Framed as a history around science, Franciscans and the Elixir of Life focuses on alchemy as a material practice and investigates the Franciscan discourses and traditions that shaped the pursuit of the elixir, providing a rich examination of alchemy and religiosity. Zachary A. Matus makes new connections between alchemy, ritual life, apocalypticism, and the particular commitment of the Franciscan Order to the natural world, shedding new light on the question of why so many people claimed to have made, seen, or used alchemical compounds that could never have existed.
Franciscans and the Elixir of Life
Religion and Science in the Later Middle Ages
Zachary A MatusA universal medicine that would purify body and soul, but did not promise immortality, the elixir of life was one of the two major goals of alchemy, the other being the transmutation of base metal into gold. From their writings on alchemy, Matus’ study describes the Franciscans’ alchemical pursuit of the elixir within the intellectual, religious and political culture of the friars; it also examines elixir traditions through works by Roger Bacon and John of Rupescissa.
RRP £52.00
£20.99
Product information:
- Publisher: Pennsylvania UP
- Year: 2017
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 212pp
- Illustrated: No
- Dimensions: 239x158mm
- ISBN: 9780812249217
- Condition: New
- Weight: 0.5kg
Framed as a history around science, Franciscans and the Elixir of Life focuses on alchemy as a material practice and investigates the Franciscan discourses and traditions that shaped the pursuit of the elixir, providing a rich examination of alchemy and religiosity. Zachary A. Matus makes new connections between alchemy, ritual life, apocalypticism, and the particular commitment of the Franciscan Order to the natural world, shedding new light on the question of why so many people claimed to have made, seen, or used alchemical compounds that could never have existed.
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