Michael Maier - Alchemy

ambix, Vol. 61 No.
1, February, 2014, 147
Michael Maier Nine Newly

Discovered Letters
Nils Lenke,1 Nicolas Roudet2 and Hereward Tilton3
1
Rheinbach
Universit de Strasbourg
3
University of Exeter
2
The authors provide a transcription, translation, and evaluation of nine newly

discovered letters from the alchemist Michael Maier (15681622) to Gebhardt
Johann von Alvensleben (15761631), a noble landholder in the vicinity of Magdeburg. Stemming from the final year of his life, this correspondence casts
new light on Maiers biography, detailing his efforts to secure patronage
amid the financial crisis of the early Thirty Years War. While his ill-fated
quest to perfect potable gold continued to form the central focus of his patronage suits, Maier also offered his services in several arts that he had condemned in his printed works, namely astrology and supernatural magic.
Remarks concerning his previously unknown acquaintance with Heinrich
Khunrath call for a re-evaluation of Maiers negotiation of the discursive
boundaries between Lutheran orthodoxy and Paracelsianism. The letters
also reveal Maiers substantial contribution to a work previously ascribed
solely to the English alchemist Francis Anthony.
Introduction
The Holy Roman Empire at the turn of the seventeenth century witnessed an
immense upsurge in interest in the occult sciences,1 and one author who has long
attracted interest from historians of this period is the alchemist Michael Maier
(15691622), court medicus of Emperor Rudolf II.2 Nine newly discovered letters
1
See the definition of the term by Andr-Jean Festugire, La Rvlation dHerms Trismgiste. Tome 1, Lastrologie et
les sciences occultes (Paris: Gabalda, 1944), VIII [=new ed. in 1 vol. by Nicolas Roudet (Paris: les Belles Lettres,
2014), 8]: Dans la premire [partie de la Rvlation dHerms Trismgiste], qui parat ici, je considre les
crits, nombreux et disperss, o Herms traite de lastrologie et des sciences occultes, cest--dire de lalchimie, de
la magie et de cette thrapeutique, fonde sur les sympathies et antipathies secrtes entre les tres de la nature,
dont les Kyranides hermtiques sont lun des plus curieux tmoins.
To date the most important texts dealing with Maier are: James B. Craven, Count Michael Maier: Doctor of Medicine, Alchemist, Rosicrucian, and Mystic, 15681622 (Kirkwall: Peace, 1910); Bruce T. Moran, The Alchemical
Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry 2014
DOI 10.1179/0002698013Z.00000000043
NILS LENKE ET AL.
from Maier to one of his patrons offer us important insights into the struggle for
patronage at the height of the financial crisis known as the Kipper- und Wipperzeit
in the early years of the Thirty Years War a time in which rampant inflation and
the rapid devaluation of currency accelerated Germanys descent into chaos, but also
offered new opportunities for a chrysopoetic alchemist skilled in the manipulation of
precious metals. This correspondence not only more than doubles the number of
letters known to be written by Maier,3 it significantly alters our picture of him.
While Maiers printed works give the impression of an author reluctant to stray
from the fold of Lutheran orthodoxy, the letters offer us a glimpse into Maiers
hitherto hidden activities as a talismanic magician, astrologer, and geomancer. In
consequence, we must substantially revise our understanding of the position of
Maiers medical practise vis--vis Paracelsianism and the harnessing of supernatural
agencies, taking into account the significant currency possessed by the privileged
and often legally or theologically equivocal knowledge transmitted in manuscript
and oral form within the broader economy of scientific patronage. The letters discussed here lend greater depth to our understanding of both Maiers practice and
his character; what is more, they supply us with new biographical details, and
even suggest that a work previously ascribed to the English physician and iatrochemist Francis Anthony (15501623)4 should in fact be at least partly ascribed to
Maier. Finally, they offer us the opportunity to re-evaluate Maiers place in intellectual history.
In recent years, significant light has been shed upon Maiers previously murky biography,5 but many questions still remain and little is known about his final years in
Magdeburg, where he had moved from Frankfurt around 1620, and where he died
in the summer of 1622. Previously, it was thought that he served Christian Wilhelm
of Brandenburg (15871665), before later practising as a doctor while travelling at
frequent intervals.6
4
5
Continued
World of the German Court: Occult Philosophy and Chemical Medicine in the Circle of Moritz of Hesse (Stuttgart:
F. Steiner, 1991), 103ff.; Karin Figala and Ulrich Neumann, Ein frher Brief Michael Maiers an Heinrich Rantzau,
Archives internationale dhistoire des sciences 35 (1985): 30329; Karin Figala and Ulrich Neumann, Michael
Maier (15691622): New Bio-bibliographical Material, in Alchemy Revisited: Proceedings of the International
Conference on the History of Alchemy at the University of Groningen, 1719 April 1989, ed. Zweder R. W. M.
von Martels (Leiden: Brill, 1990), 3450; Karin Figala and Ulrich Neumann, Author Cui Nomen Hermes Malavici: New Light on the Bio-bibliography of Michael Maier (15691622), in Alchemy and Chemistry in the 16th
and 17th Centuries, ed. Piyo Rattansi and Antonio Clericuzio (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1994), 12147; Erik Leibenguth,
Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock: Die Cantilenae intellectuales Michael Maiers, Edition mit bersetzung, Kommentar und Bio-Bibliographie (Tbingen: Niemeyer, 2002); Hereward Tilton, The Quest for the Phoenix: Spiritual
Alchemy and Rosicrucianism in the Work of Count Michael Maier (15691622) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2003); GeorgeFlorin Calian, Spiritual Alchemy and the Function of Image: Coincidentia Oppositorum in Michael Maiers Atalanta
Fugiens (Budapest: CEU, Budapest College, 2009).
Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 3, observed that few of Maiers letters had survived; those known to
him are listed within his comprehensive bibliography (47782).
Cf. Allan G. Debus, The English Paracelsians (London: Oldbourne, 1965), especially 142ff.
Figala and Neumann, New Bio-bibliographical Material, 34f.; Figala and Neumann, Author Cui Nomen Hermes
Malavici, 121ff.; Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 2464; Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, passim.
Figala and Neumann, New Bio-bibliographical Material, 46; Figala and Neumann, Author Cui Nomen Hermes
Malavici, 135f.
MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS
Serendipitous circumstances now afford us a clearer picture of this period. During

one of his journeys in the autumn of 1621, Maier visited Lbeck, where he met the
composer and alchemist Johann Staricius (ca. 1580 to after 1624),7 who had lived in
Magdeburg some years previously.8 Evidently, Staricius spoke to Maier about one of
his old acquaintances there: the nobleman Gebhardt Johann von Alvensleben
(15761631). The von Alvensleben family, split into several lines, lived in Erxleben,
Eichenbarleben, and other country estates not far from Magdeburg. Gebhardt
Johann, who was the head of the Eichenbarleben line at that time, is best remembered for his interest in astronomy, astrology, and alchemy. Local history has it
that he built an observatory and collected a huge library of books on the occult
sciences, an interest that brought him into conflict with the local Lutheran pastor,
who even refused him Mass.9
The von Alvensleben family still exists today,10 and has always dutifully complied
with the directive of Joachim I von Alvensleben (15141588), who urged his heirs to
enlarge and never disperse the extensive library he had established. However, as a
consequence of World War II and the fact that all the family estates were located
in East Germany, the content of the family archives and libraries was mostly evacuated to West Germany and distributed across several institutions. Only recently
has a large part been re-united at one of the old family estates near Magdeburg:
Schloss Hundisburg. One family archive, which is not yet part of this re-unified collection, was given to the State Archive of Lower Saxony in Hanover during the
1950s and 60s, where it is still housed.11 Item No. B 228 of this archive is a collection of letters to and from Gebhardt Johann von Alvensleben concerning alchemy. It
consists of documents and drafts of letters by Gebhardt Johann as well as letters to
him from several authors, including the alchemist (and then mayor of Erxleben)
Sebastian Alstein,12 Paul Jstel,13 and Johann Staricius as well as nine letters
from Michael Maier. While the present authors would love to tell a tale of
8
9
10
11
12
13
The most comprehensive work on Staricius biography and works is Helmut Mller, Staricius und sein Heldenschatz:
Episoden eines Akademikerlebens (Gttingen: Basta, 2003). Staricius published works cover a wide range of topics:
a collections of songs, German translations of Rosicrucian manuscripts as well as anthologies of the writings of Paracelsus and the spiritualist Valentin Weigel (15331588). In 1615 he published his most famous book, the Heldenschatz, a collection of alchemical recipes which plagiarised a manuscript by Conrad Khunrath, brother of the
more famous Heinrich Khunrath. He spent time in Magdeburg (1618) and Lbeck (starting in 1620), from
whence he was expelled for the possession of alchemical books and for the theologically suspect company he was
keeping.
Mller, Staricius und sein Heldenschatz, 137.
Siegmund Wilhelm Wohlbrck, Geschichtliche Nachrichten von dem Geschlecht von Alvensleben und dessen Besitzungen (Berlin: Zu finden bei dem Verfasser, 1829), vol. 3, 5663; clearly Gebhardt Johann and his interest in the
occult sciences deserve more detailed study. Cf. below for more details on the conflict with the priest.
Familie v. Alvensleben e.V.: http://www.familie-von-alvensleben.de/ (accessed November 12, 2013).
Nieder. Hauptstaatsarchiv Hannover (NHStA H), Dep. 83 A and B.
Peter Wilhelm Behrends, Neuhaldenslebische Kreis-Chronik oder Geschichte aller Oerter des landrthlichen Kreises
Neuhaldensleben im Magdeburgischen (Neuhaldensleben: C. A. Eyraud, 1824), vol. 1, 154.
A Paul Jstel from Dresden opened a pharmacy in Freiberg (Saxony) in 1582 but had to close it down a few year later;
see Andreas Mller, Theatrum Fribergense (Freiberg: Georg Beuther, 1653), 149. The Paul Jstel who wrote to Gebhardt Johann may be identical with his Dresden namesake; alternatively, he may be related to him and/or to the wellknown mathematician and physician Melchior Jstel (15591611) from Dresden. See Heinz Kathe, Die Wittenberger
Philosophische Fakultt, 15021817 (Kln: Bhlau, 2002), 228.
NILS LENKE ET AL.
roaming dimly lit basements to stumble upon the discovery in a dusty cardboard box
untouched for decades, the true story is rather more prosaic. The State Archive has
created an excellent catalogue of Dep. 83 B, which is even available online.14 Not
only is item No. 228 correctly described as a collection of alchemical letters, it actually mentions Michael Maier as an author.
So what does this find look like? The total set of documents is not sorted in any
obvious order, and the Maier letters are dispersed throughout it. The nine letters
were written between November 1621 and July 1622; the last dated 18 July,
which means that it was written only weeks before Maiers death. Evidently, Staricius had not only mentioned von Alvensleben to Maier but had also asked him to
deliver a parcel and a letter to him, and spoken of the noblemans interest in the
English aurum potabile (potable gold). Maier took the opportunity to address
letters to von Alvensleben in an attempt to attract his patronage.15 Written replies
from von Alvensleben are also referred to in the letters, but unfortunately these
are not part of Dep. 83 B No. 228, and neither are a number of attachments that
Maier mentions, including several tracts written by him.16 Printed books were
also sent to Maier (and later returned) so that he could voice his opinion on
them. It seems that the servants of Gebhardt Johann served as couriers in most
cases, and it is not clear whether Maier and Gebhardt Johann ever met in person.
The letters vary in length from a little over one page to eight pages (on four doublesided sheets), and are generally well preserved, with occasional small losses of text
due to the degradation of the paper at the borders. Maiers handwriting is generally
clear and resembles the sample from a letter to the emperor printed by Tilton,17
albeit not quite as meticulously written.
A new alchemical work by Maier

The letters offers some fascinating new information concerning Maiers career as an
alchemist, including the fact that he met Heinrich Khunrath (the author of the
Amphiteatrum) in 1600/1601 (approximately twenty-one years ago18) while
he was practising as a doctor in Danzig. In another letter19 he tells us that it was
in Danzig that he obtained a strong love and desire for that part of Medicine
14
15
16
17
18
19
Suche in den Online-Findbchern des Niederschsischen Landesarchivs: http://aidaonline.niedersachsen.de/

(accessed 12 November 2013).
Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 59, 68; cf. also Figala and Neumann, New Bio-bibliographical Material, 47f.
When Gebhardt Johann died in 1631 an inventory of his possessions was created, including his books. This inventory
has survived (NHStA H Dep. 83 B, Nr. 90 [1]) and deserves a more detailed description and analysis in a future publication. It lists two books by Maier, but none of the manuscripts referenced in the letters are explicitly mentioned.
However, they may well have still been in the possession of Gebhardt Johann at the time of his death, as the inventory
refers to several unnamed manuscripts and also hints at the existence of other documents of a chemical and mathematical nature beyond the listed documents (e.g. the list of furniture mentions an iron strongbox placed in the
bed chamber of Gebhardt Johann containing chemical and mathematical things, and nativities). The collections
now at Hundisburg do contain alchemical documents attributed to Gebhardt Johann, so there is hope that a
thorough search will uncover further Maier documents there.
Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 297.
Letter 4, dated 15 April 1622.
Letter 3, dated 14 January 1622.
that is effected by the chemical art; again, that was approximately twenty years
ago.20 These statements accord with Hubickis earlier assertion that Maier was
to be found in December 1601 prescribing dried frogs in vinegar to patients at the
White Horse Inn in Danzig.21 The image of Maier as an itinerant vendor of
Plinian simplicia is reinforced by the fact that his correspondence with Gebhardt
Johann mentions three cities in which he practised as a doctor in 1595/1596
(twenty-five years ago), namely Prague, Danzig, and Hamburg. The latter city
has not previously been identified as a residence of Maier.
However, perhaps the most important fact concerning Maiers alchemical endeavours that may be gleaned from the letters is his (co-)composition of an alchemical
work not previously identified as his own. Figala and Neumann have already noted
that Maier contributed certain poems to Francis Anthonys Apologia veritatis illucescentis, pro auro potabili (1616) under the pseudonym Hermes Malavici.22
Anthony (15501623) was of a similar artisanal background and social class to
Maier: the educated son of a gold-worker, he turned to alchemy for a living, and
became infamous for an acrimonious dispute with the College of Physicians concerning his aurum potabile.23 Maiers own interest in this medicine may have
been one of his reasons for travelling to London in the first place, as both Leibenguth
and Tilton speculate.24 Maier mentions Anthony and his controversial medicine in
no fewer than four of his letters25 his close relationship with the Englishman is
one of his selling points. It is also his pretext for writing to von Alvensleben for
the first time, as it seems that he brought a package from Johann Staricius in
Lbeck back to Magdeburg and handed it over to one of von Alvenslebens servants.
On this occasion, Staricius mentioned that von Alvensleben was especially interested
in the aurum potabile. From some of Staricius earlier letters we learn that in 1618 he
had organised an import of aurum potabile from Francis Anthony in London to
selected German customers, including Gebhardt Johann, and again in 1622 with
the help of Joachim Morsius (15931644).26
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Based on a brief allusion made by Maier in another letter (that much-visited trading centre near the Baltic coast),
Figala and Neumann (Author Cui Nomen Hermes Malavici, 127) concluded that Maiers first initiation into the
art of alchemy took place at Knigsberg, or possibly also another town east of it; Leibenguth (Hermetische Poesie des
Frhbarock, 36, n.65) and Tilton (Quest for the Phoenix, 6162, n.114) independently concluded that this town was
in fact Danzig to the east.
See Figala and Neumann, Author Cui Nomen Hermes Malavici, passim; Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des
Frhbarock, 5153; Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 102107.
Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 38, suggests that Maier may already have come across Anthonys
aurum potabile during his stay in Knigsberg.
Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 48; Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 62.
Letter 1, dated 4 November 1621; Letter 2, dated 26 November 1621; Letter 3, dated 14 January 1622; and Letter 8,
dated 13 March 1622.
Richard Hoche, Morsius, Joachim, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (online edition), http://www.deutschebiographie.de/pnd116930241 (accessed 12 November, 2013); Heinrich Schneider, Joachim Morsius und sein
Kreis: Zur Geistesgeschichte des 17. Jahrhunderts (Lbeck: O. Quitzow, 1929); NHStA H, Dep. 83 B Nr. 228,
letters from Johann Staricius to Gebhardt Johann dated 25 June 1618, 14 October 1618, and the Friday before Pentecost, 1622. These business relationships confirm Leibenguths assertion that, at the time of his move to Magdeburg,
Maier was a member of a circle centred upon Morsius: see Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 62, 65.
NILS LENKE ET AL.
Maier tells Gebhardt Johann that he and Anthony visited one another almost
daily they were like brothers and good friends, and there were no secrets
between them. Maier not only mentions the poems he contributed to the Apologia:
he also claims that the Latin edition of the book was written rather than merely
translated by him. His language in this regard is unmistakable: the Latin Apologia
is his own writing (Schreibung), it was published under [Anthonys] name,
although entirely written by myself,27 and it came substantially from my own
pen.28 As motivation, Maier cites his intention to help Anthony against his
enemies, the college physicians an effort that he avers was successful and led to
huge profits on Anthonys side.29
Considering the context in which they are made a desperate plea for patronage
we have good reason to be sceptical of these assertions of Maiers. Nevertheless,
textual analysis of the English and Latin editions of the Apologia reveals a kernel of
truth to his claims. These editions were evidently created in close temporal proximity, and both were published in London in 1616. Comparison of the language
of the Latin edition with Anthonys earlier Medicinae chymicae et veri potabilis
auri assertio (1610) suggests that it is indeed the work of Maier as either translator
or substantial author. In contrast to the uncomplicated syntax and vocabulary of the
Assertio, the Latin Apologia is composed in the elegant, learned, and slightly bombastic humanist style so typical of Maiers Latin works. Thus the question as to why
Anthony would turn to Maier rather than composing the Latin of the Apologia himself
is easily answered: as Johann Hartmann Beyer recalled, Maier helped Anthony because
his friend was unskilled in Latin.30 Indeed, the simple prose of the Assertio had
previously been mocked by the Galenochymicus Matthew Gwynne in his far more
eloquent response, In assertorem chymicae, sed verae medicinae desertorem, Fra.
Anthonium (1611), which bristles with Greek quotations and specifically ridicules
Anthonys Latin skills.31 How gratifying, then, that Anthony counted a Poet Laureate
among his friends and business partners, who could apply a vinegared sponge to
wipe away the swollen and horrid spiders who had assailed him in print.32
When we turn from matters of style to content, it is clear that the sponge that
Maier was offering his friend was not a straightforward Latin translation of an
English work authored by Anthony, but rather a Latin tract with substantial independent intellectual input from Maier. A similarity has already been noted
27
28
29
30
31
32
Letter 3, 28, 30 (German); 31 (English).

