Calid
Encyclopedia
Khalid ibn Yazid
In alchemy, Kalid often refers to a historical figure, Khalid ibn Yazid (died 704 CE). He was an UmayyadUmayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
prince, a brother of Muawiyah II who was briefly caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
. Prince Khalid lost the chance of inheriting the title, but took an interest in the study of alchemy, in Egypt. A book collector , he facilitated translations into Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
of the existing literature. It is to this Khalid that later allusions to Calid rex (King Calid) refer.
Attributions to Calid
It is contested whether the attributions to Khalid ibn Yazid of alchemical writing are justified.There are numerous variant names. The Jewish Encyclopedia gives Kalid ben Jasiki. Variants on that are Kalid ben Jazichi, Kalid Persica, or Calid, son of Sazichi.http://www.alchemywebsite.com/albertus_compound.html A popular legend has him consulting a Byzantine monk Marianos (Morienus the Greek).This made its way much later into occult lore. Cedrenus (A.D. 491) gives an example of a magician who professed Alchemy. Morienus (a Hermit, whose works were translated from Arabic into Latin as early as A.D. 1182) learned the Art of Transmutation, or the Great Elixir, at Rome of Adsar, an Alexandrian and a Christian, and afterwards taught it to Calid, or Evelid, the son of Gizid the Second, who was King of Egypt about the year A.D. 725. From John YarkerJohn Yarker
thumb|upright|John Yarker John Yarker was an English Freemason, author, and occultist. He was born in Swindale, Shap, Westmorland in the north of England. He moved with his parents to Lancashire and on to Manchester in 1849...
, Introduction to the Golden Tractate.http://www.levity.com/alchemy/yarkintr.html The Liber de compositione alchimiae, which was the first alchemical work translated from Arabic to Latin (by Robert of Chester
Robert of Chester
Robert of Chester was an English arabist of the 12th century. He translated several historically important books from Arabic to Latin, by authors such as Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Al-Khwarizmi including:...
in 1144) was purportedly an epistle of Marianos to Khalid.
Another traditional attribution is of the Liber Trium Verborum.See for example http://www.alchemywebsite.com/calid_liber_trium.html. This book is also attributed to Rasis or to a Radianus/Rodianus. Another work but with the same name is attributed to Ramón Lull. Forms as Calid filius YsidriOr Calid filius Seid, Calid filius Isid.http://www.columbia.edu/dlc/garland/deweever/S/senior.htm. Filius here stands for 'son of' in Latin, so translating 'ibn'. Also Kalid ben Jesid, Calid fils de Jesid, Calid filius Gesid, etc. attempt to distinguish ibn Yazid from others named Calid. Calid filius Hahmil certainly intends ibn Umail. There is a Calid filius Jaici mentioned by Jean-Jacques Manget
Jean-Jacques Manget
Jean-Jacques Manget was a Swiss physician and writer. He was an assiduous compiler of previous medical literature.He wrote in particular a major treatise on the bubonic plague...
, who includes an attributed Liber Secretorum Artis in his 1702 compilation Bibliotheca Curiosa Chemica.