“Fratris Basilii Valentini Benedicter Ordens V Letzte Bücher, welche sindt sein letztes Testament” – A hitherto unnoticed manuscript from the Leipzig University Library

Abstract

At the Leipzig University Library a manuscript is stored with the title “Fratris Basilii Valentini Benedicter Ordens V Letzte Bucher, welche sindt sein letztes Testament” (“The Five Last Books by Brother Basilius Valentinus of the Order of St. Benedict which are his Last Will”), which was until now not noticed by the historiography of chemistry in the discussion about the authorship of the alchemical works of the Benedictine monk Basilius Valentinus. The first edition of the “Last Will” of Basilius Valentinus, printed in 1626 in Jena, included only two parts, although there were five parts announced in the preface. A new expanded edition was published in 1645 in Strasbourg containing the announced five parts. The Leipzig manuscript bears two owner’s marks dating from 1612 and 1620, which prove that this manuscript was written before the first print. In comparing these owner’s marks with the biographical data of the first editor of Basilius Valentinus’ works, Johann Tholde, and the supporter of these works, Joachim Tancke, it is possible, for the first time, to assume an influence of both people on the last published work of the Basilius Valentinus Alchemica Corpus based on historical evidence. In the manuscript written in 1612 or earlier the first three parts of the “Last Will” were already completed, but were not printed until the 1645 edition with two new chapters of unknown origin.