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Paul Ferguson Member 
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Does anyone here have access to the Lexikon des Mittelalters? I would welcome a summary of the article on Johannes Augustinus Pantheus by J. Telle. Gratias vobis in antecessum ago, docti amici Paul |
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Tom Willard Member 
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Paul, I can check the entry within the next twelve hours. Please let me know if you already have a response. |
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Paul Ferguson Member
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Hi Tom, No other replies so far. I would be very grateful if you would check the entry for me. I imagine it's quite brief. I have some evidence that Panteo was defrocked and I would be especially interested to see whether that is mentioned. No rush over this. Many thanks again, Paul |
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Tom Willard Member
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I have scanned the entry, on page 1659 of volume 3 (1993). As you will see, Telle says simply that Pantheus "lived as a priest and refiner of gold." He is thus more cautious than Ferguson, whom he cites. Attached Image (viewed 376 times): |
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Tom Willard Member
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Correction: Volume 6 (1993). |
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Paul Ferguson Member
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Very useful Tom. I am deeply grateful - thank you, Paul |
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Paul Ferguson Member
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What is the "Alchemicamasse" referred to here six lines from the end? Surely not Melchior's "Processus sub forma missae"? Paul |
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Tom Willard Member
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No, surely not the alchemical mass. (That would be Messe, in any case.) But since Masse can mean mixture, and since the "Voarchadumia" promises information on proportions (proportionibus) perhaps the reference is to the proper process or product of the work. Ferguson dates the "Voarchadumia" Venice, 1550, the same year as the "Rosarium Philosophorum" was printed in Frankfurt. That seems to give the Italians equal claim to having the first printed book of alchemy. |
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Tom Willard Member
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Oops. Telle's entry got me thinking in German, but the point remains. Latin "massa" also means "mass." Cassell's gives Classical precedents for its use with metals. |
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Paul Ferguson Member
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Thanks Tom. Actually Panteo's first book was the Institutiones, now lost, published before 1518. Then came the Ars et Theoria Transmutationis Metallicae published in 1518, on which the Voarchadumia (first edition Venice 1530 - Ferguson's 1550 reference is to the first French edition) was based, so he was indeed a pioneer. Panteo can also claim to be the first person to publish an illustration in a printed book of a wire-drawing machine (1530) and make the first rapprochement in print between alchemy and the Cabala (1518). He would also seem to be first alchemical writer to discuss the harmony of the spheres, and the only one to do so before Michael Maier. So all in all a very important writer and well worth translating. My translation is basically finished and I'm writing the introduction, which must needs be fairly extensive(!) Should be ready to go to print first week of February. Thanks again for your help. Last edited on Sat Jan 16th, 2010 10:41 am by Paul Ferguson |
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Tom Willard Member
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Good work, Paul. That sounds very interesting. |
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Rafal T. Prinke Member 
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Paul Ferguson wrote:My translation is basically finished and I'm writing the introduction, which must needs be fairly extensive(!) Looking forward to it. I have just remembered a section of the 1550 edition in the Ars et theoria part is dedicated to a "Gulielmo Hyeroski, Polono viro nobiliss." whom I once tried to identify. Although I was not successful, I found one Batłomiej (Bartholomew) Hierowski -- a standard variant spelling of the rather rare surname, living c.1565-1612, who was a town physician of Toruń (Thorn), and dealing with alchemy. He studied medicine in Wittenberg (1592, doctorate 1593) and in 1595 published two works on heaaling wounds. Because he was born in Toruń and got City Council scholarship for his studies, it is pretty certain that Wilhelm Hierowski must have been his relative. |
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Paul Ferguson Member
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Dear Rafal, Many thanks for that. I see Bartholomew H. is in Wiki: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart%C5%82omiej_Hierowski I did get one hit for Wilhelm Hierowski on Google Books, but there's no view: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1GGLS_enJE353JE353&q=%22Wilhelm%20Hierowski%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wp "Katalog re̜kopisów Ośrodka Dokumentacji Wielkopolskiego Środowiska Literackiego: Sygnatury DL/1-DL/139 Archiwum Oddziału Poznańskiego Zwia̜zku Literatów Polskich." Might be a wild goose chase though - possibly a more recent person with the same name... |
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Rafal T. Prinke Member
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Hi Paul, I should have checked Wikipedia -- but it says the same. I have used the first source it quotes: Polski słownik biograficzny (Polish biographical dictionary). The second source is derivative from that. I doubt Katalog re̜kopisów...may have something on that Wilhelm, as it is a catalogue of manuscripts of contemporary literature and there was a literary critic Zdzisław Hierowski. But I may check it when I go to a library next time. |
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Paul Ferguson Member
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Is Hierowski a Jewish surname? Paul |
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Rafal T. Prinke Member
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Is Hierowski a Jewish surname? No, certainly not (well, almost certainly). Basically Jews in Poland did not have hereditary surnames before early 19th c. Converts to Christianity adopted Polish-sounding names but at that time and place it is rather improbable. |
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Paul Ferguson Member
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Thanks. A bit of Googling reveals that the Latin spelling of his surname was Hierovius and that his middle name(?) was Kościółek. http://books.google.com/books?id=RSaZMmxTV48C&q=%22kosciolek+hierovius%22&dq=%22kosciolek+hierovius%22&lr=&ei=VzlSS-iyNZuCywTuv4SRDA&cd=1 Last edited on Sat Jan 16th, 2010 10:18 pm by Paul Ferguson |
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Rafal T. Prinke Member
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There is actually quite a lot to be found on-line about Batholomew under his Latinized surname "Hierovius". He seems to have published more than just two works and they were cited by later medical works. His wife died in 1598 and there was a funeral sermon:  http://www.online.uni-marburg.de/fpmr/db/tbk/bilder/full/Tb094/09409.jpgand a Threnody http://www.online.uni-marburg.de/fpmr/db/tbk/bilder/full/Tb094/09410.jpg published in Wittenberg. She was Veronika Imhoff, from an important patrician family of Nuremberg. There was also a Felix Hierovius in Toruń about the same time who published philosophical treatises in 1629 and 1635, the first of them dedicated to the City Council of Toruń: http://www.estreicher.uj.edu.pl/staropolska/indeks/16543,0203.html |
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Rafal T. Prinke Member
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"Kościółek" is here a type of nickname that sometimes was hereditary. |
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Paul Ferguson Member
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So Guglielmus would be a Latinization of what Polish forename - Boleslaus? Or would he have been Wilhelm H, or William H? |
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Rafal T. Prinke Member
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Boleslaus already is the Latinization of Bolesław. The Polish form of Gu(g)lielmus is the same as German: Wilhelm. I have only seen the dedication in the 1550 edition. Is it in the 1518/1519? I may try to ask a friend who is a specialist on Toruń patriciate families. If Hierowski was an educated adult at that time, he may well have been a contemporary of Copernicus, another Toruń patrician. Intriguing... |
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Paul Ferguson Member
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Rafal T. Prinke wrote:I have only seen the dedication in the 1550 edition. Is it in the 1518/1519? Yes. Re Copernicus, please note that Panteo was also an astronomer, who published a lunar calendar in 1535. One of the 'censors' who passed the Voarchadumia for publication in 1530 was Antonio de Fantis, also an astronomer (and, I believe, an astrologer as well). Don't know whether this might be relevant. |
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