Mankind shamelessly slandered this man, as is often the case, out of black envy. A brilliant scientist of the Renaissance, he remained incomprehensible to many people, so to speak, out of his mind. He was always a mystic, preferred the works of Plato to the works of Aristotle and diligently studied the Neoplatonists: Plotinus, Iamblichus, Porphyry and Proclus.
He dreamed of a constant mystical insight, but for this he lacked temperament, religious zeal and patience.
His life was tragic. The student Cornelius was a well-read man, knew many foreign languages. When he became secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, it seemed that such a high appointment would be the beginning of a successful career.
But the all-powerful sovereign saw in him not an able scientist, a fan of the occult sciences, but a personal spy. To fulfill such a mission, Maximilian I sent him to continue his studies at the University of Paris. There he first became closely acquainted with spiritualists, occultists and philosophers.
By the nature of his occupation, he had to travel a lot in Europe - he visited Barcelona, Mallorca, Sardinia, Italy, Avignon, Lyon, Chalon, Loule. There he lectured on Kabbalah and was fascinated not only by its mystical aspects, but also by magical doctrines that greatly excited and excited him, especially NUMEROLOGY OF NUMBERS (the science of the influence of numbers on human destiny). There he became one of the most famous fortunetellers, fortune-tellers by numbers.
Agrippa learned many secrets from this science and willingly shared all his secrets at the University of Dol, for which he received a special title - Doctor-Diviner.
Unfortunately, he fell in love with the daughter of Maximilian I, Margaretha of Ghent, and even wrote an essay for her "Noble Women". But his hopes for a happy marriage were not destined to come true. And envious French monks constantly persecuted him for his wide knowledge, threw mud at him, and as a result he was forced to leave for England.
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By that time he was already finishing his main philosophical work - the three-volume treatise "Occult Philosophy", an essay striking in depth of thought for a twenty-four-year-old man. Unfortunately, his unclaimed work was published only twenty years later, although the art of printing had already been invented several years before its birth by Johannes Gutenberg.
In his treatise, he boldly argued that magic as such has nothing to do with magic or the Devil and is the same science as all others. It is a consequence of the presence of this or that person of the occult, that is, a mysterious, secret, gift - prophecy, clairvoyance, etc.
However, envious people, who at that time were still far from understanding the essence of the occult sciences, mocked the scientist, ridiculed him, called him a charlatan, a deceiver, a clever swindler and a secret alchemist. For example, they said that he paid for a stay in a hotel with real gold coins, which then suddenly turned into simple shells.
Once a student who rented a room from Agrippa asked Agrippa's wife for the key to his office in his absence so that he could work there in silence. Entering there, he saw the book of spells open on the table and immediately plunged into it. Suddenly, for no reason at all, the Devil appeared and menacingly asked why he had summoned him. The horrified student was numb, could not utter a single word. Then the Devil made a fool of him. When Agrippa returned, he realized that he was accused of murder. Then he summoned the Devil again and ordered him to resurrect the unfortunate student, at least for a while. He fulfilled the command. The resurrected student walked through the city market several times, then suddenly fell and died instantly of a heart attack.
Agrippa hastily had to leave the city. The fame of him as a magician and wizard grew, and one heavy blow after another fell on his head. His supporters, friends and acquaintances tried to stay away. Both his wives died under mysterious circumstances, and the third left him herself, leaving him without a guilder in her pocket. The clergy, because of his militant anticlericalism, was resolutely opposed to him and everywhere anathematized Agrippa.
He suddenly became disillusioned with magic, considering it a waste of time, and declared that only one theology deserves to be studied. Agrippa even published in Amsterdam a book "On the vanity of arts and sciences", the main idea of which was the aphorism: "The more you learn, the less you know." She infuriated the emperor Charles V, and he ordered to be thrown into prison as a heretic.
After the publication, twenty years later, of his main work, The Philosophy of the Occult, Agrippa's position deteriorated greatly, although this book of his is the most notable milestone in the history of occult and occult studies.
In it, Agrippa, combining all occult doctrines, tried to give magic the features of natural science, explaining many miraculous phenomena. There he was the first to put forward the idea of the "soul of the Universe", the so-called quintessence, that is, the fifth essence in addition to the four elements or elements.
The famous Russian poet and writer Valery Bryusov, who in the twenties of our century was enthusiastically engaged in the innermost sciences and studied mystery science, wrote the novel "The Fiery Angel", in which he brought the famous magician-scientist in the image of the main character Ruprechte. Then V. Ya. Bryusov somewhere dug out quite benevolent, sustained in a scientific tone, without the usual swearing and malice, an essay by the French demonologist J. Orsier: “Agrippa of Nettesheim. The Life and Adventures of an Adventurer”, he himself translated and published it, attaching two of his essays on the life and creative activity of the scientist. Oddly enough, he died, like Agrippa, at the age of 51.