Michael Maier
Encyclopedia
Michael Maier was a German physician and counsellor to Rudolf II Habsburg
, a learned alchemist
, epigramist and amateur composer.
, Holstein
, in 1568. He studied philosophy and medicine at Rostock
(1587), Frankfurt (Oder)
(M.A. 1592), and Padua
. He attained in 1596 a doctorate in medicine at Basel
, and returned to Rostock to practice the medical profession. He also briefly (c. 1601) practised in Königsberg
and Danzig. Around this time he became interested in alchemy
. In 1608 he went to Prague
, and in 1609 became the physician and imperial counsellor of Rudolf II. The interest of the emperor in the occult was the reason of his high esteem for Maier. Maier wrote a commentary on Hermes Trismegistus
and was dedicated, along with the emperor, to researching the secrets of nature.
Between 1611 and 1616, Maier spent time in England at the court of James I
, and also served other German princes, particularly the prince of Nassau
, a great protector of alchemy. His Atalanta fugiens, an alchemical emblem book
, was published in 1617; alongside images, poems, and discussion, it included fifty pieces of music in the form of fugues
, the form itself being a pun on Atalanta
"fleeing". In 1619 he became the physician of Landgrave Moritz of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)
. In 1620 he moved to Magdeburg
to practice medicine, where he died in 1622 at the age of 54, leaving a noteworthy quantity of unpublished works.
A devout Lutheran all his life, Michael Maier had a strong influence on Sir Isaac Newton
. He was also involved in the Rosicrucian
movement that appeared around this time, which afforded part of the matter of his Themis aurea.
. Under the initials N.L.T.S. and H.S. the dedicators justified their dedication over three pages; they are now identified as Nathaniel Hodges
, and Thomas Hodges (either his father or his brother, both of that name). Ashmole, they said, began to learn seal engraving, casting in sand, and goldsmith's work when living in Blackfriars, London, at which time he was initiated into rosicrucian "secrets" by William Backhouse
of Swallowfield in Berkshire. While illustrating the chain of Rosie Cross links from Michael Maier and Robert Fludd
, via Backhouse to Ashmole, the details given about Ashmole's training as a craftsman could illustrate the background of the latter's acception in operative masonry.
Maier's Septimana Philosophica: Qua Aenigmata Aureola de omni Naturae genere a Solomone Israelitarum Sapientissimo Rege, et Arabiae Regina Saba, nec non Hyramo, Tyri Principe, sibi invicem in modum Colloquii proponuntur et enodatur -Francfurti Typis Hartmanni Palthenii 1620 has Salomon, Sheba, and Hiram of Tyre discuss on the secrets of the universe. Over six days of the week -the seventh being Sabbath day- they investigate the nature of the universe from mineral to man. Under Vegetable Life the Rose is described. White and Red, the colours for Silver and Gold: "The center of the Rose is green- an emblem of the green Lion which philosophers know well." The conference on man is illustrated with a print representing a globe in a frame, supported on the one side by a masculine figure with a compass, on the other by a skeleton holding a vase with smoking contents.
James Brown Craven
, who gave detailed descriptions of the works above in his catalogue raissonée (1910) of Michael Maier, also included the 1654 English translation of Lusus Serius: or, Serious Passtime. A Philosophical Discourse ...wherein Hermes or Mercury is declared King of all Worldly things. The copy from the Bodleian Library described by Craven was dedicated "To the Honourable Cary Dillon, Esq., Son to Robert, late Earle of Roscommon by J. de la Salle" [i.e., John Hall of Durham]. This is a fair example of the intellectual circle in which Maier's work circulated contemporary with the association of Rosie Cross with Elias Ashmole.
What Craven described as "one of the most curious and rare of Maier's books" he knew only in a 1758 French translation Michael Maieri Cantilenae Intelectuales de Phoenice Redivivo; ou Chansons Intelectuelles sur la resurection Du Phenix...traduites...par M.L.L.M.. The original was first printed in Rome 1622, the translation is from the 1623 print at Rostock.
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
Rudolf II was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Hungary and Croatia , King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria...
, a learned alchemist
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
, epigramist and amateur composer.
Biography
Maier was born in RendsburgRendsburg
Rendsburg is a town on the River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the northeastern part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the Kreis of Rendsburg-Eckernförde. As of 2006, it had a population of 28,476.-History:...
, Holstein
Holstein
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....
, in 1568. He studied philosophy and medicine at Rostock
Rostock
Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
(1587), Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
(M.A. 1592), and Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
. He attained in 1596 a doctorate in medicine at Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, and returned to Rostock to practice the medical profession. He also briefly (c. 1601) practised in Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
and Danzig. Around this time he became interested in alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
. In 1608 he went to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, and in 1609 became the physician and imperial counsellor of Rudolf II. The interest of the emperor in the occult was the reason of his high esteem for Maier. Maier wrote a commentary on Hermes Trismegistus
Hermes Trismegistus
Hermes Trismegistus is the eponymous author of the Hermetic Corpus, a sacred text belonging to the genre of divine revelation.-Origin and identity:...
and was dedicated, along with the emperor, to researching the secrets of nature.