Letter 2, 24. In Letter 1 (24) Maier seems to suggest Anthony is the works author; later he merely becomes the
author of the aurum potabile (Letter 2, 24; Letter 3, 28).
Letter 3, 28, 30 (German); 29, 31 (English).
Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 47273. Leibenguth argues that Beyers claim that Maier was
responsible for the Latin text of the Panacea aurea must rest on a misunderstanding (Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 52, n.140). However, in his letter Beyer only states that Maier claimed to have translated the Apologia into
Latin. Here Leibenguth conflates Beyers assertion that Maier translated the Apologia into Latin with Maiers stated
intention to translate the Apologia into German; see Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 473, n.84.
Matthew Gwynne, In assertorem chymicae, sed verae medicinae desertorem, Fra. Anthonium (London: Richard
Field, 1611), 234; Gwynne (163) even employs an Italian adage to pillory Anthony as an ass.
Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 104106; the spiders in question were Gwynne and Thomas Rawlin, author of the
Admonitio Pseudo-chymicis (London: Allde, 1612).
between Maiers own mercurial medicine and Anthonys aurum potabile,33 and
the terms in which the latter is described in the Apologia are essentially identical
to the descriptions of Maiers medicine in his other works. Created through the irreversible destruction of gold, aurum potabile is the temperate medicine par excellence, de-obstructing the course of spiritus in the human body and fortifying the
hearts calor innatus with the virtues of gold.34 Yet the emphasis in the Latin Apologia on humoural medicine and gold as the most temperate of medicines35 is lacking
in Anthonys earlier Assertio, in which a host of prominent Paracelsians such as
Quercetanus, Penotus, Ruland, Severinus, Croll, and the Luther of medicine
himself are arrayed against Erastus and the Galenochymici. This is in stark contrast
not only to Maiers relative lack of reliance upon Paracelsian sources, but also to his
stated support for Erastus and the Galenic paradigm he advanced.36
A similar though more subtle reflection of Maiers and Anthonys differing intellectual frameworks appears from a close comparison of the Latin Apologia with the
English Apologie. These are, in fact, quite separate works with substantial variations
in content. As noted by Figala and Neumann, Maier composed not only the prefatory poems but also the epigram directed to Anthony by M.M.C.P.M.D.E.E.P.
C.;37 while the tracts prefatory testimony from Alexander Gill (15651635) concerning the curing of his son and daughter through Anthonys aurum potabile is
directed to Maier rather than Anthony.38 Yet this prefatory material is absent
from the English Apologie, raising the question of whether it was omitted by
Anthony from a tract substantially authored by Maier, or added by Maier to his
translation of a tract originally authored by Anthony. Furthermore, the Latin Apologia continues with the analogy of flowers from the garden of chymia developed in
the preface by Hermes Malavici, which is absent from the English Apologie 39; as
is the phrase Hippocrates Imperator, Galenus Rex, Avicenna Princeps nobis
omnibus placeat,40 and the Erasmian allusion to Mimus (imitation) and Momus
(criticism) given in the third part of the Latin tract.41 Finally, the English Apologie
contains an explanatory appendix written by Anthony which relates the attempts
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41

On aurum potabile, see Chiara Crisciani and Michela Pereira, Black Death and Golden Remedies: Some Remarks
on Alchemy and the Plague, in The Regulation of Evil: Social and Cultural Attitudes to Epidemics in the Late
Middle Ages, ed. Agostino Paravicini Bagliani and Francesco Santi (Florence: Sismel, 1998), 739; Hereward
Tilton, Of Ether, Entheogens and Colloidal Gold, in Alchemical Traditions: From Antiquity to the Avant-Garde,
ed. Aaron Cheak (Melbourne: Numen Books, 2013), 355420.
Francis Anthony and Michael Maier, Apologia veritatis illucescentis, pro auro potabili (London: Johann Legatt,
1616), 4: Praeterea, cum fons quasi et scaturigo plerorumque Morborum sit una intemperies, quid obstat cur
non eorundem propulsandorum statui possit unicum auxilium, atque hoc temperatissimum, quale est Aurum?
Ipsum licet elementatum sit ex quaternario numero, aequali tamen lance librata sunt omnia sua Elementa: Nulla
est unius redundantia; nullus defectus alterius; nulla repugnantia in omnibus. This is pure Maier.
Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 7172.
Michael Maier, Comes Palatinus, Philosophiae [et] Medicinae Doctor, Eques Exemtus [et] Poeta Coronatus; cf.
Figala and Neumann, Author Cui Nomen Hermes Malavici, 122.
Anthony and Maier, Apologia, sigs. 4 recto-4 verso.
Anthony and Maier, Apologia, 2.
NILS LENKE ET AL.
by Gwynne and the College of Physicians to have his aurum potabile banned by
King James I; this is not included in the Latin Apologia.42
In short, Maiers claim to principal authorship of the Latin edition of the Apologia
opens up a number of different possibilities as to how the two texts relate to one
another. The Latin edition contains more of Maiers original work than does the
English Apologie, both with regard to the prefatory material and the main texts;
likewise, the Latin Apologia is missing material by Anthony from the corresponding
passages in the English Apologie.43 As there seems little reason for Maier to have
omitted such material from a faithful translation of Anthonys work, credence
must be given to Maiers claims in his letters to Gebhardt Johann to have
co-authored both the tracts. This contention is also supported by the patient testimonies that take up a large portion of both tracts: while the domestic testimonies were
verbally set down by Anthony, the transmarine testimonies gathered in support
of the aurum potabile include figures real and imaginary from the courts of
Moritz the Learned of Hessen-Kassel and Emperor Rudolf II, and may include the
testimony of Maier himself.44 Given that both tracts are a hotchpotch of shorter
texts, it is well-nigh impossible to determine their compositional priority, and we
deem it most likely that the two men created the English and Latin editions in
parallel.
Maiers claimed authorship also explains why he even took a copy of the Apologia back to Germany, with the promise of translating it into his native language.45
And there was more that Maier took home from England. According to his correspondence with Gebhardt Johann he received aurum potabile valued at 200
Knigsthaler from Anthony in order to make it known in Germany; he also tested
it on several patients. The plan was for Anthony to send more aurum potabile in
the future, to be sold at the half-yearly Frankfurt Fair (which encompassed the
book fair at which Maiers works were sold). Maier was supposed to receive a
third of all profits, but apparently the plan failed due to the envious physicians.
Maier does not give any details or say exactly who these physicians were, so we
cannot know if they included the man responsible for licencing the imported remedies sold at the fair: the Stadtarzt of Frankfurt, Johann Hartmann Beyer, to whom
Maier wrote a letter in October 1617 asking for support, and to whom he dedicated
his Tripus aureus (1618). Whatever their purpose, Maiers overtures came to
nought, and we also know that Beyer was unimpressed with his physic: in a letter
42
43
44
45
Francis Anthony and Michael Maier, The Apologie, or Defence of a Verity heretofore published concerning a Medicine called Aurum Potabile (London: John Legatt, 1616), 12426.
Anthony and Maier, Apologie, 23, 106107, 102 (mis-numbered between pages 109 and 110).
Anthony and Maier, Apologia, 2023; while the physician Jacob Mosanus was an actual acquaintance of Maier, the
testimony of Jo. Athmestett in Pubenheimb et Weyer, Med. Dr. Sacrae Caesareae Maiestati Cura (20) appears to
be fictional. Indeed, the fact that the patient in question is suffering from the quartan like the reference to a physician at the imperial court is reminiscent of Maiers own biography.
dated 20 March 1624, Beyer recalls Maiers prescription of Anthonys aurum potabile for a nobleman suffering from a cancerous tumour of the bladder, and states that
Maier also used it himself in the hope of curing his own quartan fever in both
cases without success.46
Maier as astrologer and geomancer

Maiers letters to von Alvensleben also demonstrate that, in the increasingly dire
economic environment of the early Thirty Years War, and like other alchemists in
similar circumstances,47 he was willing to conform to his patrons tastes and try
his hand at whatever task was requested of him including practising astrology,
which he had condemned as folly in his Septimana philosophica (1620) just two
years previously. Indeed, at the time of his death, Maier was in the midst of composing an astrological work, written in response to von Alvenslebens request that
Maier give his opinion of an unspecified number of astrological tracts he had sent
Maier, written by a certain M. Heringius.48 We can probably identify Heringius with the Lutheran priest Andreas Heiringius in the hamlet of Gro Lbs,
some fifteen miles southeast of Magdeburg, as he is mentioned as a practitioner of
astrology in documents written by Gebhardt Johann.49
In any case, in his response to Gebhardt Johann we learn some additional details
concerning Maiers academic training, particularly in the areas of astronomy and
astrology. Maier explains that he was a deep admirer of true astronomy in the
past, but has spent little time on it recently, and even less on astrology.50 He explains
that this was due to lack of time, not lack of knowledge. Whatever the truth of these
words, Maier then lists the quite impressive credentials he has in the field. While
sitting for his Masters exam at Frankfurt an der Oder,51 he was examined on this
subject by David Origanus (15581628), a professor of mathematics who issued
astrological almanacs or ephemerides calculating the positions of the heavenly
46
47
48
49
50
51
For the letter of Beyer in question, see Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 47273.
Daniel Jtte, Das Zeitalter des Geheimnisses: Juden, Christen und die konomie des Geheimen (14001800) (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012), 206, describes the case of Abraham Colorni (ca. 15441599), who was
asked by his patron to write a book about chiromancy a task he felt he could not reject despite his distaste for
the art.
There are no published astrological works from this time under the name of Heringius, and as the tracts in question
contain a nativity horoscope for von Alvenslebens son, we appear to be dealing here with manuscripts written
specifically for him.
In this case the manuscripts sent to Maier may also have included an unfinished manuscript by Heiringius which was
written at the request of Gebhardt Johann to refute an anti-astrological booklet produced by the local priest with
whom von Alvensleben was in conflict. See 3, 12ff. Gebhardt Johann also describes Heiringius as ein treflicher
orthodoxus Theologus vnd darneben auch im Edlen studio astrologico hoch erfaren. The manuscript remained
unfinished because of the death of Heiringius some time before the date of the concept (1623), but Gebhardt
Johann claims to own a copy of it at that time.
Letter 3, 26, 28 (German); 27, 29 (English).
See Ernst Friedlnder (ed.), ltere Universitts-Matrikeln: Universitt Frankfurt an der Oder, 3 vols. (Leipzig: Hirzel,
18871891), vol. 1, 376b: [1592]. [Nr. 37]. Micael [sic] Meyerus Holsatus; M.A. am 17.6.1592, Theses Summam
doctrinae de Temperamentis Corporis humani breviter complexae, ad disputandum publice; Propositae a M.
Iohanne Fersio Strelensis, de quibus iuvante Deo respondebit Michael Meierus Holsatus (Frankfurt am Main: Sciurianis, 1592). On the theses see Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 4854.
10
NILS LENKE ET AL.
bodies for the years between 1595 and 1630.52 Maier continues by mentioning that
he personally knew Tycho Brahe, whom he met twice in Rostock and Hamburg.53
In the first book of his Septimana philosophica, Maier had extolled the virtues of
astronomy while subjecting astrology to his rationalising chymical interpretation
of Greek and Egyptian myth. According to that interpretation, the symbols of the
Zodiac and the planets are the sidereal hieroglyphs of the ancients, disclosing
alchemical secrets to the adepts while simultaneously concealing them from the
unworthy and ignorant.54 Among the latter Maier counted the horoscopic astrologers, who with their literal understanding of these symbols foolishly imagined that
the heavenly bodies transmit particular virtues at the time of birth that determine an
individuals entire course of life.55 Yet, in his letter to von Alvensleben, Maier refers
to his patrons noble work on astrologia genethlialogica (i.e. horoscopic
astrology). The exigencies of his dire economic circumstances now requiring something of an intellectual volte-face, Maier states that he is so enthused by the subject
that he even wishes to cast a horoscope for his two-year-old son (see below). Here he
employs a familiar esoteric rhetorical strategy: there is a true astrology that has
nothing to do with the common astrology employed by the writers of calendars
(i.e. popular tables of astronomical data), commonly complemented by prognostications for the coming year. Although this distinction had not been made in the Septimana philosophica, in his letters Maier implies that it was this common astrology
alone that he had intended to impugn there.56
It is significant that Maier counts among the practitioners of a genuine art of
astrology not only Heringius/Heiringius but also Paul Nagel (1624), whom he
states he recently met in Torgau. Nagel was a Paracelsian chiliast who moved in
the circles of both Jacob Bhme and the early Rosicrucians.57 His inspirationist
52
53
54
55
56
57
Cf. Gnter Mhlpfordt, Die Oderuniversitt Frankfurt (15061811) (Frankfurt an der Oder: Bezirksmuseum Viadrina, 1981), 27; Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 30, only mentions that Maier was promoted
to Magister by Mattheus Zeysius. Maier mentions showing to Origanus the great work of Magnus Pegel
(15471619), who had been his teacher during his four years at the University of Rostock. Matrikelportal Rostock
Datenbankedition der Immatrikulationen an der Universitt Rostock 14191945, http://matrikel.uni-rostock.de/
(accessed 12 November 2013): Michael Meierus Chilionensis [=from Kiel], WS 1586/1587, Nr. 38. On Pegelius,
see Otto Krabbe, Die Universitt Rostock im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert (Rostock: Stiller, 1854), 73637. Pegelius was
in contact with Emperor Rudolf II and published a book on inventions that included flying machines and diving
devices. That Maier was taught astronomy by Pegelius contrasts with Tiltons assumption that Maiers teacher
there had been Heinrich Bruchaeus (Quest for the Phoenix, 44).
Both Maier and Brahe were patronised by the German humanist and governor of Holstein, Heinrich Rantzau (1526
1598); Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 46.
Michael Maier, Septimana philosophica (Frankfurt: Lucas Jennis, 1620), 62: Totum enim coelum antiquis Aegyptiis
huius artis peritissimis visum fuit instar tabulae rasae, aut codicis explicati, in quo stellae sint literae, seu sydera hieroglyphica, quae praecipua Philosophorum arcana ipsis involuta teneant et conservent, prae vulgo autem aliisque
ignaris abscondant et celent.
Maier, Septimana philosophica, 6465.
The approach is reminiscent of Keplers compromise attempt to defend a true astrology against critics of the art like
Philipp Feselius as well as against the simplistic astrology of calendar makers: see Nicolas Roudet, Le Tertius interveniens (1610), rponse de lastrologue Kepler au mdecin Feselius, in Kepler: La physique cleste, ed. Edouard
Mehl and Nicolas Roudet (Paris: les Belles Lettres, 2011), 165205, on 16770.
On Nagel, see Leigh Penman, Climbing Jacobs Ladder: Crisis, Chiliasm and Transcendence in the Thought of Paul
Nagel (1624), a Lutheran Dissident during the Time of the Thirty Years War, Intellectual History Review 20
(2010): 20126. Nagels 1613 manuscript of the Fama fraternitatis is held by the Wellcome Library in London:
Carlos Gilly, Cimelia Rhodostaurotica: Die Rosenkreuzer im Spiegel der zwischen 1610 und 1660 entstandenen
11
doctrine closely resembled those of Sperber and Weigel before him; spurning
rational metaphysics and Scholastic theology, Nagel relied upon the Book of Revelation and the Holy Spirit itself for his astrological predictions of an imminent apocalypse, which would coincide with the great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the
fiery trigon of Leo, Aries, and Sagittarius in 1623.58 According to Maier, Nagel has
demonstrated well enough, in his talk as well as in his tracts, that he does not deal
with the common astrology.59 This positive evaluation of Nagel and his work
suggests that Maiers own religious sympathies were less orthodox than he had portrayed them to be in print, and confirm Leibenguths suspicion that his staunch
Lutheranism was increasingly integrated with a spiritualist (i.e. inspirationist) orientation in later years.60 Indeed, Nagel was a marginalised figure at the time of Maiers
association with him he had been investigated and fined by the Lutheran authorities, who banned trade in his books and allegedly forbade his burial in a churchyard.61 In 1622, Staricius mentioned to Gebhardt Johann that Nagel had offered
him copies of all his secrets and Cabalistic writings,62 although we do not know
whether von Alvensleben accepted this covert offer and obtained these copies, nor
if he made them available to Maier.
Nevertheless, Maiers own astrological tract was of a very different order to those
of Nagel. It consisted of a number of astrological tables pertaining to the houses,
Zodiac signs and planets, together with a commentary in Latin of undisclosed
length. Its purpose was merely to help von Alvensleben interpret the horoscope of
his son cast by Heringius/Heiringius, as well as to aid in the casting of the horoscope
of Maiers own son. As preparatory reading, Maier notes, I have Robert Fludds
first volume on astrology63 probably Fludds Utriusque cosmi maioris, the
first volume of which (1617) deals with the divisions of the heavenly bodies and
their influence upon the earth.64
Nevertheless, as he lacks an ephemeris such as that of Origanus, Maier reports
that he has had to postpone his astrological work, and instead offers von
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
Continued
Handschriften und Drucke. Ausstellung der Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica Amsterdam und der Herzog August
Bibliothek Wolfenbttel (Amsterdam: In de Pelikaan, 1995), 27.
Penman, Climbing Jacobs Ladder, 202.
Letter 3, 32 (German), 33 (English).
Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 2324.
Penman, Climbing Jacobs Ladder, 216.
NHStA H, Dep. 83 B, 228, Letter from Staricius to G.J.v.A, dated the Friday before Pentecost, 1622: sonsten hatt
mir Nagelius zuentboten, das er vmb eine pillige ergzung er mir alle seine secreta vndt cabalistica sampt vndt
sonder abzuschreiben lassen vndt zuschicken wolle.
Letter 4, dated 11 February 1622, 32 (German), 33 (English).
Robert Fludd, Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica historia, vol. 1, part 1
(Oppenheim: De Bry, 1617). Maier does not mention a closer relationship with Fludd. As he does so for several others
(Brahe, Nagel, Anthony, Khunrath) in these letters and is generally eager to mention such relationships as credentials
for his knowledge, we can probably conclude ex silentio that he had no closer relationship to Fludd: cf. Figala and
Neumann, Author Cui Nomen Hermes Malavici, 133; Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 54;
Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 27, n.109.
12
NILS LENKE ET AL.
Alvensleben a small unfinished tract on geomancy.65 This constitutes a type of terrestrial astrology, Maier tells his patron, which can be practised without the use of
an almanac. He tells von Alvensleben that all sorts of facts can be revealed through
this art, and if he finds it conforms with the laws of nature Maier promises to continue with his work on the requisite geomantic tables.
It is conceivable that Maier derived this newfound interest from Fludd, as the first
volume of the Utriusque cosmi maioris also contains his De geomantia.66 In any
case, Maiers efforts in the divinatory arts are further evidence that he had embarked
on an intellectual course that might incur the wrath of religious orthodoxy a
danger succinctly illustrated by the dispute between his patron Gebhardt Johann
and the aforementioned Lutheran pastor, Albinus Nietzsch. In the concepts of the
letters by Gebhardt Johann that deal with this dispute, he writes that Nietzsch
had been attacking him for some time because of his interest in astrology, especially
the art of creating nativities.67
Finally, there is one curious detail in Maiers comments on these matters: when he
lists the planets in an astrological context, he speaks of the sun cum suis satellitibus
. et (with its satellites, [Venus] and [Mercury]). This could be read as a reference to a cosmological model in which only Venus and Mercury circle around the
sun (and the others around the Earth), i.e. the Capellan geo-heliocentrism developed
by Paul Wittich (ca.15461586).68 As Maier had made use of the model of Christoph Rothmann (a variant of Tycho Brahes model) in the Septimana philosophica
some two years earlier,69 his apparent reversion here to the proto-Tychonic model
indicates a certain vacillation in astronomical matters. Again, this is perhaps explicable in terms of the intellectual preferences of his patrons.
Maier as Paracelsian physician

