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Liber de compositione alchemiae - Paul Ferguson - 11-05-2026
Robert of Chester completed the translation of the first known Arabic alchemical work into Latin, titled Liber de compositione alchemiae, on [b]February 11, 1144[/b].
Key Facts About the Translation
- [b]Latin Title:[/b] Liber de compositione alchemiae (also known as The Book of the Composition of Alchemy or Testamentum Morieni).
- [b]Arabic Source / Attribution:[/b] Falsely attributed to the Umayyad prince Khalid ibn Yazid, framed as a dialogue or questions to the monk Morienus (Maryanos).
- [b]Completion Date:[/b] February 11, 1144.
- [b]Location:[/b] Completed in Spain, where Robert of Chester worked as a scholar and Archdeacon of Pamplona.
- [b]Significance:[/b] It marks the official introduction of alchemical literature and science from the Islamic world into medieval Western Europe.
- [b]Other Notable Works:[/b] Robert of Chester also translated the Quran (1143) and Al-Khwarizmi’s algebra text (1145).
[b]Both the Latin text and the Arabic original are available online, though they are hosted across different academic and historical repositories.[/b]
Because the text is known by multiple names—including Liber de compositione alchemiae, Testamentum Morieni, and its Arabic title Masāʾil Khālid li-Maryānus al-rāhib—scholarly databases host them under various formats. [1, 2]
Where to Find the Latin Texts Online
- [b]The Arabic-Latin Corpus:[/b] You can access a digital transcription of Robert of Chester's Latin translation (transcribed from Lee Stavenhagen's authoritative 1974 edition) via the Arabic-Latin Corpus (Würzburg). It is fully searchable and downloadable in TEI-XML format. [1]
- [b]Historical English Translations:[/b] If you want to read a translated text directly on the web, Adam McLean’s Alchemy Web Site hosts the English rendering of the Book of the Composition of Alchemy based on the Hermetic Research Series. [1]
- [b]Early Modern Printed Latin Editions:[/b] The text was printed in Jean-Jacques Manget's famous 1702 compilation Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa (Vol. 1, pp. 509–519). Digitized scans of this physical volume can be found on archives like Google Books or the Internet Archive. [1]
For a long time, Western scholars debated whether an Arabic original actually existed, but multiple manuscripts discovered in Istanbul libraries (such as Fatih 3227 and Şehit Ali Pasha 1749) confirmed its authenticity. [1]
- [b]Academic Journals:[/b] Professor Ahmad Y. al-Hassan published the definitive Arabic text alongside an English translation in the journal Arabic Sciences and Philosophy (2004) under the title "The Arabic Original of Liber de compositione alchemiae". It can be accessed online through Cambridge University Press (requires institutional access or purchase). [1, 2]
- [b]Open Academic Dissertations:[/b] A massive, open-access comparative study and full edition of the Arabic text (Masā'il Khālid li-Maryānus al-rāhib) alongside two Latin versions was completed by researcher Marion Dapsens (2021) and is freely downloadable via the Université catholique de Louvain Repository. [1]
- [b]The Complete Comparative Study & Critique (French/Latin/Arabic):[/b]
You can download researcher Marion Dapsens' open-access pre-publication studies and critical comparisons of the text (focusing on the shift De la Risālat Maryānus au De Compositione alchemiae) directly on her UCLouvain Academia Page. Her work offers the most modern textual breakdown of the Arabic text alongside both major medieval Latin translations. [1]
- [b]Lee Stavenhagen's Authoritative English & Latin Text:[/b]
The 1974 benchmark edition, A Testament of Alchemy: Being the Revelations of Morienus to Khalid ibn Yazid, features the original Latin text paired side-by-side with its English translation. A full digital copy of this edition is hosted and downloadable on Scribd's Book of Morienus Page. (Note: Free accounts can download or view it via their document viewer). [1, 2]
If you want immediate access without dealing with file downloads or account registrations, these web versions are excellent:
- [b]For the exact Latin words:[/b] The Arabic-Latin Corpus provides an entirely open, indexed, and paragraph-by-paragraph text layout of the Latin manuscript.
- [b]For the full English translation:[/b] You can read the complete narrative dialogue of Morienus and Khalid instantly via The Alchemy Web Site.