Epistemic Change: Stages of Early Modern Alchemy

• Applicant: Privatdozentin Dr. Ute Frietsch
• Subject Area: History of Science ; Early Modern History
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 318859574

• Final Report Year: 2021

Final Report Abstract

The aim of the project was to produce a monograph of the history of early modern alchemy. There is no binding narrative for this subject, since this history can be examined differently due to the everyday use of alchemy and has in fact rarely been written. The proposed narrative combines perspectives and methods of both epistemology and research on material culture. These are combined in book history, in which books are examined and handled as material artefacts. 1. The thesis was confirmed that chymists' engagement with the university can be used as a common thread for a history of alchemy in the early modern period. The extensive surviving materials often exhibit argumentative structures. In particular, chymists who had undergone university training strove to establish chymistry at the university. They wanted to reform the university, but were also prepared to present their own theories and practices in accordance with prevailing university norms. This was especially true for representatives of medical alchemy, but also influenced their hermetic, magical, and chrysopoetic (gold-making) theorems and working methods. The thesis was verified on the basis of sources from the University of Helmstedt and was subject to international review at the conference "Alchemy and University." 2. In order to unfold a chronological narrative and integrate material culture into the presentation, the plot was built up according to location. Today, artefacts are often historically researched at the sites of former alchemical practices (such as Kunstkammern). The monograph takes us to selected places, including Venice and Florence, Basel, Kassel, Prague, Zurich, London and New England, Skokloster, Stockholm, Rome, Sulzbach, Paris, Berlin, and the University of Helmstedt.

Publications

• „Magie im 16. Jahrhundert: Die ‚Astronomia Magna oder Die gantze Philosophia sagax der grossen und kleinen Welt‘“, in: Gudrun Wolfschmidt (Hg.): Astronomie und Astrologie im Kontext von Religionen, Hamburg: tredition 2018, 190-217
  Ute Frietsch
  
• „Leben und Sterben in der Alchemie: Die Hinrichtung der Anna Maria Ziegler und die Spur eines Artefakts,“ in: Wolfenbütteler Hefte 37, hg. von Petra Feuerstein-Herz: Feurige Philosophie. Zur Rezeption der Alchemie, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2019, 15-42
  Ute Frietsch
  
• “Alchemy and the Early Modern University: An Introduction”, in: Ambix, Vol. 68, Number 2-3, May-August 2021: Guest Editor: Ute Frietsch, Alchemy and the Early Modern University
  Ute Frietsch
  
• “Making University Fields for Chymistry: A Case Study of Helmstedt University”, in: Ambix, Vol. 68, Number 2-3, May-August 2021: Guest Editor: Ute Frietsch, Alchemy and the Early Modern University
  Ute Frietsch
  
• „Der Alchemiker im Bild. Zum Verhältnis von Alchemie und Kunst“, in: Petra Feuerstein-Herz und Ute Frietsch (Hg.), Alchemie – Genealogie und Terminologie, Bilder, Techniken und Artefakte. Forschungen aus der Herzog August Bibliothek, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2021 (ISBN 978-3-447-11529-2)
  Ute Frietsch
  
• „Solve Coagulata! Verflüssige die Schöpfung! Die pseudo-paracelsische Schrift Philosophia ad Athenienses als Rätsel und Offenbarung“, in: Jutta Eming und Volkhard Wels (Hg.), Darstellung und Geheimnis in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit, (Reihe des SFB Episteme in Bewegung) Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2021, S. 279-294
  Ute Frietsch