The name of this French esoteric alchemist, who devoted himself to the search for the secret of immortality and the method of extracting gold from base metals, is shrouded in a thick veil of legends and mystical secrets. And it is not surprising that many historians doubt even the very fact of its existence.
Other researchers prove that such a person really existed, created the philosopher's stone and remained to live forever - Flamel's grave, on which strange letters were inscribed, turned out to be empty. And about the innumerable wealth of this famous Frenchman they spoke almost more than about his mystical appearance at the Paris Opera together with his wife and son 300 years after his death in 1417.
For thousands of years, the Philosopher's Stone has troubled the minds of scientists - the prospect of solving all life's problems in one fell swoop was painfully tempting. Before Flamel, for several centuries, many struggled to solve this problem, but received only disappointment and despair as a reward.
And in the XIV Art. Nicolas (or Nicholas in the Latin manner) Flamel declared that he had achieved his goal. He not only did not go broke on experiments on converting base metals into gold, but even on the contrary - his modest condition almost instantly multiplied and turned into real wealth.
The Parisian book scribe (according to other sources - a notary, a book collector) Nicola Flamel was born, possibly in 1330, and died in 1417 or 1418. For a long time he worked all day, but still barely made ends meet.
Among the books that passed through his hands, he probably came across many alchemical treatises, but none of them attracted Flamel's attention. Once some half-impoverished old man sold him a treatise with gilding without cover right on the street.
This rare, very old and voluminous book was not made of paper or parchment, but of delightful slabs of bark taken from young trees. A collector's instinct told Nicholas that it was worth the hefty sum the beggar had asked for it - two florins.
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The future alchemist only managed to establish the name of the ancient manuscript - "The Book of the Jew Abraham" - written by "Abraham, patriarch, Jew, prince, philosopher, Levite, Kabbalist and magician, priest and astrologer." But it turned out to be impossible to read the treatise - it was written in ancient Hebrew symbols, unknown to anyone in Paris. (The Jews were expelled from France by the will of Philip II.) Moreover, the very first page contained a curse against anyone who dared to read further, except for priests and clerks.
For many years Flamel tried to find the key to the text, which explained in encrypted form how to turn base metals into gold, but the signs and symbols remained incomprehensible to him. The alchemist began to consult with knowledgeable people throughout Europe, prudently showing them not a manuscript, but only some phrases and signs written out of the book.
This stubborn, but unsuccessful search continued for 20 years, until Nicola went to Spain, to Santiago de Compostela, but he did not find an answer there either. However, on the way back to Leon, he met a certain master Kanchez, an expert in ancient Hebrew symbolism and mysticism, an adherent of the same magic that the Biblical Magi possessed. As soon as he heard about the book, the learned rabbi left his home and all his affairs and, together with the Frenchman, set off on a long journey.
“Our journey,” Flamel himself wrote later, “was prosperous and happy. He revealed to me the encrypted description of the Great Work, the true meaning of most of the symbols and signs, in which even dots and dashes had the greatest secret meaning …"
However, before reaching Paris, in Orleans, Canchez fell ill and soon died, never seeing the great treatise for which he went to France.
And yet the Parisian alchemist, with the help of this book and thanks to the advice of a Jewish doctor, managed, by his own admission, to discover the secret of the philosopher's stone - the secret of converting common metals into gold and the secret of immortality.
In his notes, Flamel said that on January 17, 1382, he received a miraculous liquid that turns mercury into silver, and that he was "close to solving the great task of obtaining gold …" Three months later, the alchemist revealed the secret of gold transmutation.
Nicholas describes the memorable event as follows: “It happened on Monday, January 17, around noon, in my house, in the presence of only my wife Pernell, in the year 1382 of the rebirth of mankind. Then, strictly following the words of the book, I projected this red stone onto the same amount of mercury …"
It is symbolic that Nicholas in Greek means "conqueror of the stone", and the surname Flamel comes from the Latin Flamma, that is, "flame", "fire".
