HERMETICISM AND ALCHEMY: THE CASE OF

LUDOVIGO LAZZARELLI

CHIARA CRISCIANI
Departmentof Philosophy,Universityof Pavia

1. There are various kinds of documentation regarding the al-

chemical interests of Ludovico Lazzarelli ( 1450-1500) .1 We have no
statements of his as to his actual working commitments; however,
Lazzarelli himself declares that he had been the disciple of a mas-
ter alchemist, namely the Burgundian John Rigaud de Branchis,
who was certainly practicing in Siena in 1494. Moreover, in some
texts, Lazzarelli was surely connected with alchemy in a number
of ways. Up to now I have identified three such texts: 1) The tran-
scription of the Pretiosa Margarita Novella of Petrus Bonus, with a
dedicatory verse written by Lazzarelli,2 in which the latter offers
Petrus' text to John Rigaud and fervently praises both the author
('nomine reque bonus,' the pride of 'inclita Ferraria') and the

I On Lazzarelli see, in addition to the more remote studies

by V.K. Ohly and
V.B. McDaniel, P.O. Kristeller, "Marsilio Ficino e Lodovico Lazzarelli. Contributo
alla diffusione delle idee ermetiche nel Rinascimento"; id., "Ancora per Giovanni
Mercurio da Correggio," in id., Studies on Renaissance Thought and Letters (Rome,
1956), 221-257 ; id., "Lodovico Lazzarelli e Giovanni da Correggio, due ermetici
del Quattrocento, e il manoscritto II.D.I.4 della Biblioteca Comunale degli Ar-
denti di Viterbo," in A. Pepponi, ed., Bibliotheca degli Ardenti della città di Viterbo.
Studi e ricerchenel1500 dellafondazione (Viterbo, 1960), 15-37; F.A Yates, Giordano
Bruno and the HermeticTradition (London, 1964), passim; D.P.Walker, Spiritual and
Demon.icMagic fromFicino to Campanella (London, 1958), 60-72 ;E. Garin, M. Brini,
C. Vasoli, P. Zambelli, eds., I'esti umanistic,isu lErmetismo (Rome, 1955); D.B. Ru-
derman, "Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio's Appearance in Italy as Seen through
the Eyes of an Italian Jew," in RenaissanceQuarterly,28.3 (1975), 309-322; S. Sosti,
"Il 'Crater Hermetis' di Ludovico Lazzarelli," in Quaderni dell'IstitutoNazionale di
Studi sul Rinascimentomeridionale,1 (1984), 101-132; C. Moreschini, Dall' 'Asclepio'
al 'Crater Hermetis'. Studi sull'ermetismotardo antic e rinascimentale (Pisa, 1985); M.
Idel, "Hermeticism and Judaism," in I. Merkel and A.G. Debus, eds., Hermeticism
and the Renaissance(Washington, 1988), 68-70; E. Garin, Ermetismodel Rinascimento
(Rome, 1988); F. Bacchelli,Giovanni Pico e Pierleoneda Spoleto.Nuovi frammentidel
'Commentosopra unfi canzona de amore' (Florence, 2000).
2 Modena, Biblioteca Estense, ms lat. 299
(the dedicatory verse has been ed-
ited in Kristeller, "Ancora per," 257). On Petrus Bonus see C. Vasoli, in Dizionario
biograficodegli Italiani (Rome, 1970), 1:287-289; C. Crisciani, ed., Pietro Bono da
Ferrara, Prezin.saMargarita Novella.Edizione del volgarizzamento (Florence, 1976),
Introduction; ead., "The Conception of Alchemy as Expressed in the 'Pretiosa
Margarita Novella' of Petrus Bonus of Ferrara," in Ambix,20 (1973), 165-181.
146

