Page 59 - Charnock alchemical letter

Valencia in Spain, he was a learned physician with knowledge of astronomy and
alchemy.
21. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) was a German-born esoteric and occult
philosopher. In 1529 he was appointed Archives Councillor and Historiographer to
the Emperor Charles V in Antwerp. However, the Emperor refused to pay him,
charging him with heresy and the death sentence, eventually lessened the
punishment to exile. His major work is De occulta philosophia ('Of Occult
Philosophy', 1531), published as three books.
22. nam multa sunt mirabilia, que tamen enim noveris causam cessat omnis admiratio =
for there are many wonders, and however you will indeed gain a knowledge of the
causes and not be wanting every admiration.
23. Ad perpetranda miracula rei unius = to perform the miracle of the one thing.
24. ille sublimatus est in Episcopum, id est in digniori statu exaltatus seu positus = he
was raised to a Bishop, that is into a worthy status or exalted position.
25. omnia probate = let everything be made good.
26. quod bonn est tenete = that which is good is kept.
27. The Scottish alchemist, Michael Scot (ca 1175-1235), was a court astrologer to
Emperor Frederick II of Sicily.
28. duus hora = two hours.
29. Sir Thomas Elyot (1490-1546) was a clerk of the King's Council in 1523 and
ambassador to Emperor Charles V in 1531-2. His work The Boke Named the
Gouenour (1531) is one of the earliest English treatises on moral philosophy.
30. Roger Ascham (1515-1568) was a classical scholar who was tutor to the Princess
Elizabeth from 1548-50.
31. Andrew Boorde (1490-1549) was a physician who wrote The Breviary of Helthe
(1547).
32. John Caius (1510-1573) was physicia n to Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, and
wrote Boke or Counseill against the Disease called the Sweate (1552).
33. Robert Recorde (ca. 1510-1558), said to have been physician to Edward VI and
Mary I, wrote dialogues on arithmetic, geography, astrology, astronomy and algebra.
His most well-known work, Castle of Knowledge (1556), is a textbook on
astronomy, written in the form of a dialogue between the master and a young
scholar.
34. William Bullein (?-1576) was a physician who wrote the Bulwark of Defence
against all Sicknes, Sores and Woundes (1562).
35. Thomas Digges (ca 1545-1595) or perhaps, given the dates, his father, Leonard
Digges (1520-1571). Leonard was a famous mathematician and astronomer. His son
augmented his father's work and was a student of John Dee, astronomer and
philosopher to Queen Elizabeth I.
36. Thomas Charnock, The Breviary of Naturall Philosophy (1557).
37. Lord Robert Dudley (ca 1532-1588) was a courtier and favourite of Queen Elizabeth
I, made Earl of Leicester in 1564.
38. nam nihil scire, felicissima vita = for to know nothing, is to have a most fortunate
life.
39. The Turba philosophorum ('The Assembly of the Philosophers') is a formative Latin
alchemical text dating from around the twelfth century.
40. The Rosarium philosophorum ('The Rosary of the Philosophers', 1550) contains 20
woodcuts depicting hermetic symbolism along with a text comprised of quotations
from different authors. It was first printed in a compendium of alchemical works, De

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