Maiers letters to von Alvensleben provide us with an opportunity to reassess Maiers
position within intellectual history, specifically with regard to the tension and interaction between Galenic and Paracelsian medical paradigms.70 Indeed, contrary to
65
66
67
68
69
70
Geomancy is a form of divination achieved by creating random patterns of dots, which are then used to form figures
corresponding to the astrological houses, Zodiac signs and planets in their various aspects. See Thrse Charmasson,
Recherches sur une technique divinatoire: la gomancie dans loccident medieval (Genve: Droz, 1980).
C. H. Josten, Robert Fludds Theory of Geomancy and his Experience at Avignon in the Winter of 1601 to 1602,
Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 27 (1964): 32735, on 328; Robert Fludd, Utriusque cosmi maioris
scilicet et minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica historia (Oppenheim: De Bry, 1618), vol. 1, part 2, 71583.
Concept dated 16 May 1623: verworffen vnd verdammet, vnd demnach kein Christ mit gutem gewissen sich auff
das nativitet stellen befleissigen knte.
For a manuscript representation of this cosmology, see Owen Gingerich and Robert Westman, The Wittich Connection: Conflict and Priority in Late 16th Century Cosmology (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988),
51.
Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 84f.
In recent years this topic has been the subject of a lively scholarly discussion: while earlier writers [e.g. R. J. W. Evans,
Rudolf II and his World: A Study in Intellectual History, 15761612 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), 205;
W. Hubicki, Maier, Michael, in Dictionary of Scientific Biography, ed. Charles C. Gillispie (New York: Scribner,
1974), vol. 9, 23] had concluded from Maiers praise of Paracelsus that he was himself a Paracelsian, Stiehle
[Michael Maierus Holsatus (15691622): Ein Beitrag zur naturphilosophischen Medizin in seinen Schriften und
zu seinem wissenschaftlichen Qualifikationsprofil, PhD. diss., Zentralinstitut fr Geschichte der Technik der
13
Leibenguth, this correspondence indicates that it is precisely on the question of

magic that Maiers practice converges with that of Paracelsus and his followers.71
While Maiers printed works follow late antique and medieval Christian tradition
in advocating a licit natural magic dealing with the astral virtues inhering in both
herbal and alchemical remedies, in his letters Maier goes further in offering his
patron knowledge of the supernatural, white magical remedies operating by virtue
of the vis imaginativa.
The letters suggest that Maiers willingness to countenance theologically suspect
remedies was like his turn to astrology and geomancy tailored to the proclivities of potential patrons and patients in increasingly desperate socio-economic
times, thus confirming Stiehles estimation of Maier as something of an opportunist.
We may infer that Gebhardt Johann (who operated his own iatrochemical laboratory) had an anti-Galenic attitude, as Staricius, who had a close business relationship
with him, also attacks Galenic medicine in his letters.72 In any case, Maiers letters
tell us something of the economic factors impinging upon the negotiation of discursive boundaries between the Galenic and Paracelsian medical paradigms in the early
modern period; specifically, they reveal the considerable currency of privileged esoteric knowledge, which might cause more trouble with the secular and ecclesiastical
authorities than it was worth in printed form, but could nevertheless be profitably
offered to patrons in manuscript and/or oral form.73 In a sense, Maier performs
the role of an entrepreneurial alchemist,74 or more specifically a participant in
the economy of secrets, as Jtte describes it.75
Once again, his patrons conflict with the local pastor can illuminate this point
further. In addition to their conflict on nativities, Nietzsch also attacked Gebhardt
Johann for trading letters concerning hidden secrets with Staricius, as had been
70
71
72
73
74
75
Continued
Technischen Universitt Mnchen, 1991] demonstrated the overwhelmingly Galenic orientation of Maiers medical
practice. For his part, Leibenguth (Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 73) argued that Maier was a conciliarist,
i.e. one of a number of physicians in the generation of Sennert who attempted to unite the Galenic and Paracelsian
paradigms (cf. Joachim Telle, Paracelsus in Deutschland: Bemerkungen zum Paracelsusbild des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, in Paracelse et les siens. Colloque des 15 et 16 dcembre 1994 la Sorbonne, Aries, old series, No. 19
(Paris: La table demeraude, 1995), 3550, on 40).
While Leibenguth (Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 7172) depicted Maiers chief divergence from Paracelsian
theory as a rejection of natural magic and the operation of a vis imaginativa, Tilton [Review of Erik Leibenguth,
Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock: Die Cantilenae intellectuales Michael Maiers, Edition mit bersetzung, Kommentar und Bio-Bibliographie (Tbingen: Niemeyer, 2002), Aries 4 (2004): 23237] demonstrated this was a misreading of the relevant passage in Maiers Themis aurea, hoc est, de legibus Fraternitatis R. C. tractatus (Frankfurt am
Main: Lucas Jennis, 1618), 12425.
In a letter from Staricius to Gebhardt Johann dated 25 June 1618 he says with respect to Francis Anthony that he was
von den Galenischen Medicis nuhn in die 15. Jhar vff euriste|getrucket vndt verfolget worden.
Today there is an extensive and ever-growing scholarly literature on the history of esoteric traditions in Europe;
eschewing its loose contemporary usage, here we use the term esoteric in accordance with its etymology, following
William Eamon, Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), 46.
Cf. Tara Nummedal, Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire (Chicago: University Press, 2007), 12;
Nummedal describes such entrepreneurs as the peddlers of practical books, secrets, techniques, and labour in a
vibrant market for alchemical goods and services.
Jtte, Zeitalter des Geheimnisses.
14
NILS LENKE ET AL.
reported to him by two unnamed witnesses.76 Gebhardt Johann defended himself

against the attack by denying that he had exchanged any secrets with the famous
chymist Staricius, other than, perhaps, some medical recipes which they
needed to preserve their health.77 However, he also asserted that it could not be
against Holy Scripture to preserve good secrets.78 On this point, he quoted
the philosophers, who not only described the secret of the Philosophers Stone
in dark words, but also made it clear that anybody who tried to publish such a
secret would be punished with a cruel death in order to protect the arcana against
the godless world that abuses every good thing.79
Whether or not he knew of this incident, Maier would have known that any
written evidence of recourse to the supernatural agencies in magical practice might
expose him to similar accusations. However, dire circumstances made that risk
worth taking, and of course Maier knew well how to attract patrons by cannily
employing esoteric tropes and the lure of secrets in his correspondence. Thus, in
two letters,80 Maier mentions a medical work that he has written but not yet published or printed. The title is given as Strategemata medica triaria (Three Medical
Strategies) and the work is described as being written in Latin and split into
approximately ten parts (or books), of which the first is called De generalibus
(Concerning General Matters) and the second De Capite (Concerning the Head).
The work covers all parts of the body from the head to the soles of the feet, describing their diseases and how to cure them.81 Maier explains that, after organising the
book to contain all the medical secrets he could find, from other authors as well as
from his own praxis, he began to doubt whether it was suitable to be revealed to
the common man.82 However, he offers to dedicate one or all of the books to
von Alvensleben privately et quasi in secreto and to translate them into German.
In his correspondence, Maier confirms the receipt of goods valued at one hundred
Thaler as advance payment for the books to be delivered by him.83 However, it is
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
NHStA H, Dep. 83 B, 228, undated and incomplete manuscript (missing beginning and conclusion), not by Gebhardt
Johann: Ihr Gest. hette heimliche Secreta, vnd wechselte briefe mit einem der hie Staritius
The same manuscript quotes Gebhardt Johann: Sie hetten keine Secreta, hetten Sie aber Secreta, so wehrens Medicinische Recepta, welche Sie zu erhaltung Ihrer gesundheit ia nothwendig haben musten ; and a little later
Johannem Staritium, welcher ein vortreflicher gelerter Man vnd ein berhmter Chmicus ist
NHStA H, Dep. 83 B, 228: es auch wieder die Helige Schrift vnd das gewissen, lbliche geheimnssen ohne
vnterscheit zustraffen vnd zu offenbahren
NHStA H, Dep. 83 B, 228: das hohe Secretum natur Lapidis philosophici nicht allein dermassen mit verdunckelten worten beschreiben, sondern auch klerlich anzeigen, das alle, so die kunst publiciren, eines Bsen todes
sterben werden, damit es ia der gottlosen welt, so alles gute misbrauchet, verborgen sein vnd bleiben mge. This
topos ubiquitous in the literature of an ethical or even contractual duty of the alchemist to keep certain
arcana secret is succinctly expressed by Paul Jstel in a letter dated 23 May 1616, where he states that setting
down all steps of the alchemical process leading to the Philosophers Stone ist die hchste verfluchte verdamnu,
nach aller philosophen meinung vnd gttlichem gebott.
Letters 2 and 3.
This had been a standard model for organising medical practicae since the Middle Ages: see, for instance, Luke
E. Demaitre, Medieval Medicine: The Art of Healing, from Head to Toe (Santa Barbara, Denver, and Oxford:
Praegar, 2013).
A statement reminiscent of Maiers description of the Rosicrucian orders policy of not prostituting knowledge by
sharing it with unworthy people: Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 164.
Letter 4, 32 (German); 33 (English).
15
unclear how much of this work, and of the astrological work that von Alvensleben
also ordered, was actually created and/or translated by Maier and what, if anything, ever reached the hands of the patron. In March 1622, Maier acknowledges
that he still needs to deliver nine medical books, and in his very last letter dated
18 July he promises to send the works that he still owes soon. It is unclear
whether this refers to the medical or the astrological books or both, but Maier
had at least sent samples or chapter drafts of the astrological work to elicit feedback
from von Alvensleben.
Whether the medical book was written or not, Maiers short summary at least
offers a glimpse of its content, and thus of Maiers medical practice at this late
point in his life. From the summary it seems to have been more Paracelsian and
less Galenic in nature than Maiers other known medical writings. The process of
curing diseases is described in two stages: in the first, which is covered in the first
volume, a universal medicine is to be applied which is directed against the causes
of all diseases alike. This will cure those diseases which are not yet deeply rooted.
If a disease is already rooted or implanted, in the second step a specific medicine
targeted at the specific disease of the specific body part is to be applied. These Specifica remedia are again divided into three different types. First, the Antipathica have
an occult, specific power of a magnetic nature against the disease. Second, the
Transplantativa are all taken from animals or their parts. They attract the occult
power of the disease and transplant it from the human body to the animal part
as has been proven in several hundred examples.84 And third, the Hyperphysica
or supernatural85 remedies operate via the imagination and include characters,
rings, pendants, periapts, and pentacles.86 This class of remedies is also referred
to by Maier as white physica, presumably to distinguish them from the illegitimate black magical practices he had attacked in his printed works.87
In sum, if the unmistakeably Paracelsian and supernatural elements in the Strategemata medica triaria are evidence of conciliarism, then it seems to be first and
foremost a conciliarism of practice rather than theory, driven by opportunist
motives in the harsh economic circumstances imposed not only by a society in
decline but also by Maiers ultimately tragic vocation.
84
85
86
87
The concept expressed here is clearly Paracelsian in nature: Eduard Stemplinger, Die Transplantation in der antiken
Medizin: Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Volksmedizin, Archiv fr Geschichte der Medizin 12 (1920): 3349.
It is not clear whether Maier himself coined the term hyperphysica as a synonym for supernatural or if he refers
to the term as defined by Johannes Magirus in the late sixteenth century. Cf. Sachiko Kusukawa, Natures Regularity in Some Protestant Natural Philosophy Textbooks, 15301630, in Natural Law and Laws of Nature in
Early Modern Europe, ed. Lorraine Daston and Michael Stolleis (Farnham: Ashgate, 2008), 10522, on 118.
This apparent reference to the imagination as a gateway to supernatural forces contrasts not only with Leibenguth
(see n. 71) but also with Volkhard Wels, Poetischer Hermetismus: Michael Maiers Atalanta fugiens (1617/18), in
Konzepte des Hermetismus in der Literatur der Frhen Neuzeit, ed. Peter-Andr Alt and Volkhard Wels (Gttingen:
Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 2010), 153.
16
NILS LENKE ET AL.
The proper theosophia

Despite Maiers apparent willingness to try his hand at talismanic magic, in his
letters to Gebhardt Johann he nevertheless retains an orthodox Lutheran hostility
towards those practitioners of chymia who foolishly conflate their art with theological matters. Heinrich Khunrath (15601605) is the object of his criticism in this
regard, and in his words concerning his older contemporary we also receive a
clear impression of Maiers views on the proper methods of gaining knowledge.
The role that empirical studies played for Maier has been debated in the past;88
on the one hand he shows a dislike for empiricists without a university education,
and on the other he refers to extensive empirical work of his own while criticising
purely speculative or abstract reasoning.89 These inclinations reflect the aforementioned negotiation between Scholastic book-learning and empirical Paracelsian
paradigms, and express what we might describe as a theoretically founded empiricism. It is an approach exemplified in one of the current letters90 responding to a
request by Gebhardt Johann for Maiers judgment upon two Cabalistic91
books, which are unnamed in Maiers letter, except that Maier refers to the
second as Amphiteatrum. This allows us to identify it (together with other
clues92) as Khunraths Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (1609).93
Maier begins by mentioning that he met Khunrath in 1601. Next we learn that in
1609 a nobleman secretly revealed to him how he had been betrayed by Khunrath,
whom he had paid two hundred Reichsthaler (a servant told Maier that it was actually two thousand) to receive Khunraths secret theory of the lapis philosophorum.
He called this Philosophers Stone Magnesiam Philosophorum (Magnesia of the
Philosophers), but the whole theory, as it turned out, was based upon Silex (flintstone). According to Maier this is erroneous: the propagation of animals occurs
through animal semen, just as terrestrial plants are propagated through plant
seeds, and metals through a metallic seed. Since Silex belongs to the mineral
kingdom, how can it be used to create metals? This is only possible because Khunrath claims that Silex is Catholic (in the sense of universal), i.e. it is a fundamental principle underlying the whole world. However, Maier argues, in that case
Khunrath is also necessarily including the domain of religion, and hence his
theory does not belong to the categories of Theosophy, Chymia, or Physica (revealed
88
89
90
91
92
93
Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 70f., 146; Calian, Spiritual Alchemy, 4, 18.
Letter 7, 38ff. (German); 30ff. (English).
In Letter 7, Maier contrasts Cabalistic communication with print publication, thus referring to esoteric, oral communication in the manner of the Jewish and Christian Cabalists. He continues with a standard Christian Cabalistic
definition of the term Cabala as the working of miracles through divine revelation and the invocation of the names
of God, and states that the best path to a true and divine Cabala is provided by the true ground and well of Israel.
Maiers quotes from the book match Khunraths Amphitheatrum, while the inventory of Gebhardt Johanns books
lists Amphitheatrum Henrici Kuhnrath.
Heinrich Khunrath, Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, Solius, Verae, Christiano-Kabalisticum, Divino-Magicum,
Physico-Chymicum, Tertriunum-Catholicon (Hanau: n.p., 1609).
17
through the Light of Nature). Rather, it belongs to theology (and a theology that is in
conflict with true religion).
While Maier concedes that the Cabala enables great miracles to be effected
through divine revelation and the invocation of the names of God, this is the
domain of the Light of Grace and not that of the Light of Nature. As Forshaw
notes, Khunrath was in fact careful to distinguish between the natural and the supernatural realms, and possessed a finely developed sense of the disparate exegetical
levels on which Scripture and the Book of Nature may be read.94 Nevertheless,
among the examples Maier gives of the godforsaken, shameless manner in which
Khunrath conflates the sacred with the profane, none seems to provoke his ire more
than the lapis-Christ parallel for which Khunrath is so well known. Referring to
page 214 of the Amphitheatrum (1609 edition), Maier fumes that there one can see
the Silex with the letters IHESV, Daniel 2.34 and 45, Filius mundi maioris. Such conceits do not belong to Theosophy, and much less to natural science or chymia, for they
contradict God, Nature, reason and experience!95 Maier states that if he had ever
held an opinion that was only the hundredth part as wrong as Khunraths, he
would be ashamed and that despite the fact that he himself has had three
hundred opinions in his career which, one after the other, were proven wrong by
further investigations and experience. However, at least these had been in accordance
with nature: what should one make of a theory on creating metals that leaves the realm
of the metals altogether and moves into the realm of stones and minerals?
This expression of Maiers theoretically founded empiricism is reminiscent of the
posthumously published Ulysses, in which he describes himself as a practical physical philosopher who learned from many waves of errors; this is in contrast to
those who built their works on abstract ideas, i.e. the purely speculative philosopher[s].96 Such a philosopher was Khunrath, whose self-invented Stone was not
the Stone of the Philosophers but rather that of the imagination.97 This enthusiasts
reliance on speculative fancy has led Khunrath to interpret the articles of Christian
faith in the light of his silex, and it is this fact that outrages Maier most: Neither I
nor any good Christian can interpret this in a positive way, and as a consequence he
has been horribly ridiculed in many tracts, as he well deserves.98
Maiers private life

Despite the inroads that have been made into Maiers biography in recent decades,
few facts concerning his family life have been uncovered. Although it is known that
94
95
96
97
98
Peter J. Forshaw, Paradoxes, Absurdities, and Madness: Conflict over Alchemy, Magic and Medicine in the Works
of Andreas Libavius and Heinrich Khunrath, Early Science and Medicine 13 (2008): 5381, on 77; Peter J. Forshaw,
Vitriolic Reactions: Orthodox Responses to the Alchemical Exegesis of Genesis, in The Word and the World: Biblical Exegesis and Early Modern Science, ed. Kevin Killeen and Peter J. Forshaw (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,
2007), 11136, on 11718.
Michael Maier, Tractatus posthumus, sive Ulysses (Frankfurt am Main: Lucas Jennis, 1624), 29.
18
NILS LENKE ET AL.
he married in Frankfurt, and that his wife was pregnant in April 1618, no sources
have been available to tell us of the result of that pregnancy, or if there were any
other children.99 Now in letter 6 we learn that as of 1621/1622 Maier was still
married and had multiple children, among whom he mentions his (only?) son
Petrus Aurelius,100 born in Magdeburg on 28 December 1619 at 3:30 PM.101 Staricius mentions Maiers widow in 1623, so she was obviously still alive then; an
assistant or famulus is also mentioned in the same context.102
The correspondence with Gebhardt Johann also demonstrates the Maier familys
declining fortunes amid the early years of the Thirty Years War. Maier tells his
patron that he was not very successful as a doctor in Magdeburg, partly because
he was little known there, and partly because the people were not willing to pay
for medical treatment due to the circumstances of the war and, as Maier
claims, because customers were more interested in inheriting from their sick relatives
than paying money to heal them.103 In March, he reports that the city gates have
been closed for the last two weeks and few supplies have come in. Those who
have nothing to trade or sell (and this includes all learned people) are having a
hard time sustaining themselves.104 Maier also claims to have made losses on his
printed books.105 While he was paid twenty-one Batzen 106 per sheet by his distributors, his own costs for the production of his Emblemata (probably the Atalanta
fugiens, 1618) already came to twenty-five Batzen per sheet.
Although Maier was surely trying to gain the sympathy of his patron, he had good
reason to complain. Billon (copper and silver alloy) Batzen were undergoing a
drastic devaluation at this time, as the market was flooded with adulterated
coinage containing increasingly higher percentages of base metal,107 thus compounding Maiers losses. The extent of Maiers hardship is demonstrated by his
report a little later in March that he is afraid to lose some items (his wifes silver
girdle and a few golden bracelets) which he had pawned six months earlier to
obtain some money; with interest the total sum needed to repay the loan and
recover the items is now around 140 common Thaler or twenty Reichsthaler.108
Maiers health also seems to have been affected at this time: in letter 9, when describing a trip to Lbeck planned for after the Easter of 1622, he states that he will not go
if he can avoid it due to his weakness.109 This confirms Tiltons assertion that Maier
was shipwrecked in health around the time he finished his Ulysses (which
99

I.e. Golden Stone, clearly a fitting name for the son of an alchemist. The authors would like to thank Peter Forshaw
for pointing this out.
101
102
NHStA H, Dep. 83 B, 228, Letter from Staricius to Gebhardt Johann dated 30 August 1623.
103
104
105
106
1 Reichsthaler = 23 Batzen.
107
Max Donebauer, Mnzverkehr in der Kipper-Periode whrend der Jahre 1621 bis 1623, Numismatische Zeitschrift 18 (1886): 35968, on 361.
108
Letter 6, 36f. (German); 37f. (English).
109
100
19
appeared in 1624, two years after his death),110 and also resonates with the themes
of frustration and melancholy that were discovered in Maiers life and works by the
same author.111
Maiers final projects

Yet Maier was still actively working on his alchemical experiments in the last months
of his life, and continuing to devise strategies to persuade his patrons to part with
their money. Indeed, in one letter112 he even claims to have finally produced a
small sample of the medicine he has worked so hard to procure for twenty long
years. This is an aurum potabile far excelling in efficacy Anthonys similar medicine,
which we learn he had promised to a noble person in Holstein: probably Duke
Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (15971659), to whom he dedicated a
book shortly thereafter.113 Nevertheless, here as elsewhere in his pleas for financial
support, we may justly suspect another ruse to loosen his patrons purse strings. The
principle materials are exceedingly expensive, Maier continues, and not only has he
been obliged to pawn the abovementioned jewellery, he has also been severely
affected by the recent devaluation of the Schreckenberger (a heavily debased silver
coin that contributed substantially to inflation during the Kipper- und Wipperzeit).
Everything that cost one Schreckenberger yesterday costs two today, Maier
laments. Owing to his dwindling finances, Maier claims he cannot acquire the
necessary gold to make more aurum potabile, and to this end he pleads with Gebhardt Johann for his agent Johann Wenckenbach to buy back the pawned goods.
The details of this transaction supply intriguing information concerning the role
played by both Maiers writing and his laboratory work in relation to his personal
financial affairs. Wenckenbach is to deliver one of the gold bracelets directly to
Maier, which he will use to manufacture the aurum potabile (gold being the medicines chief ingredient). The rest of the jewellery is to be retained by Wenckenbach
as collateral until Maier fulfils his book contract and delivers the nine medical
books he has promised. In the absence of the required gold, Maier tells von Alvensleben that he has also been working on a Luna potabile (i.e. potable silver).114
Thus, in letters 8 and 9, Maier alludes to the possibility of using debased, decirculated coinage as a source for his silver medicine.
Maier was still working on his Luna potabile in July 1622. In his last letter, dated
18 July, just a few weeks before his death, Maier also mentions two small works that
he has attached for von Alvensleben, one in German and one in Latin. The former is
said to have been written for his noble client to explain the difference between good
110