recipient. 2) A collection of alchemical text;,?' known as the

Vademecum. These texts are all of a practical and Lullian tone. In-
deed, the first treatise, which is original and anonymous, is defined
as 'ex intentione Raymundi'; one text, the De investigatione lapidis,
is part of the pseudo-Lullian corpus;' there follow 'excerpta ex
libris Raymundi' (in Latin and in the vernacular) and various prac-
tical 7able; finally it contains the procedure to obtain the
'arcanum elexiris de inventione magistri Joannis Rigaudi de
Branchis', which he had made in Siena in 1494 'in societate
magistri Alberti perusini phisici.' 3) The dedicatory verse and the
prologue, both definitely written by Lazzarelli, which preface this
collection.5 The first few lines wish well to the "liber collega arcani
laboris, fidus perpetuusque comes. "6 The collection that follows
thus seems to be a true guide that aims at involving Lazzarelli in
practical knowledge and works. Moreover, it is right in this pro-
logue that Lazzarelli delineates a magistral genealogy in which he
presents himself, disciple of John Rigaud that he is, as the heir to
a line that goes back to Lull, and thence to Arnold, who had, in
turn, learned "a quodam magistro Petro."
The alchemical books that Lazzarelli surely had at his disposal
comprised an extensive and systematic doctrinal text, the Pretiosa
Margarita, and some short operative writings that refer to 'Lull.'

v' Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana, ms 984; the edition of both the

opening
verses and the prologue can be found in M. Brini, "Ludovico Lazzarelli. Testi
scelti", in E. Garin et al., Testi umanistici, 75-77; of. also Chantilly, Musec (;onde,
ms 419 (919): this manuscript contains texts in the Italian vernacular and, in
particular, the prologue to the Vademecum,the first treatise, the Secret7cm written
by John Rigaud de Branchis.
M. Pereira, The AlchemicalCorpusAttributedto RaymondLull (London, 1989),
85.
5 Created in 1495, this collection seems to be one of the results of the Lazza-
relli's editing activities: see also his 'Hermetic' collection with three introductions
for Giovanni Mercurio (Kristeller, "Marsilio Ficino", Appendix with the edition
of the introductions). The opening Tabula (ed. Brini, "Testi", 76-77), written
subsequently, attributes the first treatise in the collection to Lazzarelli (tractatus
de alchi7rtia),but he actually wrote only the prologue and collected and edited the
works. The collection is not explicitly dedicated to John Rigaud, but it is explic-
itly linked to his teaching, as can be inferred from the genealogy presented in
the prologue (ed. Brini, 76); moreover, in the text on the preparation of the
elixir by John Rigaud (f.33v), it is declared that "hoc arcanum ipse magister
Joanes mihi ex maxima sui liberalitate ore proprio revelavit"; cf. I.. Thorndike,
History oJ Magic and ExperimentalScience(New York, 1923-1950), 5:533-34; 6 :437-
38.
6 Brini, "Tcsti", 75.
 147

There is nothing surprising in this modest but well-balanced rep-

ertoire. Indeed, during the Quattrocento, there was a general ac-
ceptance of the two-fold tradition that derived from 'Geber' (in-
deed Bonus, on several occasions, declares-truthfully-that he
owes much to Geber) and from 'Lull'. So Lazzarelli is fully in line
with choices that, in the Quattrocento, were widespread and con-
solidated. The two traditions were often interwoven and under-
stood to be complementary.'
However, the textual choices made by Lazzarelli deserve some
further consideration. Bonus' treatise does not confine itself to
reformulating 'Geber"s conceptions. Its importance lies (then and
subsequently) not only in its thorough definition of the relation-
ship between alchemy and natural philosophy in an Aristotelian
and scholastic context, but also in Bonus' thorough treatment of
other issues that may have held a more specific interest for
Lazzarelli: the underlying reasons for the concealing language of
alchemists and its forms; the initiatory feature of the transmission
of alchemical knowledge; and, above all, the 'partim divina' struc-
ture of alchemy in general and of the lapis in particular, which was
also interpreted as a miracle and a 'donum Dei.' Bonus' consid-
erations on the poets who made reference to the alchemical opus
in their poems and myths, on the prophets who speak mistice also
on the subject of alchemy, on the ancient alchemists (in the first
place Hermes) who, as witnesses of the marvellous alchemical
transformations and the extraordinary nature of the lapis/miracle,
were necessarily also prophets of Christian events and truths 8 -all
of these are themes that Lazzarelli must have particularly appreci-
ated. Indeed, his main interest seems from quite early on to have
been directed towards the topic of transformation, in whatever way
it was approached. In fact, already in his youth (long before his
'conversion to Hermeticism' which followed his meeting with
Giovanni 'Mercurio' da Correggio in he wrote the short