So, Flamel became fabulously rich, which is documented by many French historians, acquired colossal property, and then simply disappeared with his wife. The rumor about Nicolas Flamel as the most successful alchemist in Paris spread far beyond France.
It also happened thanks to his four very interesting and unusual books, one of which was called "Hieroglyphic Figures." In its first part, Flamel described his life and the discovery of the alchemical "Book of the Jew Abraham", studying which he and his wife learned the secret of the philosopher's stone - the Great Work.
In the second part, the author gave an interpretation of his own bas-reliefs or engravings (he called them hieroglyphs), made on the arch of the cemetery of the Innocents in Paris at the beginning of the 15th century. (i.e. 200 years before the publication of the treatise) in alchemical and theological aspects.
The famous Parisian refused to quote the text of the “Book of the Jew Abraham” “… because God would punish me if I had done a great evil, making it so that the whole human race had one head that could be demolished with one blow”. The Hieroglyphic Figures were first published in 1612.
Meanwhile, historians argue that of the four known texts attributed to Flamel, two - the novel "Hieroglyphic Figures" and "Testament" - were clearly written not by him, but by someone else. The authenticity of his authorship of "The Washerwoman's Book" and "Brief Statement of Philosophy" are also questioned.
In addition, the alchemical interpretation of theological figures placed on the fourth arch of the cemetery of the Innocents is based on the analysis of the works of such alchemists as Hermes, Khalid, Pythagoras, Razes, Orpheus, Morien, and others, and not on the mythical Book of the Jew Abraham.
Whatever it was, but after the sudden death of his wife, Flamel went to charity and spent a lot of money on the construction of temples, hospitals and shelters for the poor in Paris and other cities of France. In each of the churches, he ordered "to display signs from the" Book of the Jew Abraham "."
In 1417, when Nicola Flamel died, there was a rumor that he deceived death with the help of the philosopher's stone, staged his death and funeral, and he himself went to Central Asia, possibly to Tibet, to the mysterious land of Shambhala.
Headstone from Flamel's grave
The tombstone of the French alchemist and his wife Pernell existed in the Parisian Church of the Innocents in the 16th century. When the alchemist's grave was opened, it turned out to be empty. After all, we must not forget what they said: along with the secret of obtaining gold from ordinary metals, Nikola and his wife discovered the elixir of youth, having learned to lengthen life.
According to the researchers, there is ample evidence that the Parisian alchemist did not die. For example, in the XVIII Art. Abbot Vilaine wrote that Flamel visited the French ambassador to Turkey, Desallo - almost four centuries after his supposed death!
In 1700, the French physician Paul Luca (Luca?), Who was traveling in the East, met a dervish in a Turkish monastery in Brusse, who looked to be 30 years old, but in fact more than a hundred. This pilgrim told the Frenchman that he came from a distant abode of the sages and remained young thanks to the Philosopher's Stone given to him by Nicola Flamel, who met him in East India.
Dervish claimed that the French alchemist was still alive - neither he nor his wife had yet met their death. Count Saint-Germain also mentions Flamel, confidently claiming that he did not die in the 15th century, since the count himself met with him in the 18th century.
Some researchers believe that this Indian dervish, Count Saint-Germain and Jean Julien Fulcanelli never existed, but there was one person - Nicola Flamel, a man who found the way to eternal life.
And, perhaps, Flamel is just one of the pseudonyms of a mysterious person who has lived in the world for countless years. Having discovered the secrets of alchemy, the Frenchman gained immortality and continues to practice alchemical experiments in our days.
Flamel's name is mentioned by Victor Hugo in Notre Dame Cathedral and J. K. Rowling in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
The fate of the "Book of the Jew Abraham" is interesting. After the death of the Parisian alchemist, the heirs did not find her. But two centuries later, Pierre Borelli, compiling his "Catalog of Secret Philosophical Books", discovered that Cardinal Richelieu, after the death of Flamel, immediately ordered a search not only in his house, but also in the churches he built. The search, most likely, was crowned with success, tk. later the cardinal was seen studying the Book of the Hebrew Abraham, with Flamel's notes in the margins.
