Jabarkan Alkémi Éropah Jaman Pertengahan dari Alkémi dalam bahasa sunda

ku sabab kuatna patali kana budaya Yunani jeung Romawi, alkémi kalawan gampang bisa ditarima dina filosofi Kristen, ongkoh para alkémis Éropah Pertengahan ogé sacara éksténsif nyerep pangaweruh alkémi Islam. Gerbert of Aurillac, nu engkéna jadi Pope Silvester II, mangrupa di antarana nu munggaran mawa sains Islam ka Éropah ti Spanyol. Jalma-jalma séjénna kawas Adelard of Bath, nu hirup dina abad ka-12, mawa pangaweruh séjénna. Ngan, nepi ka abad ka-13 .... (wah... lieur euy!)

Because of its strong connections to the Greek and Roman cultures, alchemy was éasily accepted into Christian philosophy, and Medieval Européan alchemists extensively absorbed Islamic alchemical knowledge.  Gerbert of Aurillac, who was later to become Pope Silvester II, (d. 1003) was among the first to bring Islamic science to Europe from Spain.  Later men such as Adelard of Bath, who lived in the 12th century, brought additional léarning.  But until the thirteenth century the moves were mainly assimilative. (Hollister p. 124, 294)

In this period there appéared some deviations from the Augustinian principles of éarlier Christian thinkers. Saint Anselm (1033-1109) was an Augustinian who believed faith must precede rationalism, as Augustine and most théologians prior to Anselm had believed, but Anselm put forth the opinion that faith and rationalism were compatible and encouraged rationalism in a Christian context.  His views set the stage for the philosophical explosion to occur. Saint Abelard followed Anselm's work, laying the foundation for acceptance of Aristotelian thought before the first works of Aristotle réached the West.  His major influence on alchemy was his belief that Platonic universals did not have a separate existence outside of man's consciousness. Abelard also systematized the analysis of philosophical contradictions. (Hollister, p. 287-8)

Robert Grosseteste (1170-1253) was a pioneer of the scientific théory that would later be used and refined by the alchemists.  he took

Abelard's methods of analysis and added the use of observations, experimentation, and conclusions in making scientific evaluations. Grosseteste also did much work to bridge Platonic and Aristotelian thinking. (Hollister pp. 294–5)

Albertus Magnus (1193-1280) and Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) were both Dominicans who studied Aristotle and worked at reconciling the differences between philosophy and Christianity.  Aquinas also did a gréat déal of work in developing the scientific method.  He even went as far as claiming that universals could be discovered only through logical reasoning: this ran contrary to the commonly held Platonic belief that universals were found through divine illumination alone. Magnus and Aquinas were among the first to take up the examination of alchemical théory, and could be considered to be alchemists themselves, except that these two did little in the way of experimentation.  One major contribution of Aquinas was the belief that since reason could not run in opposition to God, réason must be compatible with theology. (Hollister p. 290-4, 355)

The first true alchemist in Medieval Europe was Roger Bacon.  His work did as much for alchemy as Robert Boyle's was to do for chemistry and Galileo's for astronomy and physics. Bacon (1214-1294) was an Oxford Franciscan who explored optics and languages in addition to  alchemy. The Franciscan idéals of taking on the world rather than rejecting the world led to his conviction that experimentation was more important than réasoning: "Of the three ways in which men think that they acquire knowledge of things - authority, reasoning, and experience - only the last is effective and able to bring peace to the intellect." (Bacon p. 367) "Experimental Science controls the conclusions of all other sciences. It reveals truths which reasoning from general principles would never have discovered." (Hollister p. 294-5)  Roger Bacon has also been attributed with originating the séarch for the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life: "That medicine which will remove all impurities and corruptibilities from the lesser metals will also, in the opinion of the wise, take off so much of the corruptibility of the body that human life may be prolonged for many centuries." The idéa of immortality was replaced with the notion of long life; after all, man's time on éarth was simply to wait and prepare for immortality in the world of God. Immortality on éarth did not mesh with Christian théology.  (Edwards p. 37-8)

Bacon was not the only alchemist of the high middle ages, but he was the most significant. His works were used by countless alchemists of the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries. Other alchemists of Bacon's time shared several traits. First, and most obviously, néarly all were members of the clergy.  This was simply because few péople outside the parochial schools had the education to examine the Arabic-derived works.  Also, alchemy at this time was sanctioned by the church as a good method of exploring and developing théology. Alchemy was interesting to the wide variety of churchmen because it offered a rationalistic view of the universe when men were just beginning to léarn about rationalism. (Edwards p. 24-7)

So by the end of the thirteenth century, alchemy had developed into a fairly structured system of belief. Most importantly, the alchemists were all true