112
113
Figala and Neumann, Author Cui Nomen Hermes Malavici, 136.
114
The production of aurum and argentum potabile went hand-in-hand in the early modern alchemical laboratory, and
may have involved colloidal forms of the precious metals used as both internal medicines and gilding tinctures: see
Tilton, Of Ether, Entheogens and Colloidal Gold.
111
20
NILS LENKE ET AL.
and bad aurum potabile, and is not worthy of being published. However, Maier says
the other is worth publishing. As Maier refers to this tract as his carminibus
(songs), perhaps it can be identified with the Cantilenae intellectuales de phoenice
redivivo, the dedication of which, to Duke Friedrich, is dated 25 August 1622.115
In any case, Maier declares his intention to write no more chymical books after
this one, and instead to focus on praxis, if God so wills it. As we know, this
wish was not granted to Maier, as he died only a few weeks later.
It seems that Gebhardt Johann passed Maiers works on to his favourite alchemical
advisor at the time, Sebastian Alstein (15581641). Alstein was a brother of Jacob
Alstein, court medicus to King Henry IV of France; he was the mayor of his hometown and actively pursued alchemical interests. Maiers manuscripts do not fare
well in his review, however. In December 1622 (by which time Maier was already
dead), he comments in a letter that he cannot share Maiers enthusiasm about the
red extract of the Aurum Vulgi, stating that Maier must have been a fool if he
had proceeded so far in the process without then completing the last step, which
was easy in comparison, in order to produce the full aurum potabile. He then compares Maier to other quacks who point to letters of reference instead of proving
their art by their products.116 In Alsteins opinion, the printed works, too, have
little merit. Thus, in a letter from February 1623, he has some harsh words for
Maiers Septimana philosophica, which is full of horrible absurdities.117
However, Maier found praise in another quarter. In his letter from August 1623,
Staricius reports that he had been absent from home for several months, travelling to
Livonia, and found upon his return that his dear friend Michael Maier was dead. He
could not therefore report the good news to him, that he carried with him a letter
from the Swedish King (Gustav II Adolf, the Lion of the North) promising to
Maier not only free housing, food, and wood, but also a salary of 2000 Reichsthaler
annually.118 We cannot know whether this was true, although we may note that
115
Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 203; Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frhbarock, 63.
NHStA H, Dep. 83 B, 228, Letter dated 8 December1622: dis ist d rechte Aurum potabile philiosophorum welches
auch Lapram vnd ander morbos, vulgaribus Medicis incurandibus, heilet, das ander so Ein auszugk der Rte das Auri
Vulgi, ist sophistisch vnd kan bey weitem nicht testiren [?] was der Autor der byden schriften davon ruhmett Vnd
zwar wan D. Mayer d Aurum potabile veram hatte, muste er ein gross Narr sein, d er dasselbe also liederlich solte
distialiren, vnd es nicht viel mehr vollend zur Tincture machen, weil als den die schwerste vnd gefehrlichste arbeith
vollbracht vnd deren man nicht so viel haben kan in andert halben Jahren, d man 2 oder 2 viel weniger mehrem zu
communiciren diss ist aber fast lacherlich von dem gutten D. Mayer, dass er seinen vermeinten Auro potabili selber
nicht trawet, Er habe sich dan mit ander Brieffen vnd gezeugnissen wie die quackselber pflegen vervaren, da ein
blinder den andern leite da es doch sonsten heisset das werck lobet den meister.
117
NHStA H, Dep. 83 B, 228, Letter dated 12 February 1623: Hiervon ist dem Michael Meyer noch nie etwas in Sinn
kommen ob er sich gleich fur ein philosophum vermessentlich ausgeben durfen in seiner Septimana philosophica
darin greuliche absurda handgreiflich zu finden
118
NHStA H, Dep. 83 B, 228, Letter from Staricius to Gebhardt Johann, dated 30 August 1623: sehr schmerzlich fellt
mir zuerfahren, d mein treuer gesell D. Majerus |: welch ich wohl besorget :| zur vnzeit mit tode verblichen aber
Gott nimpt die seinigen vndt besten hin weg; ich hatte, wei Gott, seine sach dahinn gebracht, da jhme vber alle
victualien, holzung wohnung, 2000. Reichtaler jhrlich salarium vom Knig in Schweden kraft vndt inhalt
seiner majstet noch diesen augenplick bey mir ligendem handt vndt sigel versprochen vndt von gantzen Reich Schweden verwilliget waren, d also ich zweifle, ob er der guten pottschafft wrde frlicher worden sein denn ich gewesen
bin selbige ihme zu pringen; aber Gott vndt das glck haben also ander providiret, dessen wille geschehe immerdar.
116
21
Gustav was active in a war campaign in Livonia at the time.119 However, if it was
true, it seems that Maier was really close to securing the kind of lucrative patronage
for which he had so long striven without success.
Conclusion
The nine letters described here not only supply us with important new details concerning Maiers life and work, they also offer important insights into certain
aspects of the patronage of the occult sciences in early modern Germany. It is apparent that Maiers activities and their associated paradigms belonged to two parallel
domains of patronage, the one readily accessible via his printed works and the
other less visible to historians due to its transmission in oral and manuscript
form. Times of economic hardship in particular might encourage greater recourse
to restricted realms of knowledge and practice, the properly esoteric pursuits that
could be privately practised and publicly disowned by one and the same practitioner
in the name of political and theological expediency. Nevertheless, even if Maier was
prepared to countenance the talismanic magic of certain supernatural remedies
himself, we have also seen that the Paracelsian blurring of the boundaries between
the natural and the divine worlds remained a sensitive issue for him even within
his private correspondence, and he could not consent to what he viewed as Khunraths complete conflation of these two realms.
The letters also provide further insight into the role of the economy of secrets in
courtly patronage in the early modern German lands. They nurture the hope of
similar finds in the future, particularly given the fact that electronic access to
German archives is constantly improving. On this count, it is clear from the nine
letters that Gebhardt Johann von Alvensleben received a number of manuscript
works from Maier, several of which are otherwise unknown to scholarship. These
may yet survive in some other portion of the von Alvensleben archives, while
Danzig and Hamburg are possible locations of interest with regard to further undiscovered manuscripts and correspondence.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Jennifer Rampling, Erik Leibenguth, Tillmann
Taape, and the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments and help.
Notes on contributors
Nils Lenke holds a Ph.D. in Computational Linguistics and works in the area of
Human-Computer Interaction. In his free time, he enjoys researching the history
119
Allgemeine deutsche Real-Encyklopdie fr die gebildeten Stnde (Conversations-Lexikon), 8th ed. (Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1836), vol. 9, 310.
22
NILS LENKE ET AL.
of early modern science. Address: Waldblick 33, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany;

E-mail: nils_lenke@yahoo.de.
Nicolas Roudet holds a Ph.D. from the University of Lille 3 (2001). He has been a
librarian at the University of Strasbourg since 2005. Address: 26, rue de la Lamproie, 67000 Strasbourg, France; E-mail: nroudet@unistra.fr.
Hereward Tilton teaches on early modern German history at the University of
Exeter. He holds degrees in the history of Western esotericism and the psychology
of religion, and has published work on Rosicrucianism, alchemy, and magic, most
notably his book The Quest for the Phoenix: Spiritual Alchemy and Rosicrucianism
in the Work of Count Michael Maier (15691622). Address: Department of History,
University of Exeter, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter, Devon EX4 4RJ;
E-mail: H.E.Tilton@exeter.ac.uk.
23
Appendix: The Letters of Michael Maier

Apart from an inventory of the belongings, which is NHStA H Dep. 83 B, Nr. 90 [1],
all the manuscripts cited are to be found in NHStA H Dep. 83 B, Nr. 228. Unfortunately, there is no numbering of documents or pagination in this item, hence manuscripts and letters, including those by Maier, have been quoted by author, addressee,
and date throughout this article.
In preparing this edition we have used the following transcription conventions:
Latin characters are represented by italics.
Missing text (due to textual lacunae) is represented by square brackets: by
[<text>] for speculative interpolations, and if no such speculation was

possible. The square brackets also indicate the expansion of abbreviated text.
Uncertain transcriptions are marked as [<text>?] or [?] for passages for which the
authors could not guess a reasonable reading.
Maiers original spelling and punctuation have been retained, including the use of
j for i, and v for u (and vice versa).
Page breaks are indicated by |.
An English translation is provided for the sake of readers not fluent in early
modern German. In preparing the translation we have used the following guidelines:
Where Maier uses Latin expressions, or Germanised equivalents in Latin charac-
ters, we have retained the italics in the English translation. In some cases, e.g.
where an English translation does not adequately convey the sense of the original,
the Latin translation has been retained and an explanation provided in the footnotes. Modern English does not lend itself well to translating the very long sentences used by Maier (quite in keeping with the habit of his time). We have
sought a middle ground between mimicking Maiers syntax in order to facilitate
comparison with the German original, and breaking up sentences in accordance
with English syntax.
Rather than seeking to reproduce Maiers early modern style by choosing archaic
English expressions, we have generally adopted modern English terms.
Where the German text is in doubt, as indicated above, in the English translation
we have either glossed passages or else opted for the most likely reading.
24
NILS LENKE ET AL.
German text
Letter 1: Michael Maier to a servant of Gebhard Johann von
Alvensleben; Magdeburg, 4 November 1621
Mein freundtliche dienste befor Ehrsamer, guter, wie wol vnbekanter herr vnd freundt, jch kan
nicht vmbgen de[m] herren freundtlicher meinunge zu vorstendigen, wie jch newlicher tagen
zu Lubeck angelanget, vnd vnter anderen jn eines meiner guter freunde, mit namen Johannes
Staricius, Juris & Med[icinae]: Licentiatus, gesprech geraten, Darein Eures Gestrengen Junckern, wie er ein besonderer liebhaber der Natur geheimnuss vnd tief gegrunden Medicinalien
erfunden werde gedacht: Nachdem dan vorgedachter her[r] Staricius angedeutet, da er
be ihm ein schachtlein sambt einem briefe habe, so er gan gerne wolte das es durch euch
jhrer gestrenge selbst behendiget wrde, so habe jch mich gudtwilig anbotten, wie er dan
auch an mir begereret, euch solche schachtlein, mit der offerirung da jch jhrer G[estrenge].
mit allen muglichen diensten ohn da zu wilfertigen geflien; Deweil dann Jhr G[estrenge].
vnter anderen da Englische Aurum Potabile hat abholen laen vnd auch solches zu jhrs
leibe gesundheit angewendet, so kan jch nicht vmbghen, wiewol ohn rumhen meiner
Person, oder de authoris Francisci Anton nachteil, zu bekennen, da jch da gantze Lateinische buch Apologia genandt, davon geschrieben | jn die feder gefaet, vnd damit dem
Authori auff die fue geholfen, deweil er teglich be mir, und ich hinwider be jhm, wie
brder geween; wa sonsten anlanget deelbem bereitung, nutz vnd gebrauch, wie auch
andere vnterschiedtliche Medicinalien konte davon zu gelegener zeit einem deen begirig genugsamer vnterrichtung geschen; Solche wolle der herr jhr G[estrenge]. andeuten, vnd ihr
meine stetz willige dienste, deen diees der geringste, vormelden; Bin Euch mit aller gebr
widerumb zu vilfertigem erbietigg, Dabam Magdeburgi 4. Novemb[ris]: Anno 1621.
E[uer].g[uter].f[reund].
Michael Majer Med[icinae]:
Doctor &c: Com[es]: Pal[atinus]:
Letter 2: Michael Maier to Gebhard Johann von Alvensleben;

Magdeburg, 26 November 1621
Woll Edler, Gestrenger vnd Ehrenvester Juncker, nach erbietung meiner gans willigen vnd stets
bereiten dienste kan jch nicht vnterlassen, auf gistrige ansuchung vnd be dero diener freundtliche erforschung, von wegen eines meiner bucher, so in der Medicin zustande gebracht, jedog
noch nicht gedrucket oder publiciret, dessen ohn zweifel mein sehr guter freundt Johannes
Staricius [?] newlig in seinem schreibende gedacht, welches inhaltes es se, vnd ob zu
trucken, oder E[urer].G[estrenge]. dediciret sey, mich so wol schriftlich alse zufor mundelich,
erkleren vnd an zuweisen, das vnlangst wie jch fur einem monath zu lubeck be forgedachtem
H. Staricio gewesen, er mich gefraget, ob jch nicht E[urer].G[estrenge]. kundschaft hatte,
welche sonsten ein besonder liebhaber vnd befurderer were der geheimen Medicinalischen
sachen, darauf ich geantwortet, das E[urer].G[estrenge]. amptman wol ehemahl be mir
gewesen, aber das jch noch niemals in der zeit, da jch hier wonete, anlass gehabt be derselben
mich zu jnsinueren, Er aber nachdem er E[urer].G[estrenge]. wolthaten vberflussig ihm bewiesen hochlig gerumet, hat mir vorsprochen bene vbersendung des schachtleines be E[urer].
G[estrenge]. kundig zu machen, jnsonderheit deweil ich | wol wuste das E[uer].G[estrenge].
das Englische Aurum potabile geliebet, dessen Authori jch dan die vier jarlang, die jch in
engellandt gewonet, bin familiarissimus gewesen, auch so sehr, das solches buch, Apologia
genandt, so davon in Engellandt ausgangen, meines Stli genugsam ersthende, welches
auch die Epigrammata vnd Epistolae fur her anzeigen, auch dabeneben, das E[uer].G
[estrenge]. vnter meinen bucheren ein kleines tractatlein, THemis Aurea genandt, wol
25
English translation
Letter 1: Michael Maier to a servant of Gebhard Johann von
Alvensleben; Magdeburg, 4 November 1621
Cordially at your service;
Honourable, good, although unknown gentleman and friend: I cannot neglect to inform the
gentleman, with kind intention, that when I recently arrived in Lbeck, and among other
things happened to speak to one of my good friends named Johannes Staricius, Licentiate
of Medicine and the Law, that he mentioned your noble lord as being recognised as a
special lover of the secrets of nature and profoundly rooted medicines. When the aforementioned Mr. Staricius indicated that he was in possession of a little box and a letter which he
would like to have delivered to His Lordship by yourself, I eagerly offered my services. Consequently, he asked me [to bring] you the parcel and suggested that I might diligently offer all
possible services to His Lordship. Since His Lordship has sent for the English Aurum Potabile
and has used it for the health of his body, I cannot help admitting but without boasting or
detracting from the author Francis Anthony that I myself wrote the entire Latin book called
Apologia on this subject, put pen to paper and thereby helped the author to his feet, as he saw
me every day and I him, for we were like brothers. With regard to its preparation, use and
application, as well as that of other different medicines, I could at a convenient time instruct
anyone who so desires. The gentleman might kindly indicate this to His Lordship and let him
know that I am eager to offer my services, of which this would be the least. I am in return duly
obliged to you. Given Magdeburg the 4th of November in the year 1621.
Your good friend,
Michael Majer Doctor of Medicine etc. and Count Palatine

Magdeburg, 26 November 1621
Noble, valiant, and honourable Lord, after offering my eager and ever-ready services, and in
response to yesterdays friendly enquiry by your servant as to the content of the book I have
accomplished in the area of medicine but not yet printed or published, which without doubt
had been mentioned by my good friend Johannes Staricius in his recent letter, and as to
whether it might be printed or dedicated to Your Lordship, I cannot omit to declare in
writing as well as speech that recently, when I was in Lbeck visiting the aforementioned
Mr Staricius one month ago, he asked me if I was acquainted with Your Lordship, whom
he called a special lover and patron of medical secrets. To which I answered that Your
Lordships steward had visited me before but that I had not had the opportunity during the
time I had lived here to approach Your Lordship. He, after highly praising Your Lordships
several favours towards him, promised to make me known to Your Lordship on the occasion
of sending the small parcel, especially since I knew that Your Lordship loved the English
Aurum potabile, the creator of which I was very familiar with during the four years I lived
in England, so much so that the book on this subject, entitled Apologia, which was published
in England, came substantially from my own pen, as is demonstrated by the preceding
epigrams and epistles. Besides, [he mentioned] that Your Lordship may have seen at one
time a small tract entitled THemis Aurea [sic] among my books; whereupon, I warmly
thanked Mr Staricius and thought of one of my works which I have not yet published, as I
26
NILS LENKE ET AL.
ehemals gesehen, darauf ich mich gegen dem H. Staricio freundlig bedancket, vnd vnter anderen
meiner operum, so jch noch nicht ausghen lassen, sunderen wol ein willens gewesen, jedog daran
ein bedencken getragen, eines Medicinalischen werckes gedacht, diesses titels Strategemata
Medica Triaria etc: welches durch langer zeit gebrauch und erfarung von mir zusammen getragen
so wol aus anderen authoribus alse meiner pracktick, vnd handelt auf eine andere bequemlichere
weisse alle kranckheiten des menschlichen leibes zu curiren, alse nemblig erstlig durch Remedia
Uniuersalia, gegen die vrsachen der kranckheiten gerichtet, welche sonsten pflegen, zerstrewet in
jeder krankcheit tractiret zu werden, dem waren Methodo entgegen, zum anderen durch Specifica
Remedia, eines jeden morbi specici zu wider; also das jch vom heubt an bis auf die fussolen des
menschen leib vnd dero kranckheiten theile vngefer in 10. bucher, vnd gans keine, so mercklig an
ihrem orte auslasse; Einer jeden [kr]anckheit aber seze jch dreierle besondere [sp]ecifica
Remedia, als erstlig Antipathica, | dahin gehoren alle vorneme vnd wolerfarne stucke, so ein sonderliche antipatheiam magnetischer weisse vnd aus vorborgener Specifischer kraft gegen den
morbum haben; Darnegest Transplantatiua, welche alle von thieren vnd ihren gliederen genommen, die vorborgene kraft der kranckheit an sich ziehen vnd gleich wie transplantieren, wie dan
mit viel hundert exempeln hin vnd wider genugsten beweisset werdt, zum dritte seint Hyperphsica oder vbernaturliche, welche geschen durch die imagination mehrer theiles, als in characteren,
ringen, anhengen, periapta, pentacula, oder weien physica genandt; Mit diessen dreierle
Remeds fure jch einen jeden morbum [?] aus [?] also wan einer solte s[ich?] dieses Methodi
curandi gebrauchen, wurde er die nicht tief eingewurzelten morbos allein durch die Universalia
Remedia, welche in einem besonderen buche fur her ghen, genugsam weg nehmen, die aber so tief
eingewurzelt vnd gleich ein speciem eingepflanzet, muss man nach gebrauch der Universalium
mit den specificis entweder Antipathicis oder Transplantatiuis, oder Hperphysicis aus dem
grunde ziehen, deweil dan diesses werck fur sich ziemlig grosse, vnd die grossesten geheimnissen
der gansen Medicin, so viel muglich mir zu erforschen gewesen, ein sich begreiffet, so habe jch
nicht vnbillig ein bedencken getragen solches zu publiciren, damit auch nicht die gans wirdigen
der gaben gottes vnd geheimnissen missbrauchten, jch bin aber in willen s[o]ferne es E[urer].G
[estrenge]. nicht unannemlig solche derselben in latein, darein es iez ist, od[er] in deutsch,
darin es kan gesezet werden, | priuatim et quasi in secreto zuzuschreiben, deweile die selbe
vnter anderen von Godt sehr vberflussig entfangene gaben, auch die edle gabe der Medicin in
ihrem werde haltet; solches habe ich fur dismhal E[urer].G[estrenge]. mit aller dienstbarheit
wollen schriftlig zu wissen fugen, hochlig bittende mir solches zum besten anzudeuten, vnd
mein grossgunstiger Juncker vnd patron zu sein vnd bleiben; dieselbe Gottes gnedigem schuze
trewlig empfelende, Datum Magdeburg, 26. Nov[embr]i A[nn]o .1621.
E[urer].G[estrenge].
Dienstwilliger
Michal Maierus D[octor]. Com[es]: Pal[atinus]:

