During the fourteenth century, the main sources of alchemical authors were not directly the Arabic texts translated, but the Latin treatises composed during the thirteenth century: the Summa perfectionis became one of the main authoritative texts. Moreover, the allegorical trend of alchemy began to expand in the Latin West, the Turba philosophorum and the Emerald Tablet came to be used more widely. We also observe a Christianization of alchemy, the appearance of a more religious alchemy (as was already the case in Arabic alchemy). The pharmaceutical side of alchemy was particularly well developed (especially the distillation of alcohol). The attempt to find the elixir of life and the medical topic of body restoration became a core issue.
The alchemical debate remained intense in the fourteenth century. The opponents of alchemy, in addition to the Sciant artifices, asserted that the transformation of species was against nature; in reaction to this assertion, alchemists invoked the fact that they were doing what nature itself was doing (the creation of metals), the only difference being that they did it more quickly. A decree entitled Spondent quas non exhibent is said to have been promulgated (in 1316?) by pope John XXII against false coiners (although this decree does not appear before the end of the fourteenth century). Although it did not condemn alchemy as such, this decree encouraged suspicion against alchemists (in addition to the increase in the number of frauds). However, no juridical condemnation of alchemists took place. One of the major opponents to alchemy was Nicolas Eymerich (1320-1399), who asserted in his Contra alchymistas that alchemists, once they had been disappointed with their art, were turning into demons or into the devil.
Some alchemical treatises are attributed to Arnold of Villanova (1240-1311), the famous Catalan doctor. These texts are probably not genuine, but the question is not solved yet. In the Rosarius philosophorum, the most widespread of these works, we find an alchemy based on the theory of the ‘‘mercury alone’’ (like in the Summa perfectionis). The alchemist has to reduce a metal to its prima materia (mercury containing sulphur), and project this mercury on a vile metal in order to transmute it. He rejected the use of organic matter. He also mentioned, following Roger Bacon, the possibility of healing the human body thanks to alchemy. Other treatises attributed to Arnold of Villanova are characterized by a more religious doctrine, as the De secretis naturae and the Tractatus parabolicus, in which the alchemist established a link between the philosophical stone and Christ.
This allegorical and religious kind of alchemy is also found in the alchemical treatises wrongly attributed to Thomas Aquinas (such as the De multiplicatione, c. 1320).
Towards the middle of the fourteenth century, a commentary on the Emerald Tablet was written under the name of a certain Hortulanus, in which the alchemical Work is meant to be a reproduction of God’s creation.
In his Pretiosa margarita novella (written between 1330 and 1350), Petrus Bonus of Ferrara synthesized the main alchemical ideas of his time, mainly from the Summa perfectionis. He was more a philosopher than an alchemist, and considered alchemy as a divine art, introducing theology into the debate.
Ramon Llull (c. 1233-c. 1316), the Catalan philosopher, opposed alchemy. However, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, a corpus of apocryphal alchemical texts began to circulate under his name. This corpus gained a wide diffusion (until the seventeenth century), and many different ideas and trends are found in it. The most important one (and probably the first) is the Testamentum: the alchemical doctrine of this work shows close resemblance to the doctrine expounded in the works attributed to Arnold of Villanova (but, as the dates of those texts are not clearly settled, it is impossible to assert which way the influence spreads). One of the specificities of the Testamentum lies in that it mentions for the first time in the West, in addition to the transmutation of metal and healing of the human body, the creation of gemstones through the alchemical work. The Arabic concept of elixir also occupies a very important place in this book. The observation of colors as signs of different stages in the alchemical work became central in the pseudo-Llullian corpus. This work was raising alchemy to the status of natural philosophy, which contributed to giving it a very long-lasting success (until the seventeenth century).
In the Liber de consideratione quintae essentiae omnium rerum (c. 1351-1352), Johannes de Rupescissa (d. after 1365) introduced into alchemy the use of the concept of the quintessence to designate the result of repeated distillations. In the trend of the prolongatio vitae of Roger Bacon, he asserted that the quintessence provides incorruptibility for corruptible things (in the sublunary world), considering it as a terrestrial corollary to the celestial ether. He also showed a very religious fervor in his writings in defense of the Franciscan order. His ideas were followed by many alchemists: for instance, one of the pseudo-Llullian treatises, the De secretis naturae, is clearly indebted to his work.
The book of Guillaume Sedacer (d. 1382), the Sedacina, is an original work. Beside the list of major alchemical authorities of this period, he created a proper alchemical vocabulary (mainly from Arabic words).
World History
