This crime story happened in the Prussian town of Wittenberg: in the 70s of the 16th century, in the basement of the house of Professor Bach, the servant of the German alchemist Sebastian Siebenfreund found … the remains of his master, who had disappeared two years before. The professor was a friend of Siebenfreund, and the last years of his life Sebastian was a guest at his mansion. Only after a long investigation was it possible to recreate all the events that happened to the seeker of immortality …
Great purpose
Sebastian Siebenfreund was born in Schkeuditz near Leipzig to a family of a cloth manufacturer. This alchemist, engaged in the preparation of miraculous preparations and medicines, at first enjoyed the support of a certain Polish magnate, with whom he went to travel across Italy. On the way, his patron fell ill and died, after which Siebenfreund retired to a monastery in Verona.
There he met an old monk who set up an alchemical laboratory in his cell. This monk, already on his deathbed, revealed to the seeker the main secret of how to create the powder of projection, that is, the philosopher's stone. After that, Sebastian left the Italian monastery and returned to his native country, where he settled in the Olive Monastery near Elbing in Prussia and, according to legend, received the Philosopher's Stone.
For reference
PHILOSOPHICAL STONE (PROJECTION POWDER) - in the descriptions of medieval alchemists, a certain reagent necessary for the successful implementation of the transformation (transmutation) of metals into gold, as well as for the creation of an elixir of rejuvenation and immortality.
Promotional video:
Siebenfreund then went on a journey. On his way to Hamburg in 1570, he took advantage of the hospitality of a Scottish nobleman. He suffered from terrible attacks of gout, and Sebastian gave him drinking gold, after which the patient was completely healed. Once in the house of the Scotsman, three students from Wittenberg found shelter - Nikolai Klobes, Jonas Agricola and another, whose name remained unknown. Siebenfreund acted very lightly, performing the transmutation in front of their eyes: he rubbed a zinc spoon with a pinch of projection powder, and then melted it on a fire in an oven, after which the spoon turned into gold!
Realizing how unwise he had acted, the alchemist decided to urgently return to Prussia. He arrived in Wittenberg and in that city lived for four months in the house of Professor Bach. However, a Scottish nobleman and three students, following Siebenfreund on his heels, lurked in Wittenberg, watching Sebastian, who naively believed that he had got rid of his pursuers. Seizing the moment, they killed him and buried the body in the basement.
And now, two years later, the servant discovered the remains of his master. By the way, the criminals did not find the philosopher's stone - its secret remained unsolved.
Tramps scientists
Alchemy, the most obscure of all sciences, originated in ancient Egypt, where knowledge was in the hands of priests and initiates, who performed their experiments in the greatest secret, in the silence of sanctuaries. However, it was in medieval Europe that alchemical experiments gained unprecedented popularity.
Alas, Siebenfreund was far from the only alchemist whose results of his labors are not immortalized in history, and only scattered facts are known about life. You never know of them, seekers of happiness, roamed the medieval roads! In Paris alone, there were several hundred laboratories, the owners of which tried to obtain gold from rough metals through various manipulations.
Laboratories were set up everywhere - in castles and palaces, in basements and huts, in church parishes and monasteries. Even if it is cramped, dark and damp - if only there were enough retorts and flasks, crucibles and alembic stills … And, of course, so that the treatises of already famous alchemists, whose experience in the Great Work could be useful, were available.
For reference
GREAT WORK (ACTION) - this expression denotes the ultimate goal of all alchemical operations, the first approach to which is the creation of the philosopher's stone.
The number of seekers of the Philosopher's Stone in Europe was increasing - but few managed to find rich patrons who paid for the costs of experiments, and at the same time nourishing alchemists and giving them shelter. Therefore, thousands of "doers" lived in extreme poverty, without any opportunity to bring their research to at least some results. At best, they were left with nothing, having spent up to a thread on useless experiments, and at worst, they flew into the air along with the stove in which they endlessly cooked elixirs, or ended their days prematurely, breathing in poisonous fumes.
In the 16th century, the abbot of the Weissenberg Monastery, Johann Klitemius, described the miserable fate of an innumerable cohort of alchemists who amused - sometimes throughout their entire lives - false hope in the following words: “Vanity, deceit, deception, falsification, greed, hypocrisy, lies, stupidity, poverty, despair, flight, exile, poverty and loss accompany alchemy."