Between 1611 and 1616, Maier spent time in England at the court of James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, and also served other German princes, particularly the prince of Nassau
Nassau (state)
Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire and later in the German Confederation. Its ruling dynasty, now extinct in male line, was the House of Nassau.-Origins:...
, a great protector of alchemy. His Atalanta fugiens, an alchemical emblem book
Emblem book
Emblem books are a category of mainly didactic illustrated book printed in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, typically containing a number of emblematic images with explanatory text....
, was published in 1617; alongside images, poems, and discussion, it included fifty pieces of music in the form of fugues
Fugues
Fugue can refer to:* Fugue for the type of musical piece* See :Category:Fugues for individual pieces.* Fugues for the Canadian gay magazine* Fugue for the American literary journal.* Fugue state, a psychological term...
, the form itself being a pun on Atalanta
Atalanta
Atalanta is a character in Greek mythology.-Legend:Atalanta was the daughter of Iasus , a Boeotian or an Arcadian princess . She is often described as a goddess. Apollodorus is the only one who gives an account of Atalanta’s birth and upbringing...
"fleeing". In 1619 he became the physician of Landgrave Moritz of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)
Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
-External links:...
. In 1620 he moved to Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
to practice medicine, where he died in 1622 at the age of 54, leaving a noteworthy quantity of unpublished works.
A devout Lutheran all his life, Michael Maier had a strong influence on Sir Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
. He was also involved in the Rosicrucian
Rosicrucian
Rosicrucianism is a philosophical secret society, said to have been founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz. It holds a doctrine or theology "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe...
movement that appeared around this time, which afforded part of the matter of his Themis aurea.
Influence
The 1656 English translation of Themis Aurea appeared as Themis Aurea: The Laws of the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross, and was dedicated to Elias AshmoleElias Ashmole
Elias Ashmole was a celebrated English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer and student of alchemy. Ashmole supported the royalist side during the English Civil War, and at the restoration of Charles II he was rewarded with several lucrative offices.Ashmole was an antiquary with a...
. Under the initials N.L.T.S. and H.S. the dedicators justified their dedication over three pages; they are now identified as Nathaniel Hodges
Nathaniel Hodges
Nathaniel Hodges M.D. was an English physician, known for his work during the Great Plague of London and his written account Loimologia of it.-Early life:...
, and Thomas Hodges (either his father or his brother, both of that name). Ashmole, they said, began to learn seal engraving, casting in sand, and goldsmith's work when living in Blackfriars, London, at which time he was initiated into rosicrucian "secrets" by William Backhouse
William Backhouse
William Backhouse was a renowned English Rosicrucian philosopher, alchemist, and astrologer. He was born on 17 January 1593 at Swallowfield Park, some 5 miles south of Reading in the county of Berkshire, a younger son of Samuel Backhouse...
of Swallowfield in Berkshire. While illustrating the chain of Rosie Cross links from Michael Maier and Robert Fludd
Robert Fludd
Robert Fludd, also known as Robertus de Fluctibus was a prominent English Paracelsian physician, astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist, Rosicrucian apologist...
, via Backhouse to Ashmole, the details given about Ashmole's training as a craftsman could illustrate the background of the latter's acception in operative masonry.
Maier's Septimana Philosophica: Qua Aenigmata Aureola de omni Naturae genere a Solomone Israelitarum Sapientissimo Rege, et Arabiae Regina Saba, nec non Hyramo, Tyri Principe, sibi invicem in modum Colloquii proponuntur et enodatur -Francfurti Typis Hartmanni Palthenii 1620 has Salomon, Sheba, and Hiram of Tyre discuss on the secrets of the universe. Over six days of the week -the seventh being Sabbath day- they investigate the nature of the universe from mineral to man. Under Vegetable Life the Rose is described. White and Red, the colours for Silver and Gold: "The center of the Rose is green- an emblem of the green Lion which philosophers know well." The conference on man is illustrated with a print representing a globe in a frame, supported on the one side by a masculine figure with a compass, on the other by a skeleton holding a vase with smoking contents.
James Brown Craven
James Brown Craven
Archdeacon James Brown Craven was author of the History of the Church in Orkney and several other works on ecclesiastical history...
, who gave detailed descriptions of the works above in his catalogue raissonée (1910) of Michael Maier, also included the 1654 English translation of Lusus Serius: or, Serious Passtime. A Philosophical Discourse ...wherein Hermes or Mercury is declared King of all Worldly things. The copy from the Bodleian Library described by Craven was dedicated "To the Honourable Cary Dillon, Esq., Son to Robert, late Earle of Roscommon by J. de la Salle" [i.e., John Hall of Durham]. This is a fair example of the intellectual circle in which Maier's work circulated contemporary with the association of Rosie Cross with Elias Ashmole.
What Craven described as "one of the most curious and rare of Maier's books" he knew only in a 1758 French translation Michael Maieri Cantilenae Intelectuales de Phoenice Redivivo; ou Chansons Intelectuelles sur la resurection Du Phenix...traduites...par M.L.L.M.. The original was first printed in Rome 1622, the translation is from the 1623 print at Rostock.
