiografische constructie van een conflict tussen religie en wetenschap in de vroegmoderne periode heeft lange tijd in de weg gestaan van een legitieme studie van spirituele alchemie. Recent onderzoek heeft uitgewezen dat, in tegenstelling tot een conflict, er eerder sprake is van een samengaan van de disciplines theologie en natuurfilosofie in deze eeuwen. Mijn onderzoeksproject sluit aan bij deze these en vertrekt van een illustere renaissance alchemist, Gerhard Dorn (ca. 1530/5 – na 1584). Ik benader Gerhard Dorn als een ‘seculiere theoloog,’ een natuurfilosoof die vanuit zijn wetenschappelijk-filosofische achtergrond probeert om de harmonie en eenheid te herstellen in de wereld. Zijn alchemische praktijk is gericht op het creëren van het universele medicijn, wat op twee manieren wordt verstaan. Enerzijds dient alchemie als een herneming van de Schepping en anderzijds wordt alchemie beschouwd als een innerlijk proces waar de mensheid zijn eenheid kan herstellen door middel van een samenvloeiing van het lichaam, de geest en de ziel. Vanuit zijn traktaat over de bovennatuurlijke kunst reconstrueer ik hoe hij alchemie gebruikt om de kosmos zowel op een fysische als op een metafysische vlak te bevragen en onderzoeken. Ik kijk hoe deze twee zich tot elkaar verhouden en hoe ze samenkomen in een soteriologische praxis. iii Key words: alchemy, philosophy, religion, renaissance science, Hermetic Tradition iv Preface Et quid amabo nisi quod aenigma est? - Giorgio de Chirico The subject of this dissertation has proved to be as slippery and ambiguous as the alchemist’s argent-vif. It presented itself as enigmatic and volatile, fleeing from my textual vessel, leaving me to wonder whether I’ll ever be able to coagulate it into a coherent whole. But, at last, I managed to fixate it in the form of this dissertation. Alchemists believed that it took about forty weeks to complete their magnum opus. Coincidentally, this is also the time it took me to complete my thesis, which is the magnum opus of a student wanting to obtain her master degree in history. I’d like to think of it as my very own Philosopher’s Stone. As you will read later in this text, the alchemist generates it from his intellect, and I’d like to believe that I poured a bit of my intellect into this. Making sense of the enigma of the supernatural art has been an exciting, challenging and suspenseful journey. Luckily, I did not have to do this alone. I want to profusely thank my supervisor, Steven Vanden Broecke for his guidance, his support and his time. He provided me with literature suggestions, helped me tackle the source material as well as aiding me with interpreting it. Thank you for your enthusiasm, your knowledge and your time; this dissertation would not have been possible without it. I also want to thank my parents for their continuing support and for allowing me to study history instead of something more lucrative as medicine. I also want to thank them for their patience. This year has not always been easy and thank you for being there for me. I want to thank my mom for reading my work and ensuring that someone without knowledge on the subject could make sense of it. I also want to thank my dad for the proofreading he has done over the years. I know my choice of subjects was not always to your tastes, but you did it nonetheless. I want to thank my sister as well as my parents for letting me ramble about all the things I’ve learnt throughout my study. I could not have got through the last four years without my fantastic and wonderful friends who were there to distract me as well as giving me some kind words when things were not going according to plan. I want to thank Paulien Baeyens for being someone that I could talk to about the ups and downs of the writing of a dissertation. I also want to thank Zoë Van Breusegem for letting me know that it’s okay to want to excel and to aim high and that you sometimes have to v make tough decisions to get where you want to go. I want to thank Sarah Ginsberg for the comic relief and for hearing me out about my struggles with my subject. I further want to thank Marijke De Wilde for proofreading this dissertation on such short notice. I want to thank the staff of both the University Library and the Faculty Library. They were always there with a smile and never complained about the many books that I had on loan, as well as renewing my loans several times. I also want to thank Paul Ferguson for his translations of two texts from Dorn. He has saved me some time by sharing his translations with the world and has made it a little easier for me to grapple with Dorn’s writing. Lastly, I want to thank Mike Zuber for suggesting to take a glance at the work of Gerhard Dorn when asked for research suggestion for a student who wished to write a dissertation about spiritual alchemy. Without his suggestion, I would never have immersed myself in the work of Gerhard Dorn. vi Table of Contents Verklaring ivm auteursrecht .................................................................................................................... i Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... iii English version ..................................................................................................................................... iii Dutch version ....................................................................................................................................... iii Preface ......................................................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... vii List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ xi List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... xiii 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. The Problem of Conceptualisation ......................................................................................... 1 1.2. Aim of this Thesis ..................................................................................................................... 2 1.3. Source Material ......................................................................................................................... 3 1.4. Structure of this Thesis ...........................................................................................................
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