Magdeburg, 14 January 1622
Meine gans willige vnd stets geflissene dienste, sambt wundschung aller geluckseligkeit von
Godt dem almechtigen zu jeder zeit befor, WolEdler, Gestrenger, Ehrenvester Juncker, Grossgunstiger herr vnd patron so wol als vielgeliebter herr Gefatter, jch thue mich fur lestmahlige
ubergesendete wolmeinende Geschencke zum hogsten bedancken, wie dan auch das E[uer].G
[estrenge]. mir seine hochsinnige labores von der Astrologia Genethlialogica hat communiciret vnd sehen lassen, das aber mein Iudicium darvber begeret werde, ist solches zu diesser
zeit von meinen Studs abgewende, dan ob wol jch ein besonder liebhaber der waren Astronomi se, darein jch dan ezliche obseruationes Instrumentis, auch Calculationes aus dem
tabulis prutenicis vnd Schnen der Eclypsium, auch themata figurarum coeli ehemals tractiret
vnd vorrichtet, so habe ich dennoch ad iudicium astrologicum zu ergrunden mich niemals
27
had initially intended to do so but then had second thoughts. It is entitled Strategemata
Medica Triaria etc., which I have compiled based upon extensive practice and experience,
both from the other authors as well as my own praxis. It is concerned with the cure of all
the diseases of the human body in a different, more convenient manner. That is to say,
firstly by universal remedies directed at the causes of the diseases, which are otherwise
usually treated differently for each disease, contrary to the true method. Secondly, by specific
remedies against the specifics of each disease. Thus, I partition the parts of the human body
from the head to the soles of the feet, along with their diseases, into approximately ten books,
and do not omit any [diseases] which can be observed in those locations. Against every disease
I set three specific remedies: firstly Antipathica, which comprise all noble and tested items with
a special antipathy against the disease, [acting] in a magnetic manner from a hidden specific
force; secondly, Transplantativa, which are all taken from animals and their body parts and
draw the hidden force of the disease to themselves, as if transplanting it, as is sufficiently
proven from time to time in several hundred examples. Thirdly, Hyperphsica, or supernaturals, which mostly work via the imagination,120 such as sigils, rings, amulets, periapts,
pentacles, or so-called white physica. With these three remedies I drive out every disease.
Hence, if someone were to use this method of curing, he would take out the diseases that
are not so deeply rooted by the universal remedies alone, which are covered in a special
book preceding the others. After treatment with the universals, those [diseases] that are
deeply rooted and implanted like a species must be extracted from the ground by the specifics,
either Antipathica, or Transplantativa, or Hyperphsica. As this work includes fairly great,
[indeed] the greatest secrets of the whole of medicine, as far as I have been able to investigate,
I had reservations about publishing it, and not without good reason, since people who are not
entirely worthy might abuse the secrets and gifts of God. However, I would be willing to dedicate it to Your Lordship privatim et quasi in secreto,121 either in Latin as it is now, or in
German, into which it could be translated, if it were agreeable to Your Lordship, because
Your Lordship also values the noble gift of Medicine among those other gifts received from
God in abundance. For now, this is what I eagerly wanted to let Your Lordship know in
writing, with the sincere request [that you] receive it as a token of my best intentions, and
remain my favourably inclined lord and patron whom I faithfully commend to Gods gracious
protection. Given Magdeburg, the 26th of November in the year 1621.
Your Lordships willing servant,
Michael Maierus, Doctor, Count Palatine

Magdeburg, 14 January 1622
Full willingly and always eagerly at your service, also wishing you the bliss of God the
Almighty; noble, valiant, honourable Lord, most gracious master and patron, likewise muchbeloved benefactor: I am highly grateful for the kind gifts recently sent, and also for Your
Lordships communication and disclosure of his sophisticated work on the Astrologia Genethlialogica. However, that my judgement upon this matter is sought lies somewhat distant from
my studies at this time. For although I am a special lover of the true Astronomy, on which
subject I have in the past worked and written on several instrumental observations,
120
121
On the operation of remedies via the power of the imagination, see Maier, Themis aurea (1618 edition), 7374.
Privately and as if in secret.
28
NILS LENKE ET AL.
bequemen knnen, aus vielen vrsachen, davon dan die vornemesten das jch kein zeit oder weil
darauf wenden konten, deweil jch von anderen studs alse nemblig der Medicin davon abgezogen vnd gehalten, solte ich aber solchen grossen vnd vornemen liebhaber sehen, der mir
etwas vrsache vnd anreizung dazu gebe, were jch nicht gans alienus davon; Jedog muste
man auf die Ephemerides ietziger zeit viel wenden; Es ist zwar der | her Origanus zu franckfurt
an der Oder mein preceptor vnd Examinator gewesen, fur 30. jaren, wie jch alda in magistrum
promovirte (welcher die Ephemerides hat lassen ausghen vnd continuiret) deme jch damals in
examine geantwortet, das jch gansse Astronomiam fundamentaliter cum omnibus requisitis
gehoret und geleret, darvber er vorsturzet, jedog nachdeme jch jhme das grosse werk des Doctoris Magnii Pegel, so ich 4. Jare zu Rostock in astronomicis gehoret, gezeiget, hat er es nicht
gering geachtet, vnd es sich in den newen Inventionibus wol gefallen lassen; Hernach hab jch
mit Tychone Brahe grosse kundschaft zu Rostock vnd hamburg gekrigt; bin auch newlicher
zeit zu Torga bey dem Nagelio gewessen, welcher doch jn seinem gesprech so wol, als tractaten genugsam anzeiget, das er nicht die gemeine Astrologiam tractire, dessen sich die Calenderschreiber anmassen; das man zweierley art habe, die Domicilia cli zu diuidiren, alse
nemblig iuxta Meridianum, vnd auch quatorem, solches hat mir ehemahl einen grossen
Scrupulum gemacht; was meine meinung aber se von der gemeinen Astrologia habe jch in
meinem tractatu Septimana Philosophica genandt, jm ersten tag angezogen; konte jch eines
besseren berichtet werden, neme jch gans gerne an; jch sehe zwar alhie in dem Themata die
domicilia wol an, das nemblig in 1. domo se , in 2da, . in 3tia caput Draconis, in 8. .
In 9. cum suis satellitibus | . et . welche mit Ihr fast coniugiret vnd also combustionem
leiden; In 12. . vnd der geleichen, also auch in anderen themata die 46. reuolutiones
annuos etc: aber davon wol zu judiciren, achte jch beschwerlichen; jedog konte man einmhals
jn gegenwerdt hie von weitleuftig discuriren; das aber jeziger zeit vnd nun fast ein 30. oder 20.
jar her meine studia sein, vnd was fur eine Astronomiam oder astrologiam jch getractiret,
wolle mir E[uer].G[estrenge]. gunstiglig zu gute halten, wan jch hievon auf gegebene gelegenheit ein wenig [distederire?]; das jch aller anderen philosophischen Scientien vnd kunsten,
denen jch ehrmahl nachgetrachtet, nicht gedencke, habe jch mir erwelet erstlig die Medicinam
corporis humani zu lehrnen vnd zu erforschen; darumb dan jch ohn Rhum zu melden viele
hohe schulen in jtalien vnd deutschlandt durch gezogen vnd mit gelerten Medicis, etwas
von jhnen zu vornemen vnd lehren, kundschaft gemacht; Habe auch fur 25 Jaren angefangen
dieselbe zu practiciren in volckreichen steten, alse nemblig zu hamburg, danzig vnd prag: Jch
habe aber vngefer fur 20 jaren wie jch zu danzig jn preussen gewesen, grosse lust vnd liebe
gekrigt zu dem theil der Medicin, wecher durch die geheime chimische kunst zu wege gebracht
werdt, was jch nun fur muhe, sorge, wachen[?], vnkostung, reisse, zeit vnd weile hir aufgewendet, kan jch alhir nicht kurzlichen anzeigen; jedog nach vieler jar arbeidt, habe jch endlig eine
sonderbare Medicin bekommen, obwol nicht die, so jch gesuchet, sunderen eine ander, welche
auch | nicht zu vorachten, vnd ein anfang scheinete der so jch gesucht, hir auf bin ich zu Ihr
Kay[serlichen]: May[estt]: Rudolfo gefurdert, welcher meine labores zu recompensiren zugesagt, jedog hab jch, der anderen promissorum nicht zu gedencken, kayserliche priuilegien des
Palatinatus erlanget, welche etwas nuzber sein, vnd bin zu ihr May[estts]: Medicum bestellet,
davon jch dan zwemahl des Reiches sigel bekommen, dessen copien, deweil sie jn der form
nicht gemein, thu jch E[urer].G[estrenge]. hirneben senden, solche in otio eins durchzulaufen;
Hernach hab jch wol von ezlichen fursten wegen gedachter Medicin ziemliche belonung
bekommen, auch von theiles in bestallung angenommen; wie solches solche brieffe noch vorhanden sein; Hernach habe jch mich in Engellandt vngefer fur 12. Jaren begeben, Aldar mit
Doctore Francisco Antonio Londinense, der ein Author ist des Auri Potabilis, kunstschaf
gekrigt, auch also, das wir wie bruder gewesen, vnd er mir nichtes vorborgen hat, jch auch
jhm gegen seine feinde die Medicos alda vorthediget mit schreibung eines lateinischen
buches welches vnter seinem namen alda ausgegangen, jch aber alles gemacht, was darein
ist, dadurch er gegen seine feinde abgeligem, vnd einen grossen nutz hat wegen des Auri potabilis, wie jch auch weg gereisset, hat er mir fur 200. konigsthaler werde dess Auri potabilis,
29
calculations from the Prussian tables and [Schnen] of the eclipses, as well as the themes of the
celestial figures, yet I have never brought myself to investigate judicial astrology. This is for
many reasons, of which the foremost is that I have not found the time to do so, as I have
been distracted and kept from it by other studies such as Medicine. However, I would not
be a total stranger to the subject if I were to meet a great and noble enthusiast who would
give me some reason and motivation to occupy myself with it. Nevertheless, one would
have to rely heavily on the ephemerides for this time. True, my teacher and examiner at Frankfurt on the Oder when I was promoted to magister thirty years ago was Mr Origanus, who has
published the ephemerides and has continued [working] on them; [it was he] to whom I then
answered in the examination, that I had heard and learnt the whole Astronomiam fundamentaliter cum omnibus requisites,122 which perplexed him. However, after I showed him the
large work by Dr Magnus Pegelius, whom I had heard [lecture] on astronomy in Rostock
for four years, he did not dismiss it, and was pleased to learn of the new discoveries. Afterwards, I became a close acquaintance of Tycho Brahe in Rostock and Hamburg; more
recently I have also been to Torgau to see Nagelius, who has demonstrated well enough, in
his talk as well as in his tracts, that he does not deal with the common astrology which the
calendar writers arrogate to themselves. I had great doubts at the time that there should be
two ways to divide the celestial houses, namely by proximity to the meridian and also to
the equator; but concerning the common astrology I have set [this] out in my tract entitled
Septimana Philosophica, under the first day. If I were proven wrong, I would gladly accept
it. I agree with the houses presented in the Themata, namely that [i.e. Mars] is in the
first house, [i.e. the Moon] in the second, in the third the head of the dragon, in the
eighth [i.e. Saturn], in the ninth [i.e. the Sun] with its satellites . [i.e. Venus], and [i.
e. Mercury], which are nearly conjugated with it and hence suffer fiery heat; in the twelfth
[i.e. Saturn] and so forth; and also in other themata, the forty-six annual revolutions etc.;
but, I regard it a difficult task to form a proper judgement from this, although this could
be discussed extensively in person at some time. For given that at this time my studies date
back twenty or thirty years, and given the type of astronomy or astrology I worked on,
may Your Lordship count this in my favour if I postpone this [subject] a little until some
better opportunity. If I think little about all the other philosophical sciences and arts which
I researched in the past, it is because I chose to learn and investigate first and foremost the
medicine of the human body. That is why, without wishing to boast, I have visited many universities in Italy and Germany and made the acquaintance of many learned doctors, in order
to hear and learn something from them. What is more, twenty-five years ago, I began to practice the same [medicine] in populous cities, namely Hamburg, Danzig, and Prague; but
approximately twenty years ago, when I was in Danzig in Prussia, I learnt to love that part
of medicine which works through the secret chemical art. It is not possible to describe here
briefly the efforts, worries, lack of sleep, costs, travels, and tim I have expended upon it.
Yet after many years work I finally managed to obtain a remarkable medicine not the
one I had searched for, but another one, also not to be scorned, and which seemed like a
first step towards the one I had searched for. Subsequently, I was called upon by His Imperial
Majesty Rudolph, who promised to reward my labours; for, all other promises aside, I
received the imperial privileges of the Palatinate, which are rather useful, and was made
His Majestys medicus; hence I received the seal of the empire twice, copies of which I
hereby send to your Lordship to inspect at your leisure, as their form is not common. Afterwards I received significant remuneration for the aforementioned medicine from several
princes, and I was on occasion accepted into their service, as demonstrated by letters still in
existence today. Approximately twelve years ago I then moved to England, where I became
acquainted with Dr Francis Anthony of London, who is an author of the Aurum potabile.
Such was our acquaintance that we were like brothers, and he did not hide anything from
122
Astronomy in a fundamental way with all requisites.
30
NILS LENKE ET AL.
vnd seiner Essentiae mitgegeben; dagegen jch jhm gelobet, solches jn deutschelande bekandt
zu machen, damit er es alle messe ghen franckfurt schicken solte zu vorkaufen; dafur mir zugesagt den dritten pfenning des gewinnes; wie dan solches bezeuget erstlig das buch des Franciscij | Antonij, da mein name fornen sthet in allen carminibus vnd prefationibus; danegst
2. schriften mit Doctors Antonij eigen handt geschrieben vnd mir vbergeben; welches vmb
nachrichtung willen jch hier neben gesendet; das aber das Aurum potabile alhir nicht ist
fortgesezet, hat der Medicinum invidia vorhindert; das jch nun jn den 5. jaren, die jch
wider aus Engellandt bin gekommen, fur bucher habe zu franckfurt drucken lassen, lasse
jch andere Iudiciren; von welchen jch ezliche E[urer]. G[estrenge]. hette gerne gesendet,
aber jch habe keine Exemplar mher derselben, welche meistestheiles be francken alhir
zu bekommen; jedog sende jch E.G. eins, so jch be henden, wiewol es etwas alt, vngezweifelt es werde E.G. das zu perlustriren sich die zeit nicht vordriessen lassen; Es ist aber meine
Intention vnd meinung, mich nicht zu ruhe zu geben, durch Gottes segen, jch habe dan ein
warhaftes Aurum potabile, welches des D. Anton weit vber ghet, dahin gereichen meine
bucher, so geschrieben, auf meine nicht geringe vnkost vnd tegliche Arbeit, jedog ohn
[jeninges?] anderen beschwerung, sunderen mit nuz vieler anderen, so solches genissen
solten; jn mittler weile, bis jch dasselbe Chimisch werck vorrichte, habe jch das Medicinal
werk fur henden, wofon jch das erste buch De generalibus, wie auch die Nachfolgenden
9. bucher E[urer].G[estrenge]. der es nit unangenem erscheinet, angetragen; deweil dan
E.G. nun zum often mhal begeret, was jch dafur gedachte zu heben, zu wissen, so habe
jch doch solches nicht thun mugen, deweil es einer kremere ehnlig scheinte; jedog,
damit jch in diesser beschwerlichen | zeit, (da alles theur, vnd die Medicin be dem gemeinen manne geizeshalber vorseumet werdt, keiner begeret den kranken geholfen zu sein,
damit den geizigen ein erbtheils gefallen muge; vnd jch hir jn frembden rteren fast vnbekandt), nicht allein mich zu erhalten, sunderen auch die lang gesuchte Medicin, Auri potabilis, (deren jch durch gottes gabe nun ein erfarung bekommen) mit eigenen kosten
bereiten muge, so werdt jch genotiget fur mein Arbeidt, nemblig dasselbe werk der
Medicin ein messiges anzunemen, da hergegen, wan mich nicht solche hohe vrsachen
trieben, jch es gerne vmb sonst [we?]rde hergeben; jch muss bekennen, das jch zufor
meiner ausgegangener bucher ein wenig genossen habe, Also das der buchvorleger mir,
wie gewonlig, nach bogenzal gezalet; vnd mir fur einen gedruckten bogen des Exemplares
gegeben hat 21. pazen, da die Reichsthaler 23. pazen gegolten; in die Emblemata habe jch
fur 25. pazen den bogen gegeben; Also habe jch erstmhel jm sinne gehabt, diesses werck,
ehe es noch in diesse ordnung vnd weisse gebracht dem buch vorlegger Lucas Jennis Zu
franckfurt zu vber geben, vnd von jhme fur einen bogen ein reichsthaler, schon fur
2. jaren gefurdert, darauf er mir damals 1 1/2 Gulden, (waren ein ort [geringer?], als ein
reichs thaler) offeriret, wie dan in beygefugtem brieffe von Jennis an mir gethan zu vornemen; Hernach aber alse jch das werk recht angeordnet, vnd das es alle geheimnissen der
ganzen Medicinalkunst so viel die von mir konten zu wege gebracht werden, begreifen
betrachtet; habe jch solches dem gemeinen manne zu offenbaren ein bedencken getragen,
jnsonderheit deweil | eine newe ardt zu curirung durch die dre genera remedionum
eingefuhret werdt; Hierauf bin jch dienstlig geneiget, das negstfolgende buch De Capite
zu vorfertigen vnd zu deutsch vberzusetzen; welches von den grossesten buchern eine
sein werdt, vnd jn sich begreiffet dieselben krankheiten, welche in beygefugter lateinischer
tabel zuvor nemen; Wan nun E[uer].G[estrenge]. wolte mir mit deme ersten so viel jhm gudt
deuchte auf dis buch De Capite, lassen zukommen, wolte jch es alsobaldt vorfertigen vnd E
[uer]. Ehr[en]. zukommen lassen, vnd dis darumb, das jch, wie gedacht, die hohe Medicin,
so jch jn henden, welche zu erforschen mir vnglaublig viel gekostet, mochte nun alsobaldt
vortsezen vnd fullen bringen, daran kemandt schaden sunderen wol nit wenige nuzen
haben werden; Es werde zwar ein wenig sein, damit mir konte fur dissmhal gedienet
werden; welches ehrmahl wol zwefeltig auf nit so wirtige sachen gewandt; Herauf wolle
E[uer].G[estrenge]. mir ein trostliche Antwordt zukommen lassen, wo nicht schriftlig,
31
me, and I also defended him against his enemies the doctors by writing a Latin book
which was published under his name, although entirely written by myself, so that he prevailed
against his enemies and made a great profit from the Aurum potabile. When I departed, he
gave me two hundred kings Thaler worth of Aurum potabile and of his Essence, and in
return I promised to make it known in Germany so that he could send some to be sold at
every fair at Frankfurt. He promised me the third penny of any profits. These facts are
borne out firstly by the book of Francis Anthony, in which my name is mentioned at the beginning in all poems and prefaces, and secondly by two documents written in Dr Anthonys own
hand and entrusted to me, which I include here for your information.123 The fact that the
Aurum potabile did not do well in these parts is due to the envy of the doctors. I will leave
it to others to judge the books which I have had printed in Frankfurt in the five years since
I returned from England. Of these, I would have loved to send several to your Lordship,
but I do not have any copies of these anymore, and most of them can be obtained from
Francken124 here. However, I am sending Your Lordship one which is at hand, although it
is rather old; without doubt Your Lordship will find it worthwhile to take the time to
peruse it. It is my intention and belief that I will not rest until I have, through the blessing
of God, a real Aurum potabile that is much better than that of Dr Anthony. My books are
all directed towards this goal; they are written with significant cost and daily labour, nevertheless without depending on anybody else, but rather for the sake of many others who will enjoy
them. In the meantime, until I accomplish the chemical work, I have the medical work in my
hands, of which I have offered the first book, De generalibus, as well as the subsequent nine
books to Your Lordship, who did not find it displeasing. Your Lordship has often desired to
know what I might charge, but I have been reluctant to comply, as it seemed like bargaining.
However, in these difficult times (when everything is expensive and medicine is ignored by the
common man out of miserliness, and nobody wants to help the sick so that the misers inherit
everything, and I am nearly unknown in these foreign places), I am forced to accept some
moderate amount for my work namely the aforementioned work of medicine in order
not only to sustain myself but also so that I can prepare at my own cost the long-sought medicine, Aurum potabile (of which I have now received knowledge through a gift of God). I
would gladly give it away for free if I were not compelled by such pressing circumstances.
And I must admit that I enjoyed little profit from my previous books. The publisher paid
me, as usual, by the number of sheets, and gave me twenty-one Batzen for each printed
sheet of the exemplars, when the Reichsthaler was worth twenty-three Batzen. Each sheet
for the Emblemata 125 earned me twenty-five Batzen per sheet. Hence my initial plan was
to hand over this work, before it was brought into this order and arrangement, to the publisher Lucas Jennis in Frankfurt, and to ask him for one Reichsthaler per sheet (this was
already my demand two years ago). Back then he offered me one and a half Gulden in
reply (that was one Ort 126 less than a Reichsthaler), as can be seen in the attached letter
from Jennis to me. But after that, when I had properly ordered the work and realised that
it dealt with all the secrets of the entire medical art, as far as I had managed to discover
them, I had doubts about unveiling it to the common man, especially as it introduces a new
way of curing by the three kinds of remedies. After this, I am eager to complete the subsequent
book, De Capite, and translate it into German, which will be one of the greatest books, comprising the same diseases as [those] listed in the attached Latin table. If now Your Lordship
wished to send me such advance on this book De Capite as he deems adequate, I would as
soon finish it and send it to Your Honour. And this is in order that, as I have mentioned, I
may soon continue and finish that high medicine, which I have in my hands, and the
123
These documents have not yet been located in the archive.