' C. Crisciani and M. Pereira, "L'alchiniia nella transizione fra Medioevo e

Rinascimento," in Storia della scienza Treccani (Rome, forthcoming), IV, part C,
chp.13.1.
8 For these themes see Petrus Bonus, Pretiosa
Margarita Novella (ed. J J.
Manget, BibliothecaChemicaCuriosa, (Geneva, 1702), 2:1-80), 29-31, 50-54.
9 Lazzarelli describes the Hermetic
appearance of Giovanni Mercurio and his
own reactions to it in the Epistola En.och (ed. Brini, "Testi", 34-50); cf. also
Kristcllcr, "Ancora per", 256, for the incunabulum and another manuscript of the
text; cf. Rudeman, "Giovanni Mercurio."
148

poem Bombix,'° where he set forth and 'concealed', within the

story of the metamorphosis of the silkworm, palingenetic ideas on
regeneration from flesh to spiritual perfection. Amongst other
things, in his main work Crater Hermetis," he describes the creation-
transformation of 'new men' in a context that stresses the conver-
gence, if not equivalence, of Hermeticism and the Christian reli-
gion. The close connection that Bonus had established between
alchemical and Christian truths and his interpretation that con-
crete alchemical changes embodied religious truths certainly ap-
peared to him of great interest within the framework of his
syncretistic approach.'2
As for the texts collected in the Vademecum, few explanations are
needed in order to show the reasons for this Lullian choice, which
was not only Lazzarelli's but, first and foremost, John Rigaud's (as
is clear from the text attributed to him). The texts of pseudo-Lull"
convey an extension of alchemical theory, which is presented as a
real philosophy of nature drawn up by alchemist philosophers,
defined as filii Hermetis. They also broaden the scope of the im-
provements brought about by the lapis-elixir, which acts not only
on minerals, but also on vegetable life and on the body of man,
for whom it promotes long life and well-being. Pseudo-Lull thus
proposes a general project for the transformation and restoration
of both man and the cosmos which ranges from transmutation to
a universal therapy. The models and aims of perfection to which
the Testamentum refers are, on one hand, the image of the perfect
body of man as represented by Adam and, on the other hand, the
image of the earth taken back, through a positive apocalypse, to
the pure and immobile perfection of the crystal. 14 In the pseudo-
Lullian corpus there is also some account of special divine
revelations and of initiatory bonds linking master and disciple.' S

'° Ludovici Lazzarelli

Septempedanis...Bombix...JoanneFrancisco Lancillottio a
.8!aphiloauctore... (Aesi, 1765), cf. Brini "Testi"; Garin, "Ermetismo."
" For the
complex situation linked with the printing of this text, its editions
and interpretations, see the studies quoted above, note 1.
12A
significant trace of Lazzarelli's particular interest in Bonus can be found
in De ratione conficiendilapidis philosophiciby Lorenzo Ventura (Baslc, 1571), who
often quotes Bonus, sometimes in connection with Lazzarelli.
'3 See M. Pereira and B.
Spaggiari, eds., Il `Testamentum' alchemic,oattribuito a
RaimondoLullo (Florence, 1999); M. Pereira, L'oro deifilosofi. Saggiosulle ideedi un
alchimistadel Trecento(Spoleto, 1992) and Pereira's many other studies on pseudo-
Lullian alchemy.
'4 Testamentum,254, 170.
15Cf.,
e.g., ps.-Lullus, Codicillus(ed. Manget, 1), 908B. The first treatise in the
 149

These themes are definitely not in contrast with Lazzarelli's

characteristic Hermetic philosophic approach.
2. The style of the Vademecum collection deserves a more in- .