- "The title promises much- "Nine Triads of Intellectual Songs on the Resurrection of the Phoenix: or the most precious of all medicines, the Mirror and abridgement of this Universe, proposed less to the ear than to the mind, and presented to the wise as the key of the three impenetrable Secrets of Chemistry."
-
- The plan of the squared Triads:-
- 1.The names.
- 2.The allegories.
- 3.The application of the Mysteries of the Art to those of Religion.
- The volume is dedicated to Frederick, Prince of Norway."
-
- J.B.Craven in Count Michael Maier - Life and Writings Kirkwall 1910
-
- The plan of the squared Triads:-
Works
With modern editions and translations where relevant:- De Medicina Regina. 1609.
- Hymnosophia.
- Arcana arcanissima, hoc est, Hieroglyphica AEgyptio-Graeca: vulgo necdum cognita, ad demonstrandam falsorum apud antiquos deorum, dearum, heroum, animantium, et institutorum pro sacris receptorum, originem, ex uno AEgyptiorum artificio, quad aureum animi et Corporis medicamentum peregit, deductam: unde tot poetarum allegoriae, scriptorum narrationes fabulosae et per totam encyclopaediam errores sparsi clarissima veritatis luce manifestantur, suaque tribui singula restituuntur, sex libris exposita. London: Creede, 1614.
- De Circulo physico, quadrato: Hoc est, de Auro ejusque virtute medicinali, sub duro cortice instar nuclei latente, an et qualis inde petenda sit tractatus haut inutilis. Oppenheim: Lucas Jennis, 1616.
- Silentium Post Clamores, 1617.
- Symbola aureae mensae duodecim nationum, hoc est Hermaea seu Mercurii festa ab heroibus duodenis selectis, artis chymicae usu, sapientia et authoritate paribus celebrata, ad Pyrgopolynicen seu adversarium illum tot annis jactabundum, virgini Chemiae injuriam argumentis tam vitiosis quam convitiis argutis inferentem, confundendum et exarmandum, artifices vero optime de ea meritos suo honori et famae restituendum. Frankfurt a. M: Lucas Jennis, 1617.
- Atalanta Fugiens, hoc est, Emblemata Nova de Secretis Naturae Chymica, Accommodata partim oculis et intellectui, figuris cupro incisis, adjectisquesententiis, Epigrammatis et notis, partim auribus & recreationi animi plus minus 50 Fugis Musicalibus trium Vocum, quarum duae ad unam simplicem melodiam distichis canendis peraptam, correspondeant, non absq; singulari jucunditate videnda, legenda, meditanda, intelligenda, dijudicanda, canenda et audienda. Oppenheim: Johann Theodori de Bry, 1617.
- Examen Fucorum Pseudo-Chymicorum. 1617.
- Jocus Severus. Frankfurt, 1617.
- (ed.), Tripus Aureus, hoc est, Tres Tractatus Chymici Selectissimi, nempe; I. Basilii Valentini, Benedictini Ordinis monachi, Germani, Practica vna cum 12. clauibus & appendice, ex Germanico; II. Thomas Nortoni, Angli Philosophi Crede Mihi seu Ordinale, ante annos 140. ab authore scriptum, nunc ex Anglicano manuscripto in Latinum translatum, phrasi cuiusque authoris vt & sententia retenta; III. Cremeri cuiusdam Abbatis Westmonasteriensis Angli Testamentum, hactenus nondum publicatum, nunc in diuersarum nationum gratiam editi, & figuris cupro affabre incisis ornati opera & studio. Frankfurt a. M.: Lucas Jennis,1618.
- Viatorium. Frankfurt, 1618.
- Themis Aurea, hoc est, de Legibus Fraternitatis R. C. tractatus, quo earum cum rei veritate convenientia, utilitas publica et privata, nec non causa necessaria, evoluntur et demonstrantur. 1618.
- Tractus de Volugri Arborea. 1619.
- Verum Inventum. 1619.
- Lusus Serius. Oppenheim, 1619.
- Septimana Philosophica: Qua Aenigmata Aureola de omni Naturae genere a Solomone Israelitarum Sapientissimo Rege, et Arabiae Regina Saba, nec non Hyramo, Tyri Principe, sibi invicem in modum Colloquii proponuntur et enodatu. 1620.
- Civitas Corporis Humani. 1621.
- Cantilenae Intelectuales de Phoenice Redivivo; ou Chansons Intelectuelles sur la resurection Du Phenix. 1622.
- Ulysses. Sapientia seu intelligentia, tanquam coelestis scintilla beatitudinis, quod si in fortunae et corporis bonis naufragium faciat, ad portum meditationis et patientiae remingio feliciter se expediat. 1624. (Posthumus)
External links
- Atalanta Fugiens (bilingual edition, with images)
- Atalanta Fugiens by Michael Maier (English translation in pdf)
- French-language site on Atalanta Fugiens includes low-resolution images of the book's musical scores
- Music Review and article
- Kunst der Fuge: Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens (MIDI files)