The Rise of Alchemy in Fourteenth-Century England Plantagenet Kings and the Search for the Philosopher's Stone

by Hughes, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9781441181831
• ISBN10: 1441181830
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-10
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Alchemists did more than try to transmute base metals into gold: they studied planetary influences on metals and people, refined plants and minerals in the search for medicines and advocated the regeneration of matter and spirit. This book illustrates how this new branch of thought became increasingly popular as the practical and theoretical knowledge of alchemists spread throughout England. Adopted by those in court and the circles of nobility for their own physical and spiritual needs, it was adapted for the diagnosis and therapeutic treatment of the illnesses of the body politic and its head, the king. This is the first work to synthesize all aspects of alchemy and show its contribution to intellectual, social and political life in the fourteenth century. Hughes explores a rich body of manuscripts to reveal the daily routines of the alchemist and his imaginative mindscape, and considers the contribution of alchemy to the vernacular culture and political debate, leading to a reassessment of the intellectual life of the middle ages.

Author Biography

Jonathan Hughes has taught at Worcester College Oxford the University of East Anglia and the Oxford Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. He is a guest lecturer at the Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism. I is books include. The Religious Life of Richard III, Arthurian Myths and Alchemy: The Kingship of Edward IV.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. viii
Acknowledgements	p. ix
Foreword	p. x
Alchemy and the Occult in English Cultural and Political Life
Introduction: Alchemy and the Occult in England	p. 3
The Origins of English Alchemy and Sources for the Study of Alchemy in Fourteenth-Century England	p. 15
The Astrology of the Earth: The Intellectual Impact of Alchemy in Fourteenth-Century England
Alchemy and Science and Philosophy	p. 41
Alchemy and the Church	p. 55
The Cultural Impact of Alchemy	p. 69
The Political Significance of Alchemy
The Accession of Edward III	p. 91
Alchemical Themes in the Kingship of Edward III	p. 109
Richard II the Magus and Boy King	p. 129
Richard II and the Occult	p. 165
Conclusion: The Lancastrian Reaction	p. 203
Notes	p. 219
Bibliography	p. 256
Index	p. 274
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