depth analysis, as also do the features of the first anonymous trea-

tise (Tractatus de Alchimia, not attributed to Lull, and attributed in
the Tabula to Lazzarelli). The collection consists purely of practi-
cal texts. These are not, however, simply recipes or instructions,
but are, from an epistemological point of view, Practicae, in other
words, practical directions incorporating theories. Although I have
no definite proof, I am inclined to believe that these texts, in par-
ticular the Tractatus, the best organized of the collection, are con-
nected with the teachings of John Rigaud.
In any case, the Tractatus shows a highly professional alchemist,
who carefully and thoroughly presents technical expedients and
ingenious contrivances (clearly the product of his effective and
innovative laboratory work, as for instance tests for measuring fire,
devices for sealing recipients, etc.)"' and who also pays careful at-
tention to the social repercussions of his work. So, for example,
the author provides careful instructions regarding the social crite-
ria according to which the elixir should be distributed and admin-
istered.17 Moreover, the author also interprets the religious-
soteriological nature of the opus in very concrete terms: the alche-
mist should donate a part of the profit from his work (deriving
from transmutation or therapy) to the poor, through the institu-
tional channels of the seven works of charity of the Christian pas-
toral.18 Finally, the text ends with the hope that it might be possi-
ble to convert the enemies of the Catholic faith with the aid of the
universal alchemical remedy."

Vademecumrefers briefly to these themes when the author declares that, for love
of his disciple, "hoc arcanum Dei pono in manum animae tuae.." (f.3v).
See especially ibid., ff. 4r-5r.
" Indeed, it should be applied in a different way to the rich and the poor:
ibid., ff. 5v-6r.
18Ibid. ff. 5r-6r.
19 Ibid., f. 8r: "Imo crit
patriarca mundi inmortalis convertens omnes suos
inimicos ad suam fidem catolicam." The subject of pagan enemies, sometimes the
Turks, is a common theme in alchemical texts of the time: see, e.g., Cristoforo da
Parigi, Elucidariu.5 (ed. in L. Zetzner, Thealrum Chemicum, (Strasbourg, 1661),
6:199: with the alchemical results "Turcam ex Asia minore fugare poteris";
Antonio dell'Abbazia, Hevelazione(Chantilly, Mtis6e Cond6, ms 419 (919), ff. 45r-
47), f.46r: " [...] potresti far longhissima guera agli infideli, e agiustar il loco dove
il Signor nostro pati morte per recuperare queli che perduti crano"; f.46v: "con
questo potresti fare longhisima guerra agli infideli e aquistar il loco nel qual fo
150

The text proposes, as do various other fifteenth-century works,

a definite shift to the therapeutic-medical goals of alchemy, with-
out however eliminating the aim of transmutation. Here there are
two remarkable aspects. First and foremost, the medical elixir is
interpreted as an additive which has a special, attractive way of
acting, partially similar to that of theriac. These issues were widely
debated over the same period of time also in other texts both al-
chemical and medical dealing with potable gold, the fifth essence,
and the universal remedy.") In the second place, the author pro-
poses a reflection (that is rather interesting from the epistemologi-
cal point of view) on the possibilities of verifying the transmuta-
tion of metals and the alchemical therapy, and concludes that the
latter is easier to judge. Indeed, the biological-medical paradigm
proves to be clearly dominant, from a theoretical point of view,
also with respect to transmutation .2 ' Finally, the author of the
Tractatus also stresses the contiguous nature of religion and the
opus. He finds it both in the aforementioned charitable acts which
are required from the alchemist (the alchemical remedy, a free
and divine gift, should translate into free gifts to the poor), and
also in his references to the Scriptures. Thus the brief praise of the
preparation and incorruptible nature of the lapis is expressed in
terms of the phases of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, as