Unexpected discovery
Alchemists were looking for a philosopher's stone, but often found something else, which, however, sometimes brought no less benefit than the coveted "philosophical" gold. An impressive example of this kind of accidental discovery is the luck of the German alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger (1682-1719), the son of a minter.
At the fifteenth year of his life, the young man entered a student at a pharmacy in Berlin and diligently studied chemistry. The manuscript about the philosopher's stone that accidentally fell into his hands prompted him to also try his luck in the field of goldsmithing. All night long he sat in the laboratory, engaged in chemical experiments, which led him to a quarrel with the owner and forced him to leave his home.
However, the night vigils were not in vain, and after some time Böttger managed to interest Prince Egon von Fürstenberg, who took him with him to Dresden and set up a laboratory in his palace to continue his alchemical studies. Alas, the experiments did not lead to anything, and the prince began to threaten the young seeker with reprisals. Then the ill-fated alchemist tried to escape, but was detained and under pain of punishment was forced to continue his experiments! Their fruit was a certain manuscript, in which the secret of obtaining the philosopher's stone was allegedly stated.
The Elector of Saxony August II the Strong, to whom this work was presented, was extremely dissatisfied with the results of the "doing" of Johann Friedrich, considering him a prompter. Boettger was threatened with imprisonment.
For reference
SUFFLER is a false alchemist who tries to transmute metals into gold by any means and only for the purpose of profit. Our chemistry was born from their chaotic experiments, in the course of which many new elements were discovered.
It was dangerous to joke with the Elector, for he earned his nickname Strong for a reason: he could tie a knot in an iron poker the thickness of a finger. Only thanks to the intercession of a courtier who had a weakness for alchemical research, Johann Friedrich was given another chance - he was allowed to experiment with clay, deposits of which were available in the vicinity of the city of Meissen.
It is unknown what kind of gold the alchemist intended to extract from the clay, but the result of his next experiments was … porcelain of excellent quality. In 1710, a manufactory was opened in Meissen, and the famous Meissen porcelain produced there began to generate incomes quite comparable with those of which the seekers of the philosopher's stone dreamed.
The riddle of the stone of immortality
A well-known proverb of that time instructed everyone to take the path of alchemy: "Read, read, re-read, pray, work in the laboratory, and you will find the philosopher's stone."
Probably, few people were lucky enough to really create it, otherwise there would be no discrepancies in the descriptions of the stone: some authors of treatises have it the color of ruby red, others have a semi-liquid substance, still others have powder, and still others have white, red, yellow, green and can glow in the dark …
Already in our time, the French researcher, journalist Serge Uten, who studies the esoteric and occult sciences, wrote the book "The Daily Life of Alchemists in the Middle Ages." In it, he gives the names of many famous European seekers of the Philosopher's Stone.
These are, in particular, the German theologian and scientist Albert the Great, the English philosopher and naturalist Roger Bacon, the Italian bishop Thomas Aquinas, the Spanish physicist and philosopher Raymond Llull, the French count Bernard Trevisan and, of course, the famous German alchemist Paracelsus. But none of these adepts left behind a recipe for the elixir of immortality!
For reference
ADEPT is an alchemist who supposedly managed to create the Philosopher's Stone. True alchemists-adepts worked in their laboratories not for the sake of fame and fortune, but to comprehend the highest truth.
Perhaps only one person really succeeded - the French alchemist Nicolas Flamel (1330-1418). At least, history attributes to him the invention of the Philosopher's Stone. The legend was strengthened by Flamel's long life and his incredibly quick get-rich story after twenty years of trying to unravel the secret meaning of the papyrus known as the Book of Abraham of Judea.
The book went to him, at that time the owner of a small bookstore, in 1357 … and in 1382 an already famous alchemist suddenly became the owner of about 30 houses and plots of land for several months! In his old age, Flamel is engaged in patronage, establishes several funds, invests in the development of art, finances the construction of chapels and hospitals …
In 1418, Nicolas Flamel dies. And soon after his death, a legend arises that in fact the funeral was staged, and the rejuvenated alchemist with his wife Perrenelle disappeared. Naturally, taking with him the secret of the philosopher's stone, which has not yet been revealed …