The name of a publisher and bookshop.
Probably Maiers Atalanta fugiens.
126
Ort is an early expression for a quarter of a Thaler: see Thomas Wozniak, Quedlinburg im 14. und 16. Jahrhundert: Ein sozialtopographischer Vergleich (Berlin: Akademie, 2013), 105.
124
125
32
NILS LENKE ET AL.
jedog mundlig, vnd solches nicht anders alse im besten aufnemen vnd ausdeuten; vnd jch
bin es mit meinen diensten hinwider zuvorderst so wol willig als schuldig: jch mochte
wol gerne wissen, ob E[uer].G[estrenge]. auch belieben trugen zu der Geomantia,
welches ist wie Astrologia terrestris, dadurch geschwinde allerle particularia knnen
erforschet werden; so konnte davon wol ein bericht geschen; anderer sachen alhir nicht
zu gedencken, welche eins konten in augenschein gebracht werden, wormit jch vns allesambt Godtlichem schuze trewlig thu empfelen, Datum Magdeburg A[nn]o 1622. den 14
Januarij
E.G. dienstwilliger
Michael Maierus.

Magdeburg, 11 February 1622
Gestrenger, Ehrenvester, WolEdler Juncker, nach wundschung aller gelucklichen wolfart von
Godt dem Almechtigen, habe jch nit vmbgang haben knnen E.G. schriftlig so wol alse
mundlig zuvornemen zu geben, wie ich die bewuste sachen, welches sich auf hundert thaler
munze erstrecket, nun genuglig entfangen, vnd thu dafr E[urer].G[estrenge]. hochlig
dancken mit dem vorsprechen, das jch der bekanten zusage wil ernstlig nachkommen vnd
alles mit grossem danck vnd stetigem dienste, wie billig, ersthaten, jch habe auch E[urer].
G[estrenge]. buchern von den Astrologischen sachen nun ein zeitlang be mir gehabt vnd
mal durch geschlagen, vnd daraus wol vorstanden, das der Author derselben, nemblig
M. Heringius ein treflicher practicus darein gewesen se, vnd das er an E[urer].G[estrenge].
einen solchen discipel habe, dessen er sich, wan erlebte, mit nichten zu schemen, sunderen
sehr zu ruhmen hette; dan ich es gensslig dafur halte, das jn dem grossen ganzen deutschen
lande vnter soviel teusent vom Adel, kaum 4. sein, welche E[urer].G[estrenge]. hirein knnen
vorglichet werden; eben so wenig wie auch zu den | anderen, nit gemeinen, vorbogenen
kunsten vnd erfindungen; jch muss bekennen, das jch bis anhero der astrologi kein sonderer
liebhaber se gewessen, obwol jch Astronomiam alle zeit sehr werdt gehalten vnd mich darin
oftmhal belustiget, jedog habe jch solchen lust vnd liebe dazu bekommen, das jch schon fur
8. tagen wollte meiner kinder, jnsonderheit meines sohnlins, (mit namen Petrus Aurelius,
alhir zu Magedeburg A[nno]. 1619. den 28. Decemb[ris]: hora 3. pomerid: 30. min:
geboren) Themata natalitia, woferne jch nur des Origani oder anderer Ephemerides
knnen zur hand haben, aufgerichtet vnd gestellet haben, dan jch habe des Robert de Fluctibus ersten Tomum, von der der Astrologe, daraus ich, wie vorhoflig, das Iudicium generale wol wollte formirett haben, dazu mir dan in Specie sonderliche nachrichtung gethan hette
des herren Hering tractat, darein er Exempels weisse e.G. sones Nativitet tractiret vnd ausfuret. Aber jch habe solches bis auf einen andere gelegenheit mussen aufschieben; Mittlerweile habe jch Ein Geomantisch wercklein also jn tausch fur E[ure].G[estrenge].
beschrieben, das die selbe auch ohn anweissent ferner von sich selbest dasselbe werdt
fassen, vorsthen vnd practiciren knnen; hiermit bittende das erste theil des opusculi durchzulessen, vnd so E.G. die kunst beduncket in der natur grundt zu haben, auch den anderen
theil vornemen vnd fortsezen; den | dritten theil habe jch in eine grosse tabel getheilet,dazu
die anderen tabellen gehren, darumb das so ein weitleuftige sache nicht besser kan practiciret werden, also wan man sie primo aspectu zu tabellen gewar nimbt; die tabellen seint
nicht gans aus geschrieben, damit jch erst erforschete E[uer].G[estrenge]. vrtheil, ob die
solche dinge auch gerne zu solchen tabellen haben mochte, als dan kann jch auch baldt
darnach richten; zu lesten oder 4. theile werde jch noch viele mher exempel setzen: jedog
auf E[uer].G[estrenge]. begeren, wan sie mir die tabellen vnd den 4. theil widerzusenden
werden, welches auf das es mit dem ersten geschege, mochte jch wol sehen; so balde jch
33
investigation of which has cost me incredibly dearly; it will harm nobody,127 but benefit more
than a few. Just a little would help me at this time; twice as much is often spent on less worthy
things. May Your Lordship send me a comforting response, if not in writing then by word of
mouth, and receive and interpret this favourably. And I will respond in turn with my services,
both eagerly and by duty bound. I would like to know if Your Lordship also has an interest in
geomancy, which is like astrologia terrestris (terrestrial astrology),128 by which it is possible to
investigate all kinds of particulars. If so, a report could be made on this, not to mention the
other things which could be inspected at another time. Faithfully commending us all to
Gods true protection, Given Magdeburg in the year 1622, the 14th of January,
Michael Maierus.

Magdeburg, 11 February 1622
Valiant, honourable, and noble Lord, after wishing you every happiness and good health from God
the Almighty, I could not possibly neglect to report to Your Lordship in writing as well as by word of
mouth how I have now fully received certain things, which amount to a hundred Thaler in coins,
and I sincerely thank Your Lordship for it and promise in return that I will earnestly fulfil the said
pledge with the greatest gratitude and constant service, as is appropriate. I have now also spent
some time with Your Lordships books on astrological topics and leafed through them, and
learnt that their author, namely M. Heringius, was a great practitioner in this [art] and had in
Your Lordship such a disciple that, if he were alive, he would have no reason to be ashamed but
rather to congratulate himself. I believe that in the entire great German land among so many thousands of noble birth, four could hardly be found who could be compared to Your Lordship in this
respect. The same is true for the other uncommon and hidden arts and inventions. I have to admit
that so far I have not been a particular lover of astrology, although I have always been fond of
astronomy and have often enjoyed it. However, now I have developed such a love and passion
for it that already eight days ago I wanted to create natal horoscopes for my children, especially
my little son (named Petrus Aurelius, born here in Magdeburg in the year 1619, 28 December,
at 3:30 PM), if only I had had to hand the ephemerides of Origanus or others; for I have Robert
Fludds first volume on astrology, from which I was hoping to form the general judgement,
adding to it the specifics I could learn from the tract of M. Heringius, in which he describes and
elaborates upon the nativity for Your Lordships son as an example. However, I have had to postpone this until another occasion. In the meantime, I have instead composed a little work on geomancy for Your Lordship, who will thus be able, without further instructions, to grasp,
understand and practice it. Herewith I beg Your Lordship to read through the first part of the
little work, and if Your Lordship deems the art to be well-founded in nature, to also take up the
other part and continue on with it. The third part I have divided into a large table, to which the
other tables belong; this is because such an extensive topic cannot be practised better than when
it is perceived at a glance in the form of tables. The tables are not fully filled out, in order that I
may first know Your Lordships judgement as to whether you wish to have these things in the
form of such tables; if so I would be able to implement this soon. In the last or fourth part I will
add many more examples, but according to Your Lordships wishes, when you will send the
tables and the fourth part back to me, which I would like to see so that the same may be done
with the first [part]. As soon as I can get hold of the ephemerides, I will bring the astrological
127
Maier writes kemandt, which is Low German (Niederdeutsch) for niemand (nobody): see Gottlieb Mohnike,
Ernst Heinrich Zober, and Johann Berckmanns, Stralsundische Chronik und die noch vorhandenen Auszge aus
alten verloren gegangenen Stralsundischen Chroniken (Stralsund: Lffler, 1833), 386.
128
Cf. Robert Fludd, De Naturae Simia seu Technica macrocosmi historia (Oppenheim, 1618; Frankfurt, 1624), 717:
De principio interno Astrologi terrestrae seu Geomanti.
34
NILS LENKE ET AL.
die Ephemerides kann mechtig werden, will jch das Iudicium Astrologi in besondere tabellen bringen, als nemblig erst die Domicilia, zum anderen die 12. Signa Zodiaci; zum dritten
die 7. Planetas, sambt jhrer fortitudinibus vnd debilitudibus, vnd testimons signitatum,
daraus man alsobaldt das Iudicium astrologicum, das sonsten sehr weitleuftig, formiren
konnte, vnd solches desto lieber, wan auch E[ure].G[estrenge]. mit diesser arbeidt konnte
bedienet werden; jch sende E.G. hieneben ein Exempel von Saturno, da doch die effectus
nicht sein, sunder folgen wurden; solche tabelle wurde noch sein 6. von den planeten vnd
12. von den signis zodiaci, auch noch 13. wegen der Domuum cli; solche vnterwerfe jch
E[uer].G[estrenge]. Iudicio, [felichte?] hat die viel besser tabellen darein; jch vbersende E.
G. die bucher hirmit wider, solte jch aber alhir eins die Ephemerides bekommen (dan Jez |
der frank nur ein Exemplar hat, da schon geldt von einem gegeben) so wollte ich umb das
buch Heringij E[uer].G[estrenge]. sohns Natiuiteth betreffendt ein wenig wider gebeten
haben; hiermit thu ich Godt den Almechtigen E[ure].G[estrenge]. befelen, vnd mich derselben
dienste zuvorflichten, Actum Magdeburg den 11. Feb[ruarii]. A[nno]. 1622.
E[uer].G[estrenge].
gudtwilliger
Michael Maierus D[octor].

Magdeburg, 2 March 1622
Edler, Gestrenger, Ehrnvester grossgunstiger Juncker, nach erbietung meiner stets geflissenen
diensten, vnd wundschung aller geluckseligkeit von Godt dem Almechtigen, kan ich nicht
vnterlassen, nachdeme ich zufellige bodtschaft bekommen, E.G. hiemit auf vorige schreibendt
zu antworten, das ich nemblig so willig alse schuldig mich befunden, das Astrologische werck
mit grosser emsigkeit vnd fleis zusamen zu tragen, jns teutsche vbersetzen, vnd es also anordnen das es einem vorstendigen daraus das Iudicium zu formiren werde ersprieslig vnd angeneme sein, Dan ob wol E[ure].G[estrenge]. in demselben Studio so wol erfaren, das sie
keines anderen vielweniger eines bis anhero unerfarenen vormanunge vnd vorschreibende
ntig habe; jedog deweil dieselbe mit anderen geschften ohn zweifel sehr beladen vnd es
[ke?]mande muglig ist, jn der memorien alle hiezu notige requisita zu behalten ohn eine
orden[?] vorzeichnisse, so habe jch gerne solche arbeidt der zusammenbringung vnd aufschreibung der excerpten des Iudic in gewisse tabellen auf mich genommen, vngezweifelt es
werde die nichts anders als trewlig vnd wolmeinentlig von [mir?] vorstanden vnd aufgenommen werden; Jch zweiffele nicht, sundern es werden solche tabellen E[urer].G[estrenge]. zu der
Intention nicht vnnutzlig fallen wie jch dan kan bezeugen, das jch sie sehr fleissig vnd nicht
ohn arbeidt zusamen bracht, das auch keins so ich dienstlig befunden, ausgelassen, oder so
vberflussig gesezet; Sed res, me tacent, loquatur ipsa: Ob wol wenig Exempla seint hinden
angesezet, so werde doch E[ure].G[estreng]. besser wissen die regulas vnd precepta denselben
zu appliciren, alse jch derselben vorzuschreiben habe; Was sonsten das vbrige von dem Iudicio
Geomantico anlanget, ist das auch baldt vorfertiget, diesses vber sende jch zu diesser zeit
damit E[ure].G[estreng]. sich darin in otio belustigen vnd alles perlustriren knne; Jn was zustande wir alhir [?]| in deme nun die thore baldt 14. tage vorschlossen vnd wir wenig oder
nichts, was sunsten noch von aussen herein zu kommen pflegt, geniessen konnen, werdt E
[ure].G[estreng]. nun schon wol erfaren haben; der nun nichts auszuhkeren oder zu vorkauffen, oder sunsten von groben handierungen zumachen hat, (wie dan alle gelerte) die seindt
zum vbelsten daran; jedog hoffe jch, es werde noch ein besser zeit hirauf folgen, wormit E.
G. ich godt dem Almechtigen trewlig thu empfelen. Dat[um]. Magdeburg, den 2. Mart[ii].
A[nn]o 1622.
E.G. dienstwilliger
Michael Maier D[octor],
C[omes].
35
judgement into the form of special tables, namely first the houses and then the twelve signs of the
Zodiac, thirdly the seven planets together with their virtues and weaknesses, and the testimonials of
their significance, from which one could then form the astrological judgement, which otherwise can
be very complex. And I would be all the more eager to do this if Your Lordship could be assisted by
this work; I attach an example of Saturn, because the effects will not [just] be, but rather ensue. Of
such tables there would be six more for the planets and twelve for the signs of the Zodiac, also thirteen for the celestial houses. These I subject to the judgement of Your Lordship, who perhaps has
much better tables. I also return Your Lordships books, but if I should be able to obtain the ephemerides (because right now Frank [the bookseller] only has one copy, for which he has already
received money from somebody) I would like to ask for the book of Heringius again, on the
subject of the nativity of Your Lordships son. With this I recommend your Lordship to God the
Almighty, and offer my dutiful services. Given Magdeburg, the 11th of February in the year 1622.
Your Lordships well willing [servant],
Michael Maierus, Doctor.

Noble, valiant, honourable, and generous lord, after offering my ever-diligent services and
wishes for all blessings from God the Almighty, I cannot omit (after coincidentally receiving
a message) to answer Your Lordships previous letters, namely that I am both willing and
dutybound to compile the astrological work with great diligence and application, to translate
it into German, and to arrange it in such a way that it will be pleasant and easy for someone
knowledgeable to form a judgement from it. For although Your Lordship is so well versed in
these studies that you do not need prescription or advice from anybody else, much less so from
someone hitherto inexperienced, nevertheless because Your Lordship without doubt is burdened with other business and nobody can keep the necessary requisites in mind without
an ordered list, I have been very happy to take on this work of compiling and writing out
excerpts of the judgement into certain tables; no doubt these will be received and understood
as well-intentioned and faithful. I have no doubt that such tables will be of use to your Lordship for this intention, and I can testify that I have collected them with diligence and not
without labour, and that I left out nothing that I felt was useful, nor inserted anything that
was superfluous. Sed res, me tacent, loquatur ipsa:129 although a few examples have been
added, Your Lordship will know better how to apply the regularities and the precepts than
I know how to describe them. With respect to the rest of the geomantic judgement, this
will also be ready soon; I send what I have now so that Your Lordship can amuse yourself
with it at your leisure and browse through it all. Your Lordship will already have heard
about the state we find ourselves in here, now that the gates have been closed for nearly fourteen days and we can enjoy little or nothing of what usually comes in from the outside. Those
who have nothing to sell or trade, nor a plain craft to engage in (like all the learned people),
are suffering the most. However, I hope that better times will come and I truly commend Your
Lordship to God the Almighty. Given Magdeburg, the 2nd of March in the year 1622.
Michael Maier D[octor].
Count
129
But if I am silent, the things will speak for themselves; cf. Cicero, Orations, ed. and trans. Nevile Watts (Harvard:
Harvard University Press, 1972), 80.
36
NILS LENKE ET AL.

Meine freundwillige vnd stetsgeflissene dienste sambt wundschung aller Geluckseligkeit von
Godt dem Almechtigen zu jeder zeit befor; Gestrenger, WolEdler, Ehrnvester, grossgunstiger
Juncker vielgeliebter vnd werdter Patron so woll als H. Gefatter, Obwol es nicht meine Natur,
[ge?]brauch oder eigenschaft, mich be jemande, der sonsten mit hochwichtigen gescheften
beladen, zu jnsinueren, so hab jch doch solches zu diesser zeit jn respect E[urer].G[estrenge].
aus wolbedachten vrsachen gethan, alse nemblig fur ersten, das jch mit so einem hochbegabten
vnd weitberumdten vnter andern vom Adel einen sehr eiferigen Liebhaber vnd befurderer aller
gelarten vnd sonderlicher freien kunsten mochte zum theil jn gudtvortrauwen vnd kundschaft
geraten, vnd zum anderen, das jch jn diesser gans sehr beschwerlichen zeit, da alle grobe vnd
vnlobliche schinderei, vnthrew vnd handthierung dem studirende vnd der feder weit vorgezogen,
vnd dieselbe zu vndertrukken hoch erhobet werden, mochte solchen patronum Mecnatem vnd
furderer antreffen, welcher seiner natur nach zu plozlichen des vnglucks anstoss mir mochte die
hulfliche handt bieten; da jch dan nach vornunftlicher betrachtung jn keinem theil zu schelten,
deweil beides die Natur, gute gewonheit vnd vernunft sambt der noturft lehret vnd forschreibet:
Wegen der ersten vrsachen habe jch nicht genugsam zuvorwunderen vnd zu gratuliren das jch
solchen jn der Medicinalischen, Astrologischen vnd anderen dergeleichen kunsten an E.G. angetroffen, dafur dan ich denselben so mich zu diesser notitiam erstlig ursache gegeben fur deer
zeit, wie billig, grossen danck gesaget: der andre vrs[ache] belangende hab jch auch meine hoffnung nicht berr oder vorgeblig gefunden, sunderen das patrocinium E. bis anhero genugsam vnd mildiglig gespuret, dafur dan E.G. gans freundlichen danck sage vnd auch mir |
dacht alles danckbarlig zu vorgeben vorspreche, Was nun mein dienst jn einem oder anderen
sein mochte, sol der zu keiner zeit hinderstellig bleiben; Jch kan aber aus vorgesezter zuversicht
nicht vnterlassen, E.G. wie meinen grossgunstigen gunner, patrono vnd h. gefatteren zu vormelden vnd anzudeuten, das jch fur vngefer einem halben jar darvnter zu Hamburg gewessen, da dan
jch einer vornemen Adelsperson, jn holstein, vorsprochen vnd zugesagt Ein hohe vnd sonderbare
Medicin ex auro, welche des D. Francisci Anton in engellandt meines guten freundes Aurum
potabile, so jch in ziemlicher copia mit aus Engellandt gebracht vnd zu vielen krancken vorsuchet, weit vbertriffe, jn betrachtung das jch nun gans 20. jar mit solcher erforschung, wie
theiles meine bucher anzeigen, zugbracht, zu machen vnd prpariren, Ob nun woll durch
Gottes sonderbare erleuchtung vnd gnade nach vnaussprechlicher vnd unglaublicher arbeidt,
vnkost, fleiss, muhe, wachendt, jrrung vnd widerholung jch so weit gekommen, das jch ein
kleine probe der lang gesuchten Medicin gefunden vnd angetroffen, so habe jch doch in
diesser theuren zeit wegen anderer dinge notwendigkeit nicht knnen dahin mich bemuhen,
das jch es mit eigener vnkost hette jm grossern mochten vor nemen; Dan die principal materialien
seint so theuer bis anhero gewesen, das jch der selben ein vnze, (die jch dan mher dan funfzig
mhal schon fur vielen jaren hiran gesezet vnd wegen lehrgeldes entrathen) jn diesser zeit vnd
orte nicht habe zu wegebringen konnen, derweil dan jch gedacht nur mit eigener vnkost meine
Medicinalia zu treiben vnd nicht mit jemandes anderen, (der sich hiedurch mochte angesezet
zu werden gedencken) so habe jch nodwendiglig nun diesse 6. monat mussen stille sizen vnd
auf fugliche mittel dazu vorharren; kun auch nicht anderer wege gesinnet gewesen, hirzu |
jemandes ander zu sollicitiren oder bemuhen; So hat sich vnvorhofflig zugetragen das alhir ein
grosse vorenderung in der munze offentlig angeschlagen, alse nemblig den schreckenberger fur
6 zu entfangen vnd auszugeben, daher dan alle ding das gesteren einen schreckenberger gegolten,
heut 2. gelten muss, dadurch dan mir ein ziemlicher schade ensthen mochte, wofern jch nicht be
zeite dem befor keme, dan Jch habe alhie auf dem wechsel vnd anderswo ez[l]iche gulden vnd
silberen sachen vorsezet, alse nemblig ein par gulden armbande von 24. kronen, darauf Jch
etwas geldes entfangen, fur einem halben jar, aber ist es mit aller zinsse vnd aufgelde auf 77.
gemeine thaler gerechnet, dazu ein silberen weibes leibgurtel von 26. lothen, darauf 40.
gemeine thaler entfangen; zusamen mit rente vnd alles vngefer 140. thaler, welche machen be
37