And here historians emphasize strange coincidences: those who were engaged in alchemy, after a while, became fabulously rich. For example, George Ripley, an English alchemist of the 15th century, donated to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem on about. Rhodes 100 thousand pounds sterling. At today's exchange rate, this is about one billion US dollars.
Emperor Rudolph II (1552-1612) also passionately wanted to get the Philosopher's Stone, for which he created an entire settlement of alchemists in Prague (now - "Zlata Street"). Pope John XXII secretly decided to get acquainted with the contents of the confiscated harmful books. And after a while, in his secret laboratory, the persecutor of alchemists himself began to deal with the transmutation of metals.
Later he received 200 gold bars, 100 kg each. In 1648, the emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation", the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand III, with the help of the powder obtained from the alchemist Richthausen, was said to have obtained gold from mercury with his own hand. The "Gold Rush" even infected the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe: he erected an alchemical laboratory next to his observatory.
At the beginning of the XVII century. the famous Scottish adept (that is, initiated into the secrets of some doctrine) Alexander Seton learned the secret of transmutation of gold from a certain Dutchman James Haussen, whom he sheltered in his house after a shipwreck.
The Scotsman, in the presence of a professor at the University of Freiburg Wolfgang Dienheim and a professor of medicine from the University of Basel, author of the "History of German Medicine" Zwinger, melted lead and sulfur in a crucible, then threw in some yellow powder. After that, he stirred the mixture with iron rods for 15 minutes, then extinguished the fire, and there was pure gold in the vessel.
In 1602 Alexander was seized by order of the Elector of Saxony Christian II and tortured, but the Scotsman never revealed his secret. He eventually managed to escape with the help of another adept, the Polish nobleman Sendivogius. Once free, Seton soon died, and before his death he handed over the remains of the Philosopher's Stone to his liberator.
Having performed many transmutations, the Polish alchemist became as famous as his late teacher.
Emperor Rudolph II sent for him. In Prague, Sendivogius was received very kindly and with great honors, and the adept considered it good to give the emperor a certain amount of the philosopher's stone.
With the help of a few grains of this yellow powder, Rudolph II successfully mined gold from a base metal, and the Pole received the title of adviser to His Majesty and a medal with a portrait of the emperor.
In 1604, the Polish alchemist was invited to his Stuttgart castle by Friedrich, Duke of Württemberg. There Sendivogius performed several spectacular transmutations, which greatly disturbed the court alchemist, Count Müllenfels, who ordered his servants to rob the Pole. Those under cover of night took away all values and the philosopher's stone from him.
The wife of the victim filed a complaint with the emperor, and Rudolf II sent a courier to Stuttgart with a demand to deliver the Count of Müllenfels to the imperial court. Realizing that the matter might go too far, the duke ordered the count to be hanged. However, the Philosopher's Stone was irretrievably lost, and Sendivogius lived the rest of his life in poverty.
In 1705, the alchemist Peikul, in the presence of the chemist Girn and many witnesses, also allegedly made several transformations of base metals into gold. In memory of the Great Work, a medal was knocked out of the gold received.
In 1901, the English physicist Rutherford and his colleague Frederick Soddy discovered the transmutation of elements (the transformation of thorium into radium), while Soddy, who was fond of the history of alchemy, almost fainted. It was rumored that Rutherford asked his friend not to mention alchemy in the description of this experience, otherwise scientists would have definitely made fun of them.
The Chinese scholar John Blofeld in his book "Secrets of the Mystery and Magic of Taoism" writes that the first book on alchemy appeared around 2600 BC, that is, almost five thousand years ago.
If then the recipe for the elixir of eternal youth was known, then one can imagine what power and knowledge the representatives of the most ancient civilization, who found the way to eternal existence and survived to this day, could have. It is possible that even now somewhere lives a man who is several tens of centuries.