Renaissance Archives
Figures and manuscripts of the Renaissance period.
The Renaissance (c. 1460–1600) represents the 'golden age' of Western Hermeticism, initiated by Marsilio Ficino's translation of the Corpus Hermeticum into Latin. This period saw the synthesis of Hermeticism with Christian Kabbalah, Neoplatonism, and humanism.
Figures like Pico della Mirandola and Giordano Bruno utilized the 'Yates Paradigm' of the active magus to challenge traditional scholasticism, while Cornelius Agrippa provided the definitive synthesis of 'Occult Philosophy' that would define the era's magical worldview.
Figures
Andreas Libavius
Critic of Paracelsus; author of the first chemistry textbook, 'Alchemia'.…
Basil Valentine
Legendary monk-alchemist behind the 'Twelve Keys'.…
Francesco Patrizi
Attempted to replace Aristotle with Hermes Trismegistus in Catholic university curricula.…
Giordano Bruno
Hermetic philosopher and cosmological visionary.…
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
Synthesized Hermetism, Kabbalah, and Platonism.…
Guillaume Postel
Guillaume Postel (1510–1581) was a French humanist, orientalist, Hebraist, and millenarian prophet who became the first European professor of Arabic at the Collège de France (1538). His lifelong project of…
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486–1535) was a German polymath, physician, legal scholar, and theologian who produced in De occulta philosophia libri tres (1531–1533) the most comprehensive synthesis of Renaissance…
Heinrich Khunrath
Author of the 'Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae'.…
Johann Valentin Andreae
Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654) was a German Lutheran theologian and the probable author of the Rosicrucian manifestos — Fama Fraternitatis (1614), Confessio Fraternitatis (1615), and Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreutz (1616)…
Johannes Reuchlin
The founder of Christian Kabbalah.…
Johannes Trithemius
Johannes Trithemius (1462–1516) was a German Benedictine abbot, humanist scholar, cryptographer, and author of works on angelic hierarchies and secret communication whose Steganographia (written c. 1499, printed 1606) was placed…
John Dee
Elizabethan polymath and author of the 'Monas Hieroglyphica'.…
Lodovico Lazzarelli
Hermetic poet and author of the 'Crater Hermetis'.…
Marsilio Ficino
Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) was an Italian humanist philosopher, physician, and Catholic priest who headed the Platonic Academy in Florence under Medici patronage. His 1463 Latin translation of the Corpus Hermeticum,…
Michael Maier
Alchemist and physician to Rudolf II; author of 'Atalanta Fugiens'.…
Nicholas of Cusa
German cardinal, philosopher of the coincidentia oppositorum.…
Pietro Pomponazzi
Entry in progress — check back soon.
Robert Fludd
Engish physician and author of the 'Utriusque Cosmi Historia'.…
Symphorien Champier
Entry in progress — check back soon.
Theophrastus Paracelsus
Swiss-German physician and alchemist; founder of Iatrochemistry.…
Tommaso Campanella
Dominican friar and author of 'The City of the Sun', imprisoned for magic and heresy.…
Manuscripts & Texts
Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae
Khunrath's masterpiece of theosophical alchemy.…
Aurora Consurgens
Illuminated alchemical manuscript attributed to Aquinas.…
Crater Hermetis
A 15th-century dialogue by Lodovico Lazzarelli that synthesizes Hermetic regeneration with Christian theology.…
De Occulta Philosophia
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's monumental three-book synthesis of occult knowledge (1533).…
De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres
Agrippa's massive synthesis of natural, celestial, and ceremonial magic.…
Monas Hieroglyphica
John Dee's esoteric mathematical symbol.…
Rosarium Philosophorum
16th-century compilation of early alchemical authority.…
Splendor Solis
One of the most beautifully illustrated alchemical manuscripts.…