My amicable and ever-diligent services and wishes for all blessings from God the
Almighty at all times: valiant, noble, honourable, and generous lord, much beloved
and valued patron and benefactor, although it is not my nature, habit, or character to
insinuate myself with someone who is occupied with highly important business, I have
done so at this time with Your Lordship for carefully considered reasons. Namely,
that first of all I wanted to obtain the acquaintance and the trust of such a highly
gifted admirer and patron of all learned and in particular liberal arts, famed among
his noble peers. Secondly, because in these very difficult times, in which brutal and shameful torture, treason and conflict are much preferred to studies and the pen, and the
former are encouraged to suppress the latter, I desired to meet such a patron and benefactor who according to his nature would offer me his helping hand after sudden disaster
had befallen me. Looking at it reasonably, I cannot be blamed for either reason, since
both are dictated and prescribed by nature, good custom and reason, as well as by necessity. With respect to the first reason, I cannot rejoice and congratulate myself enough
that I have met in the person of Your Lordship someone so well versed in medical, astrological, and other arts, for which I duly and greatly thank that same person who first
gave me cause to write this note. With respect to the other reason, I have also not
found my hopes disappointed; instead I have experienced Your Lordships abundant
and gentle patronage, for which I express my very amiable gratitude to Your Lordship
and promise to return the favour in whatever form my service might take, which I
will always make a priority. However, I cannot neglect to mention and report to your
Lordship as my protector, patron, and benefactor that roughly half a year ago I was
in Hamburg, where I promised and committed to a nobleman from Holstein to make
and prepare a high and special medicine from gold, which surpasses by far the Aurum
potabile of my good friend Dr Francis Anthony that I brought back from England in
rather copious amounts and tested upon many sick people; for I have spent a full
twenty years researching how to make and prepare [it], as can partly be seen from my
books. Although through Gods special enlightenment and grace, after inexpressible
and unbelievable labour, cost, diligence, effort, lack of sleep, error, and repetition, I
have come so far that I have found and discovered a small sample of the long-sought
medicine; nevertheless in these expensive times I have not been able to start working
on it on a large scale at my own cost due to other necessities. This is because thus far
the principal materials have been so expensive that I have not been able to obtain an
ounce of them here and now (and for many years I have employed [this amount]
more than fifty times only to lose it due to error). However, as I thought of practising
my medicine only at my own cost and not that of anybody else (who might thereby
have felt imposed upon), I have been forced to sit still for the last six months, waiting
for suitable funds. I was also not able to think of other ways to solicit or ask for somebody elses help. An unexpected major change in the currency has been announced here,
namely to exchange a Schreckenberger for six Groschen, so that all the things that cost
one Schreckenberger yesterday must cost two Schreckenberger today. This will cause me
significant harm unless I can prevent it in time. Half a year ago I pawned several golden
and silver items at the money exchange and elsewhere, namely a few twenty-four-carat
golden bracelet for which I received little money, but with all the interest and the fees
it now amounts to seventy-seven common Thaler; in addition a womans girdle made
from silver and weighing twenty-six Lothen [thirteen ounces], for which I received
forty common Thaler. Together with the interest and everything else it amounts to
approximately one hundred and forty Thaler, which is equal to around twenty Reichsthaler. Everybody who has such pawns due is thinking of means and ways to redeem
38
NILS LENKE ET AL.
20. Reichsthaler; diweil dan ein jeder der dergeleichen pfande hat austehn, auf mittel vnd wege
gedencket, die jezo wider einzulsen, damit nicht ein grossere weitleufigkeit daraus entsthen
mochte, oder die pfande gans [bestecken?] bleiben; So kan jch nicht vnterlassen E[ure].G
[estrenge]. dienstwillig zu besuchen vnd bitten; das die wolle nur, so ferne es jmmer geschen
knne, dem johan wenckenbach, wie E[urer].G[estrenge]. diener, gunstiglig befelch thun,
deweil er ohn das leichtlig zu so vielen gelderen rathen kan, das er solche zweierley pfande fur
genaues geldt einlsen vnd bey sich behalten mochten, auf diesse condition; das einer von den
armbenden mir [mo]chte fur erste zugestellet werden, welchen ich zu forigem [ge]brauch der vorhabendenen Medicin alsbaldt gedachte anzuw[en]den, das ander aber, nemblig den ermbande
vnd gu[rtel], dieweiles nach Jhrer werte dem ausgelegten gel[de] gleich, oder noch genug
darvber sein wurde, solte her Wenckenbach bey sich trewlig behalten bis das jch | dem contract vnd vorsprechung nach die 9. Medicinalische bucher E[urer].G[estrenge]. vollenfurte vnd
zustellete; Durch diesses mittel mochte kemandt sich befurchten, das Jch gegen alle warheit
eines andern zuthun zu meiner Medicin begerte, damit jch ohn das einem jedlichem, so ihrer
notig zu dienen mich vorspreche; Dazu were jch meines vorsthenden schadens enthoben, vnd
keiner theil davon, wie jch hoffe, vorlezet; vngezweifelt, Es werde E[ure].G[estrenge]. diesse
meine freundliche anmuthung, nicht meiner vnbescheidenheit, sunder der jezigen sachen noturftigkeit, vnd dem guten vortrawen, so jch zu E[urer].G[estrenge]. trage, zuschreiben, vnd mein
grossgunstiger Juncker, patron vnd h. gefatter zu sein vnd bleiben; Dan es mir gans wol
bekandt, das E[ure].G[estrenge]. auf das Englische Aurum potabile wol 5. mhal so viel ehrmahles
gewendet, alse ich nur begere; Das fur zufor gedachte pfande von jemande erlegt werden; was
auch fur ein vnderscheidt zwischen jenem vnd diessem sein werde, werde solches wol erkandt
werden; Andere nuzbarkeit, so hiraus vnd aus anderen meinen diensten folgen konten, nicht
zu gedencken; solte hier auf E.G. einen weiteren bericht begeren, kan dieselbe von seinem
diener, wol mundlig entfangen, wormit E[ure].G[estrenge]. jch gottes almechtigem schutz
trewlig thu empfehlen; Dat[um]. Magdeburg 13. Mart[ii]: A[nn]o 1622.
E.G. dienstwillger
Michal Maierus Doctor:

Magdeburg, 15 April 1622
Woledler, Gestrenger, Ehrenvester Juncker, Nach wundschung aller gluckseligkeit von Godt
dem almechtigen vnd erbietung meiner stets bereiten dienste, kan jch nicht vnterlassen,
deweil E[uer].G[estrenge]. diener jn meinem abweende ezliche wilde vogel mir zu einem
present vnd vorehrung gebracht, dafur E[urer].G[estrenge]. zum aller freundlichsten zu
dancken, vnd derselben wider mit allen meinen nutzlichen fleis zu wilferen vnd dienen zu vorsprechen, Was angelanget die beide be forfugte cabalistische bucher, ist zwar das grosse mir
zufor, wie auch dessen Author, wol bekandt, das kleine aber nicht zufor for kommen; Dasselbe
deweil aus dem waren grunde vnd brunnen Israelis herfur geflossen, bedunket mir der beste
weg zu sein zu der waren vnd godlichen cabala; Ob aber der Author mher dergeleichen opera,
wie er jn der praefation ad lectorem vorspricht, habe ausghen lassen, oder anderen cabalistic
communiciret, ist mir vnbewust, jch zweifele nicht, das er grosse wunder, wie er daselbst
schreibt, durch godliche offenbarung vnd anruffung seines namens, habe erlanget, jedog
halte jch solches fur die warhafte Theologiam, vnd Lumen Grati, vnd nicht die Theosophiam, vnd Lumen Natur, dessen jch zufor gedacht vnd darvnter ein vnterscheidt
gemacht habe; Des Amphitheatri Author ist mir fur ungefer 21. jaren zu dantzig jn preussen,
da jch damals Medicus, bekandt gewessen; Hernach auch A[nn]o 1609. hat mir ein furstliche
person jn geheim endecket, wie er bey derselben gewesen, vnd jhr die materiam des Lapidis
philosophici zu offenbaren vorsprochen, soferne sie ihme ein wrdige belonung dafur
geben wolte, auf dieselbige Materiam ist disses des Authoris, wie auch alle andere teutsche
39
them, to avoid the costs getting out of hand or the pawns being lost entirely. That is why
I cannot neglect to humbly entreat Your Lordship that you might, if at all possible, order
your servant Johann Wenckenbach as he can easily command such sums to redeem
these two pawns for the exact sum due and keep them, with one condition: that one of
the bracelets be given to me for now, which I intend to immediately use for the abovementioned intended medicine. The others, i.e. the bracelet and the girdle, which are
equal in value to the money advanced to me, or even more than that, Mr Wenckenbach
should faithfully keep until I have finished and delivered the nine medical books according to my promise and contract. In this way nobody need worry that I deceitfully wish
somebody to contribute to my medicine and thereby avoid serving everyone I have promised [to serve]. Also, I would be saved from the harm described above and in no way
affected by it, as I hope. May Your Lordship attribute my friendly request not to my
lack of modesty but rather to the necessity of the current affairs, and to the good
trust I have in Your Lordship; and remain my generous lord, patron, and benefactor,
for I know very well that Your Lordship in the past spent probably five times as
much on the English Aurum potabile compared with what I am asking for. What
some will pay for the abovementioned pawn, and what the difference will be between
this and that such things will be clearly recognised, not to mention the other benefits
resulting from this and my other services. Should Your Lordship wish to receive another
report on this matter, a verbal account can be obtained from his servant. With this I truly
commend Your Lordship to the protection of God the Almighty. Given Magdeburg, the
13th of March in the year 1622.
Michael Maierus, Doctor

Magdeburg, 15 April 1622
Noble, valiant, and honourable lord, after wishing you all bliss from God the Almighty and
offering my ever-ready services, I must not neglect to thank Your Lordship very much for
sending a servant with several wild fowl as a present during my absence, and to promise in
return to comply and serve with all useful diligence. With respect to the enclosed two Cabalistic books, the large one was well known to me before, as was its author, but I had not yet
seen the smaller one. It seems to me to be the best path to the true divine Cabala as it flowed
from the true foundation and the fountainhead of Israel. However, I do not know whether the
author has published more such works, as he announces in the preface to the reader or
whether he communicated them to others in a Cabalistic way. I have no doubt that he attained
great miracles, as he writes in the same place, through divine revelation and the invocation of
His name, but I judge this to be the true theology and light of grace rather than the theosophy
and light of nature, which I have previously considered and distinguished from one another. I
became acquainted with the author of the Amphiteatre 130 approximately twenty-one years
ago in Danzig in Prussia, where I was a physician at the time. Subsequently, in 1609, a princely
person informed me in private that the same man had sought them out, promising to reveal the
matter of the Philosophers Stone if they were willing to give him a worthy reward for it. This
130
Heinrich Khunraths Amphiteatrum sapientiae aeternae.
40
NILS LENKE ET AL.
bucher gegrundet, welche er nennet alhir pag: 216. Magnesiam Philosophorum, einen sohn der
grossen weldt; Der gedachte furste bekennete, jedog mit grosser schamhaftigkeit, das er jhm 200
Reichsthaler vorehret, sein diener sagte, das er ihm 2000. thaler vorehret hette, vnd sagte fre
heraus, das es were Silex, davon er so viel papir fulgeschrieben, vnd tausenderle gleichnissen
vnd spruche eingefuren hette; Aber hierein ist der gute man sehr weit aus den grenssen der
Natur vnd warheit gewichen, welches ein [Eyn?] vnd | nicht allein jn der Chymia sunderen
auch physica vnd gansse philosophia wol besser vorsthet; dan wie der thiere vormehrung vnd
fortbringung geschicht durch den thierischen samen, so einem jeden geschlechte zugeeignet
ist, also auch der planten vnd erdgewechse, durch einen samen der planten, vnd der metallen,
durch einen metallischen; Nur ist ja Silex, ein kiselsthein nicht metallisch, sunderen gehret
vnter die lapides, Ob aber man wol weiss, das er einen schwefel, vnd den samen oder anfang
des feuers in sich hat, daraus kan doch nichtes folgen, das er zu dem grossen werck gehre; derselbe Author aber hat ein geringschezige materie genommen, welche sich oben die vegetabilia,
animalia vnd Mineralia erstreckt, darumb nennet er sie auch Catholicam, als wan er damit
alles was auf erden ist, gedachte zu vorenderen; darin er doch sich nur mher belustiget, vnd
seinen gedancken nach gegangen, dan der warheit: Er hat nicht allein wollen, das sein Silex
sich erstrecke vber alles was weldtlig ist, das ist Elemente, Mineralien, planten, vnd thiere, sunderen auch was geistlig, darumb er dan in besunderen tractatlein alle artickel vnsers waren
Christlichen glaubens auf seinen Silicem vnd erdichteten Lapidem nicht p[hilosoph]orum sunderen imaginarium, godloser vnd vnvorschemten weisse gedeutet hat, welches jch vnd kein guter
Christ ihn konnen im besten ausdeuten, wie er dan von vielen deswegen in schriften grewlig ausgemacht werdt, wie er nicht vnwirdig; Das er nun alhir die spruche Salomonis ausliget, lass jch in
seinem werte beruhen; so fern er nicht aus den schrancken der waren Theologia sich begibt; das
ist gewiss, wan er seine applicationes machet wegen des Lapidis philosophia vnd seiner Materien, das er den einigen silicem dadurch vorsthe; Dan er hat vormeint, es stehe in dem steine
aller welde weissheit, welches doch keins weissen vrtheil ist; Jch glaube, wan man wolte
physi vnd polytiae von dem selben geringen vorachteten steine schreiben, solte man wol ein
ziemliches buch davon zu wege bringen, deweil es ist ein stucklein von den geschopfen gottes,
Aber gegen die sachen, dahin er es deutet, ist es zu rechnen wie nichtes, vnd so weit davon,
alse der himmel von der erden; Die figuren desselben Amphiteatrj seint sehr wunderbar, als
des authoris imagination erdichtet; welche doch alle ghen auf den silicem; welcher ist alles in
allem; Auf denselben deutet er die Spruche aus Danielis | im 2. Cap.: vers: 34. vnd 45. da
sthet, das es ein stein herabgerissen wardt ohn hende, der schlug das bilde an seine fusse, die
eissen vnd thon waren vnd zermalmet sei; wie er sezet jn der grossen figur nehest nach dem
214. bladt, da sthet der Silex mit den buchstaben IHESV, Dan:2. vers: 34. vnd 45. Filius
mundi maioris. Solche einbildung aber seint nicht Theosophicae, viel weniger Physicae oder
Chymicae, den sie seint godt, der natur, vornunft vnd erfarenheit entgegen; Sonsten lass jch
einen jeden be seiner meinung bleiben, es mach einer hievon viel halten oder nicht; Jch habe
in der chymia mher dan dreihunderterle opiniones, eine nach der ander gehabt, welche doch
durch die folgende erfarenheit widerlegt vnd fur jrrig erkandt, auch die vrsache expositionibus
genugsam befunden, jedog wan ich jemals hette nur den geringsten gedancken den hundersten
theil solcher absurden opinion erlanget, muste ich mich des wegen schemen vnd jez darvber
lachen; Die erste opinion, die jch geffaset, die habe jch aus den authoren geschopfet, ein gans
Jar ste betrachtet, darnach in die berg stede bis in vngeren, auf mher dan 24. Berckwerck vorreisset, alles erforschet be bergleuten vnd gelerten; Darnach wie jch zu haus gekommen, vnd ein
gross theil des erzes mit gebracht, daraus das silber vnd goldt durch die natur herfur gewachsen,
habe jch 5 gansse jar darein gearbeitet also das das feuer nacht und tag gehalten, ohn vnterlass,
das jch mher dan 15. hundert nachte continu, nicht fur eins jn die nacht mich zu bette gelegt,
vnd vmb 4. wider herfur; Jedog sage Ich, ist diesse meine opinion die aller weiteste von der
warheit, ob sie wol der natur gemess; was wolte dan einer sagen, der auch die metal vorliesse
vnd giebe sich zu dem flindstein den zubearbeiten, davon fur dis mhal genug: Wegen der
bucher, so nach lubeck sollen, thu jch bericht, das ob godt wil, baldt nach den osterfeiertagen
41
[book] by the author, as well as all the other German books, is founded on this matter, which
he calls here, on page 216, Magnesia of the Philosophers, a son of the macrocosm. Although
very much ashamed, the aforementioned prince admitted that he had given [him] two hundred
Reichsthaler; his servant said that he had [in fact] given him two thousand Thaler, and freely
admitted that it was silex of which he had written and filled so much paper, and upon which
he based thousands of allegories and sayings. Yet hereby the good man has strayed very far
beyond the borders of nature and truth, which can be understood in a better manner by
someone well versed not only in chymia but also in physica and the whole philosophy, for
since the breeding and propagation of animals occurs through animal semen suitable to
each species, so also plants [are propagated] through plant seeds, and metals through a metallic seed. But silex, a flintstone, is not a metal but rather classed with the stones. Although it is
known that it contains sulphur and the seed or beginning of fire, in no way does it follow from
this that it belongs to the great work. Yet the same author takes an inferior material encompassing vegetables, animals, and minerals which is why he calls it catholic as if he wanted to
transform everything on earth with it. However, in this matter he was only amusing himself
and followed his own thoughts rather than the truth: not only did he want his silex to encompass
everything which is of this world, i.e. elements, minerals, plants, and animals, but also spiritual
things. Thus in particular tracts he godlessly and insolently interpreted all articles of our true
Christian faith in light of his silex and self-invented Stone, not [the Stone] of the Philosophers
but rather of the imagination. Neither I nor any good Christian can interpret this in his
favour, and as a consequence he has been horribly ridiculed in many tracts, as well he deserves.
He may interpret the sayings of Solomon as he wishes, as long as he does not go beyond the limits
of true theology. However, the latter is certainly the case when he makes his associations concerning the Philosophers Stone and its materials, which he identifies solely with the silex. For he supposes that the wisdom of the entire world is contained in this stone, which is not the judgement of
a wise man. I think that if one wanted to describe the physica and the polytiae of this same
inferior, despised stone, one would be able to make quite a substantial book, because it is a
little piece of Gods creation. But in comparison with this his interpretation counts for
nothing, and is as far removed from it as the sky is from the earth. The figures of the aforementioned Amphitheatre are very wonderful, since they were invented by the authors imagination:
they all point to the silex, which is everything in all things. He interprets the sayings of Daniel
2.34 and 2.45 as allusions to it [the silex], where it is mentioned that a stone was cut out
without hands which broke the feet of the statue, which were made from iron and clay, and
crushed them. He also inserts it into the large figure after page 214: there you can see the silex
with the letters IHESV, Dan. 2.34 and 2.35, Filius mundi maioris.131 However, such fancies
do not belong to Theosophica, and much less to Physica or Chymica, as they are against
God, nature, reason, and experience. Usually I let everyone adhere to their own opinion,
whether one thinks highly of it or not. I have had more than three hundred opinions in the
field of chemistry, one after the other, which were then rejected and recognised as erroneous
through subsequent experience; I even thought the cause in these explanations was sufficient.
However, had I ever had the slightest thought which was only one hundredth as absurd as
such an opinion, I would have been ashamed of it at the time, and [would] now laugh about
it. The first opinion I ever conceived I took from the authors; I thought about it for a year,
then I travelled into the mountain towns all the way to Hungary, to twenty-four mines, investigating all that I could among the miners and the learned people. After returning home, when I
had brought with me a large quantity of the ores from which nature grows silver and gold, I
worked for a full five years on it, keeping the fire going day and night without pause, so that
for more than fifteen hundred consecutive nights I did not go to bed before one and awoke
again at four. Nevertheless, I declare that this opinion of mine was the very farthest from the
truth, even if it was in accordance with nature. So what can one say who leaves the metals to
131
Son of the greater world.
42
NILS LENKE ET AL.
jch selbst dahin gedenck zu vorreissen; zu welcher reisse jch dan, ob wol schwachheit halben ich
es sonsten, et re familiari non poscente, nicht thete, das vorsprechen, so E[ure].G[estrenge]. fur
diessen mhal durch gegenwertigen seinen diener mir anerboten, (hoc est, ad huc aliquid in rem
promissam, et quid ulterius, zu senden vnd zuzustellen zulassen) zu allem danck anneme, vorhoffende nach [alle, gebethe demselben?] genug zu [?], | wormit E.G. jch gottlichem schuze trewlig
thu empfelen; Dab: Magdeburg, den 15. April A[nno]. 1622.
E.G.
dienstwilliger
Michael Maierus C[omes],

