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Article ID: CBB076437716

Books, Gold, and Elixir: Alchemy and Religious Orders in Early Modern Naples (2018)

Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Volume: 65
Issue: 3
Pages: 250-274
Publication date: 2018
Language: English

URI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2018.1512777

DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2018.1512777

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Religious orders Dominicans (religious order) Science and religion Elixirs Gold Books Alchemy 17th century Early modern Naples (Italy) Tommaso d’Eremita

In the early modern period Naples was a European centre of learning where a number of scholars engaged with alchemy. Variously perceived as a legitimate scientific practice or as a mendacious trick for gullible minds, alchemy engaged Neapolitan scholars in an ongoing dispute that involved members of the clergy. In this article I consider convents as research centres mainly engaged with medical alchemy. Specifically, I reconstruct the activity of the Dominican friar Tommaso d’Eremita. Upon his arrival at the Neapolitan convent of Santa Caterina a Formello in 1609, d’Eremita set up a laboratory where he spent years working on alchemical procedures in order to produce an elixir of life for the benefit of all. Beyond this charitable mission, I argue that members of religious orders in Naples engaged with alchemy for different purposes. In so doing, I discuss the cases of some members of religious orders in Naples who practised chrysopoeia with the aim of producing artificial noble metals.

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Article Andrew Campbell; Lorenza Gianfrancesco; Neil Tarrant (2018) Alchemy and the Mendicant Orders of Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (pp. 201-209). unapi

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