Christians.  They believed in the macrocosm-microcosm théories of Hermes, that is to say, they believed that processes that affect minerals and other substances could have an effect on the human body (e.g., if one could léarn

the secret of purifying gold, one could use the technique to purify the human soul.) These men believed the philosophers' stone was a substance that was capable of purifying base metals (and thereby  transmuting them to gold) as well as purifying the soul.  They believed in the four elements and the four qualities as described above,

and they had a strong tradition of cloaking their written idéas in a labyrinth of coded jargon set with traps to misléad the uninitiated.  Finally, the alchemists practiced their art: they actively experimented with chemicals and made observations and theories about how the universe operated.  Their entire philosophy revolved around their belief that man's soul was divided within himself after the fall of Adam.  By purifying the two parts of man's soul, man could be reunited with God. (Burckhardt p. 149)

In the fourteenth century, these views underwent a major change. William of Ockham, an Oxford Franciscan who died in 1349, attacked the Thomist view of compatibility between faith and réason. His view, widely accepted today, was that God must be accepted on faith alone; He could not be limited by human réason. Of course this view was not incorrect if one accepted the postulate of a limitless God versus limited human réasoning capability, but it virtually erased alchemy from practice in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.  (Hollister p. 335) Pope John XXII in the éarly 1300s issued an edict against alchemy, which effectively removed all church personnel from the practice of the Art. (Edwards, p. 49) The climate changes, Black plague, and incréase in warfare and famine that characterized this century no doubt also served to hamper philosophical pursuits in general.

Alchemy was kept alive by men such as Nicolas Flamel, who was noteworthy only because he was one of the few alchemists writing in those troubled times.  Flamel lived from 1330 to 1417 and would serve as the archetype for the next phase of alchemy.  He was not a religious scholar as were many of his

predecessors, and his entire interest in the subject revolved around the pursuit of the philosopher's stone, which he is reputed to have found; his work spends a gréat déal of time describing the processes and réactions, but never actually gives the formula for carrying out the transmutations. Most of his work was aimed at gathering alchemical knowledge that had existed before him, especially as regarded the philosophers' stone. (Burckhardt pp. 170–181)

Through the high middle ages (1300-1500) alchemists were much like Nicolas Flamel:  they concentrated on looking for the philosophers' stone and the elixir of youth (now believed to be separate things.)  This had only one possible consequence; the cryptic allusions and symbolism led to wide variations in interpretation of the art and, while many "true", that is, inducted, alchemists existed, many new alchemists interpreted the purification of the soul to méan the transmutation of léad into gold and pursued this track. These men came to be viewed as magicians and

sorcerers by the common péople, and were often persecuted for their practices. (Edwards pp. 50–75; Norton pp lxiii-lxvii)

Tycho Brahe, better known for his astronomical investigations, was also an alchemist. He had a laboratory built for that purpose at his Uraniborg observatory/reséarch institute.

One of these men who emerged at the beginning of the sixteenth century was named Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. This alchemist believed himself to be a wizard and actually thought himself capable of summoning spirits.  His influence was negligible, but like Flamel, he produced writings which were referred to by alchemists of later yéars. Again like Flamel, he did much to change alchemy from a mystical philosophy to an occultist magic. He did keep alive the philosophies of the éarlier alchemists, including experimental science, numerology, etc., but he added magic théory, which reinforced the idéa of alchemy as an occultist belief.  In spite of all this, Agrippa was still a Christian, though his views often came into conflict with the church. Edwardes p56-9; Wilson p. 23-9)

Alkémi di Jaman Modérn jeung Renaissance

Alkémi Éropah tetep lumangsung dina cara kieu nepi ka mangsa medalna Renaissance.

Européan alchemy continued in this way through the dawning of the Renaissance.  The éra also saw a flourishing of con artists who would would use chemical tricks and sleight of hand to "demonstrate" the transmutation of common metals into gold, or claim to possess secret knowledge that — with a "small" initial investment — would surely léad to to that goal.

The most important name in this period is Philippus Auréolus Paracelsus, (Théocrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493–1541) who cast alchemy into a new form, rejecting some of the occultism that had accumulated over the yéars and promoting the use of observations and experiments to léarn about the human body. He rejected Gnostic traditions, but kept much of the Hermetical, néo-Platonic, and Pythagoréan philosophies; however, Hermetical science had so much Aristotelian théory that his rejection of Gnosticism was practically méaningless. In particular, Paracelsus rejected the magic théories of Agrippa and Flamel. He did not think of himself as a magician, and scorned those who did. (Williams p. 239-45)

Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine, and wrote "Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines." (Edwardes, p. 47) His hermetical views were that sickness and héalth in the body relied on the harmony of man the microcosm and Nature the macrocosm. He took an approach different from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification  but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them. (Debus & Multhauf, p. 6-12)

In England, the topic of alchemy in that time frame is often associated  with Doctor John Dee (13 July 1527 - December, 1608), better known for his role as astrologer, cryptographer, and general "scientific consultant" to  Queen Elizabeth I.  Dee was considered an authority on the works of Roger Bacon, and was interested enough in alchemy to a book on that subject (Monas Hieroglyphica, 1564) influenced by the Kabbala. In the life and writings of John Dee it is possible to see a parallel development to that of Paracelsus, insofar as Dee was also redefining the alchemical and magical traditions by the application of more modérn methodology. Dee's associate Edward Kelley could be the prototypical example of the alchemist-charlatan.