Magdeburg, 9 July 1622
Gestrenger, Woll Edler, Ehrenvester Grossgunstiger Juncker, Es seint E[urer].G[estrenge]. meine
willige dienste zu jeder zeit bereidt, mit wundschung aller gluckseligkeit von Godt dem Almechtigen, vnd kan E[ure].G[estrenge]. mit diessem schreibende, be jeziger gelegenheit zu besuchen nit
vnterlassen, Erstlig der vrsachen, das jch nit fur vndanckbar wegen vbersendung der besten gefugell, vnd nun der 3. steine guter wolle, so meiner frawen zu ihrer hausshaltung vber alles vordienst vorehret, so ferne jch deswegen mit den Gratys nicht solte auf den Geber zu rucke
sehen vnd ihm schriftlig dafur dancken, mochte geachtet werden, Derowegen dan E.G. hiefor,
wie auch fur alles ander, jch hchligen vnd dienstlichen danck weiss, der hoffnung es mochte
Godt alles dahin fugen mit meinen sachen, das jch mit der daht vnd warheit, wer es nicht an
geldt oder gude, jedog an anderen nuzbaren vnd E[urer].G[estrenge]. gefalligen sachen,
mochte hinwider danckbarlig gespuret werden, Zum anderen derweil jch vortrewlicher weisse
an E.G. diener johan wenckenbach geschrieben, wegen noch ezlicher sorten der abgesezten
munzen mir zu wege zu bringen den ich in diesser beschwerlichen zeit einen nuzen da
hette machen konnen, welchen sunsten die abwei weg nemen, vnd er, wie jch vorstanden, es
E[urer].G[estrenge]. angedeutet, so mag E[ure].G[estrenge]. darauf wissen, das jch es darumb
gethan, das jch mochte durch mittel dessen was sunderbares vnd hohes, davon jch so oft geschrien, in der Medicin vorrichte[n] vnd das darumb, das jch nicht angesehen mochte werden,
das ich ander, so nicht lust da zu haben, mochte hin zu ziehen vnd in vnkostvng [brin] | gen,
welches niemals godt weis, mein sinn vnd gemudt gewesen, auch nicht sein soll, vnd dem nach
solche sorten nicht mher vorhanden, spure jch wol, das mir hierein kein sonderbar nuze entstehn
kan; Jch habe auch genugsten aus des wenckenbachs worten, alse vbergesendeten gaben vorstanden, das E[uer].G[estrenge]. gemuthe gegen mir geneiget vnd nichts abgenommen, Darumb jch
fast mir gedancken mache, Es wurde E[ure].G[estrenge]. mher meine grosse nodtwendigkeit zu
den sachen, dafr ich es zu gebrauchen gedencke, ansehen, dan meine vnvorschamenheit oder
vberaus dieses anmuthent, ja viel mher aus seiner angeboren milde gewonheit, dan aus
meinen vordienst, oder hofnung desselben, vnd so viel Jhr G[estrenge]. geliebet, darzu liehnen
vnd zu kommen zu lassen, damit jch einmahl muge sehen vnd vorsthen, was jch zu der muehsamen Medicin nach so viel Jare mit grossen vnkosten vnd irrdumb getrieben, ob da warheit oder
falscheit se, solte jch solche ein vorhofte Medicin eins zu henden kriegen, zweifel Jch nicht, man
wurde viel apothekerschische sachen damit zu kaufen vberhaben sein; Zu diess[en] vrsachen
kumpt hin zu, das jezo die Medicin hier nichtes geldt, vnd dadurch nicht das geringste zu
erwerben; Wan jch aber solte ein tag oder ezliche hiemit haben for gehabt, wolte Jch vorweissen
vnd wol sehen, ob jch damit meinen nuzen schaffen konte; Warheit sol allezeit be mir sein, vnd
aufrichtigkeit, daran E[ure].G[estrenge]. nicht zu zweifelen; wormit E[ure].G[estrenge]. jch
gothes gnedigem schuze trewlig thu empfelen, 9. Juijy A[nn]o 1622. zu Magdeburg
E.G.
Williger
Michael Maier D[octor]:
43
work on flintstone? Enough on this matter for now. In relation to the books which need to be
brought to Lbeck, I should report that I intend to go there myself, soon after the Easter celebrations, if God wills it, although I would not otherwise make the journey because of my weakness;
and because I am not needed there on family business, I would like to gratefully accept the offer
Your Lordship made via your servant (namely, to send and have delivered hither some of the
promised things, and something more). Hoping, [.]. With which I truly commend Your Lordship to Gods protection. Given Magdeburg, the 15th of April in the year 1622.
Your Lordships willing servant
Michael Maierus Count.

Valiant, noble, honourable, and generous lord, I am eagerly at Your Lordships service at all
times, and I wish you all blessings from God the Almighty; and I cannot omit to visit your
Lordship on this occasion with this letter. Firstly, because I did not want to appear ungrateful
by failing to respond to the donor and thanking him in writing after you honoured us above
anything we have deserved by sending the best fowl and three stones of good wool to my wife
for her household. Hence, I want to thank Your Lordship very much and in all servitude for
this and everything else, hoping that God may direct my fortunes, so that I will in return be
seen as thankful in deeds and wisdom, if not with money and goods then with other useful and
pleasant things. Secondly, because I wrote to your servant Johann Wenckenbach with respect
to his bringing me several sorts of discontinued coin which could have been of use to me in
these difficult times, and which the [?] would otherwise take away. I understand that he mentioned this to Your Lordship, and I would like Your Lordship to know that I did this so that I
might by such means achieve something noble and exceptional in medicine, of which I have
cried [written?] so often. And the reason for this is that I do not want to be seen as someone
who drags others, who have no interest in the matter, into great expense, which, as God
knows, has never been nor ever shall be my meaning or intention; and because such sorts
[of coinage] are no longer available I feel that no special benefit will come to me from this.
I have also understood from Wenckenbachs words and from the gifts sent to me that Your
Lordships opinion of me is well-disposed and has not lessened, so that I have dared to
imagine that Your Lordship would take heed of my great need for the things for which I
intend to use it [the coinage] rather than of my impertinence or whatever else this may
appear to be, and that Your Lordship might, more due to your mild nature than to my
merit or hope thereof, send me a loan, as much as it pleases Your Lordship, so that I may
once and for all see and understand where I have come to with this toilsome medicine,
after so many years with great cost and error, [and see] if there is truth or falsehood there.
If I were able to get my hands on the medicine I am hoping for, then I have no doubt that
one would no longer have to buy many things from the apothecary. In addition to these
reasons, at the moment the medicine is worth nothing and one cannot earn anything with
it. However, if I could set aside a few days, I would like to present it and see if I could generate
profit from it. Truth and sincerity will always be with me, Your Lordship should not doubt
that. With which I faithfully commend Your Lordship to Gods merciful protection. 9th of
July in the year 1622 in Magdeburg.
Your Lordships willing [servant]
Michael Maier Doctor.
44
NILS LENKE ET AL.

Gestrenger, Wol Edler, Ehrenvester Juncker, Nach wundschung aller geluckseligen wolfardt
von Godt dem Almechtigen vnd erbietung meiner willigen dienste, habe jch nicht vnterlassen
knnen E.G. hirmit zu vor stendigen, das ich mich wegen meines lesten gethanen schreibendes,
vnd darauf ergangener antwordt, vmmerzu gedancken gemacht vnd gefurchtet, alse man
solches nicht jm besten vnd etwas harter auf meiner seiten aufgenommen, Alse nemblig, die
jch mit vberflussigen gaben vnd geschencken wider vordienst von E.G. miltiglig vorsehen,
dennoch darauf ein summa geldes begeret, Nun weis Godt das solches mein vornemen
niemals gewesen, vnd das jch wol ein jedes in meiner gedechtnuss behalte, was nur gutes
vnd fur wolthaten nun ein gute zeit her von E.G. widerfaren, vnd erkenne solches erst fur
ein sonderbare schenkung Gottes, der mich alhir gleich wie in einer wusten respectu medicinae
practicae, solchen patronen gezeiget vnd sein herz dahin bewogen hat, das er mir so mildiglig
die handt bis anhero geboten, darwegest dancke E[urer].G[estrenge]. jch von grundt meines
herzen, gensslichen der zuvorsicht, wie mir godt den willen gegeben, solches nach hgstem
fleis zu vorschulden, so werde er mir auch in kurzem die macht vorlehen; zwar die vorsprochene werke auszuschreiben vnd E[urer].G[estrenge]. zu offeriren, were wol ein arbeidt,
damit jch dennoch keine sonderbare danckbarkeit konte anzeigen, Habe demnach mit
allem fleis auf ein anderen weg getrachtet, alse nemblig das jch eins mochte die lang gesuchte
Medicin zu gutem ende bringen, welche jch umb sondere vrsache willen, wie auch andere
Authores, das Aurum potabile nenne; vnd deweil dan jch durch Gottes geschenck vnd gabe
nun jn der | selben Medicin so wol praxi alse Theoria so weit gekommen, das jch wol gedencke
was fruchtbarliches darein ohn je[nwi?]ges jrrens, (welches jch nun diesse 20. jar vber 300.
mhal getrieben) zu vorrichten, so habe jch doch auf gute gelegenheit gewartet, damit jch
ein mhal In diesser vnerhorten teurung die haussorge ein wenig mochte be seiten legen,
vnd ein kleines erober[n] damit solches hohes werck, (welches mir, Godt sey zeuge, jn vorsuchung ezliche tausent thaler gekostet) von mir mochte vorgenommen; getrieben vnd volendet
werden; Es ist aber mitlerweile ein gudt theil des sommers weg gegangen, deweil dan jch
solches mit der Luna potabili eben so wol, alse der sole konte vorrichten, habe jch gedacht
auf das mittel der abgesezten munze, darumb jch zu h. wenckenbach geschrieben, vormeinende nicht solches vmb sunst zu entfahren, sunderen dafur genug zu thun; Darauf hat
man mir berichtet, das der gattung nicht mher vorhanden, Nun muss jch bekennen, were es
vber die mass zu viel von mir gethan, das jch die wulle damals entfangen, vnd noch der
vber solte etwas mher begeren; Aber jch bin eingenommen durch gewissheit meiner sachen,
so jch gedachte zu vorrichten, vnd als dan mich gegen E[ure].G[estrenge]. danckbarlig zu erkleren, mher alse das jch solte solches aus vormessenheit, geiz, oder vnmugligkeit gethan haben;
Daneben ist auch ein andere vrsache, welche jch fur dissmhal nicht kan entdecken, sunderen
wol zu seiner zeit geschen soll; Mein begeren auch ist wol nicht definieret gewesen, der vrsachen, nicht das es magni numeri oder pret sein solte, sunderen, das jch gedachte, es were so
geringe es wolle, konte es mir dienstlig zu neuen vorhabenden sachen fallen; Jst derowegen
mein dienst vnd freundlig bitten solches mein anmuthen nicht anders alse im besten aufzunemen, vorhoffende E[ure].G[estrenge]. werde es vnlang | wol spuren, wohin jch mein ziel
gesezet, vnd das jch kein vndanckbarer werde gefunden werden; Das mir der H. Staritius
gesaget, hat er nicht aus bsem affectu[m] gethan, sunderen aus gutem vortrawen, so es zu
mir getragen; darin jch mich auch wol weis geburlig zu halten; Jch solte nun wol ezliche
bucher von dem vorsprochenen werk E[urer].G[estrenge]. hirmit senden, (sollen auch nicht
lange ausbleiben), Aber jch bin vnverhoflig daran vorhindert, Sende in mittels E[urer].G
[estrenge]. alhir zwie tractatlein, eines lateinisch, das ander deutsch, beide E[urer].G[estrenge].
namen dediciret, vnter welches das lateinische nunmhal, so es E[urer].G[estrenge]. geliebet,
kan in offentlichem druck kommen, dessen jch kein exemplar mher habe, das ander ist
nicht der wirdigkeit, auch nur E[urer].G[estrenge]. zu gute vorfasset, damit sie nur kurzlig,
45

Valiant, noble, and honourable lord, after wishing you every bliss and good health from God
the Almighty and offering you my eager service, I could not neglect to let Your Lordship
hereby know that my thoughts have constantly been upon my last letter and the subsequent
reply, and that I have been worried that it may not have placed me in the best light; namely
that I, who had been kindly provided by Your Lordship with many more gifts and presents
than I deserve, should nevertheless have asked for a sum of money as well. God knows
that this was never my intent and that I keep in mind those good things and benefactions I
have been receiving from Your Lordship for some time now, and I recognise this as a
special gift from God who showed to me in this place, which is like a desert with respect
to the practice of medicine such a patron, and who thus far has moved his heart to offer
a benevolent helping hand. For this I thank Your Lordship from the bottom of my heart, in
full confidence that, as God gave me the will to diligently make good this debt, He will
soon grant me the power to do so as well. To write out the promised works and offer them
to Your Lordship would involve considerable work, yet it still would not demonstrate any particular gratitude. Hence I have diligently thought of another way, namely that I might at last
complete the long-sought medicine, which I for special reasons call the Aurum potabile as the
other authors do; and as I have now through Gods gift made such progress on this medicine in
both practice and theory that I believe I will accomplish something fruitful with it without
further errors (of which I have made more than three hundred in these twenty years). I
have been waiting for a good opportunity to put the management of household affairs to
one side during this unheard-of inflation, and win a little time so that I might take up,
advance, and accomplish such noble work (which has cost me, as God is my witness,
several thousand Thaler on experiments). But a good part of the summer is now over, and
as I would be able to achieve this with the Luna potabile [potable silver] just as well as
with the sole [sun, i.e. Aurum potabile], I thought of using the discontinued coins, and so I
wrote to Mr Wenckenbach, not with the intent of receiving these things for free but for adequate recompense, whereupon I was informed that the type [of coinage] is no longer available.
I have to admit that it would be far too much for me to have received the wool back then and
still ask for more beyond that but I was driven by the certainty of the things that I planned to
accomplish and [by the wish] to express my gratitude to Your Lordship, rather than having
done such a thing out of impudence, avarice, or iniquity. In addition, there is another
reason which for now cannot be revealed, but will be in good time. My request was also
poorly defined: it was not meant to be for a large number or precious [coins], but rather I
thought that however little it might be, it would be of service for my new plans. Hence it is
my dutiful and amicable plea that my request be received in nothing but the best spirit, in
the hope that Your Lordship will soon understand what my purpose is, and that I will not
be considered ungrateful. Mr Staritius told me [that] what he did was not out of spite but
rather because he trusted me with the matter; I also know how to behave with propriety
regarding these things. Now I should really also send several books of the promised work
to Your Lordship with this letter (which will not tarry much longer), but I have been unexpectedly hindered in that matter. Instead, I hereby send Your Lordship two little tracts, one in
Latin, the other in German, both dedicated to Your Lordship; the Latin tract (of which I
have no other copy) could be published if it pleases Your Lordship. The other tract is not
worth the trouble, and is written for the benefit of Your Lordship alone, so that you can
briefly see, as in a mirror, what a true and a false Aurum potabile is, and for what reasons
I have spent so many years pursuing it. Concerning the poems 132 others may judge later, as
I do not plan to write more [poems] about chymia after them; instead I plan to restrict
132
Probably Maiers Cantilenae intellectuales de phoenice redivivo.
46
NILS LENKE ET AL.
wi in einem spiegel sehen mugen, was ein rechtes oder falsches Aurum potabile se, vnd aus
was vrsachen jch deme nun so viel jar lang nachgestrebet; Von den Carminibus mugen andere
hernach vrtheilen, Dan Jch In Chymia, aussen diessen, nun nicht mher gedencke zu schreiben,
vnd wil mich, geliebet es godt, mit der praxi begnugen lassen; Wie nun diesses nicht aus
falschem, sunderen waren gemuthe zu E[urer].G[estrenge]. werde gesandt vnd ihr dienstwillig
offeriret, so wolle sie diss, wie auch das forige schreiben in allem besten aufnemen vnd ausdeuten; vnd mein grossgunstiger Juncker, patron, freunde, h. gefatter vnd befurderer sein vnd
bleiben, Womit jch vns allesambt Gottes gnedigem schutze trewlig thu empfelen, Datum Magdeburg, den 18. Julij A[nn]o 1622.
E[urer]. G[estrenge]. williger
Michael Mair D[octor].
47
myself, if it pleases God, to the praxis. As this is being sent to Your Lordship with good rather
than bad intentions, and offered to you eagerly, may this letter, as well as the last, be favourably received and understood. May Your Lordship be and remain my generous lord, patron,
friend, benefactor, and sponsor, with which I truly commend us all to Gods grace and protection. Given Magdeburg, the 18th of July in the year 1622.
Your Lordships willing [servant]
Michael Maier Doctor.

Michael Maier - Alchemy

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Michael Maier - Alchemy

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ambix, Vol. 61 No.

1, February, 2014, 147

Michael Maier Nine Newly

The authors provide a transcription, translation, and evaluation of nine newly

Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry 2014

NILS LENKE ET AL.

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Serendipitous circumstances now afford us a clearer picture of this period. During

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A new alchemical work by Maier

Suche in den Online-Findbchern des Niederschsischen Landesarchivs: http://aidaonline.niedersachsen.de/

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

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Letter 3, 28, 30 (German); 31 (English).

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 105.

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MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Maier as astrologer and geomancer

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MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

NILS LENKE ET AL.

Maier as Paracelsian physician

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Leibenguth, this correspondence indicates that it is precisely on the question of

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reported to him by two unnamed witnesses.76 Gebhardt Johann defended himself

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

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The proper theosophia

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Maiers private life

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Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 18182.

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Maiers final projects

Tilton, Quest for the Phoenix, 206.

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MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

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of early modern science. Address: Waldblick 33, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany;

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Appendix: The Letters of Michael Maier

[<text>] for speculative interpolations, and if no such speculation was

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Letter 2: Michael Maier to Gebhard Johann von Alvensleben;

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Letter 2: Michael Maier to Gebhard Johann von Alvensleben;

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Letter 3: Michael Maier to Gebhard Johann von Alvensleben;

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Letter 3: Michael Maier to Gebhard Johann von Alvensleben;

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MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Astronomy in a fundamental way with all requisites.

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MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

These documents have not yet been located in the archive.

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Letter 4: Michael Maier to Gebhard Johann von Alvensleben;

MICHAEL MAIER NINE NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS

Letter 4: Michael Maier to Gebhard Johann von Alvensleben;

NILS LENKE ET AL.