Alchemy and authority in the Holy Roman Empire
What distinguished the true alchemist from the fraud? This question animated the lives and labors of the common men?and occasionally women?who made a living as alchemists in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Holy Roman Empire. As purveyors of practical techniques, inventions, and cures, these e...
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| Format: | Electronic |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Chicago :
University of Chicago Press,
c2007.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View fulltext via EzAccess MyiLibrary |
| Summary: | What distinguished the true alchemist from the fraud? This question animated the lives and labors of the common men?and occasionally women?who made a living as alchemists in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Holy Roman Empire. As purveyors of practical techniques, inventions, and cures, these entrepreneurs were prized by princely patrons, who relied upon alchemists to bolster their political fortunes. At the same time, satirists, artists, and other commentators used the figure of the alchemist as a symbol for Europe?s social and economic ills. Drawing on criminal trial records, contracts, |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xvii, 260 p.) : ill. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-254) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780226608570 (electronic bk.) 0226608573 (electronic bk.) |