dato opera de Iddio alla nostra salute." (I have transcribed part of the texts of
Antonio in C. Crisciani, "Fatichc c promesse alchemiche," in S. Borutti, cd., Me-
moria e scrittura della filosofia,forthcoming). This theme is particularly emphasized
in the alchemical text attributed to Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio, De (¿1,¡,ercu
Julii Pontificissive de lapidephilosophico(London, British Museum, ms Harley 4081,
ff. lr-40r), e.g. f.2v: "Ad turcorum mahomethanorumque ac paganorum omnium
exercitus atque potentias sine armatura ct absque ulla multorum militia ilico
constringendum, fugandum exterminandumque," and f.31r: "Et vinces tu quoque
paganorum atquc turcorum omnium turbas: non in virtute corporis nec in
armatura potentiae." Already Guilelmus Sedacer in his .Summfi(ed. P. Barthelemy,
in progress) complains that alchemy is in the hands of the infidels: this knowl-
edge must be retrieved, so that, with it, Christians (prologue to the second book):
"[...] illam terram sanctam que longissimis tcmporibus ab infidelibus et
nephandis nacionibus fuit atrocitcr conculcata et hodiernis temporibus herctice
pretractur, valeant hostiliter et viriliter acquirere et possidere" (I thank P.
Barthelemy for this reference).
20 Cf. C. Crisciani and M. Pereira, "Black Death and Golden Remedies: Some
Remarks on Alchemy and the Plague", in A. Paravicini Bagliani and F. Santi, eds.,
TheRegulationof Evil. Socialand Cultural Attitudesto E?idemic,sin tlaeLate MiddleAges
(Turnhout, 1998), 7-39; C.Crisciani, "Oro"Oro potabile traalchimia
potabile tra alchimia eemedicina:
medicina: due
due
testi in tempo di peste", in Rendicon.tiAccademiaNazionaledelleScienzedelta dei XL,
XXI,II,2 (1997), 83-93.
21 Tractatus, ff. 5v, 6rv.
 151

John Dastin had already done in his Visio, 'Arnold' in the Exempla,
and, in particular, Bonus himself 12 In the text at hand, the refer-
ence to the topic of 1(lpls/Christ is very brief and hence not com-
parable with the extensive treatment of it in the other texts I have
mentioned. However, the few remarks we find are sufficient to es-
tablish a definite connection between lapis/Christ and the defeat
of the enemies of the faith and thereby to imbue these practical
instructions with an eschatological tinge. The Tractatus can thus in-
clude expectations of reformatio and religious unification, topics
which Lazzarelli also develops in his Crater, although he obviously
bases them philosophically on a thorough knowledge and an
elaborate use of the Corpus Hermeticum and of the Cabala while
inserting them into the irenic hopes for peace and concord typi-
cal of certain groups of Italian humanists.2'\
The Vademecum collection is thus homogeneous and well-organ-
ized. It includes some technical texts and others that are more
theoretical. The Tractatus is anything but trivial. Considering the
work as a whole, we have here a very interesting collection, which
is at the same time quite traditional. It contains certain aspects and
topics that are, generally speaking, in harmony with Lazzarelli's
philosophical perspectives, but is does not appear to be even
slightly influenced by the radically new ideas Lazzarelli sets out in
his prologue, which provides a framework and introduction to
these texts.
3. The prologue opens with three quotations from the Tabula
smaragdina, the Secretum secretorum, and Picatrix.24 At the beginning
of the text, the name of Hermes, the father of Theologians, Magi-
cians and Alchemists is solemnly evoked. 25 He had revealed 'uno

n Ibid., f.8r.; see Bonus, Pretiosa, Daustenii Visio,ed. in Manget,

2?)-30; Joh.annis
2: 324B-326; ps. Arnaud de Villeneuve, Tractatus parabolicus, ed. A. C:alvet (Texte
et traduction), in Ch?ysof)oela, V (1992-96), 145-17I.
Cf. especially Garin, Ermetismo;Bacchelli, Giovanni Pico.
Lazzarelli considers Picatrix the author of the Clavis sapientiae,which is usu-
ally attributed to Artelius. It is impossible to deal in this essay with the complex
problem of these attributions; sullice it to remember that Lazzarelli may have
known both texts (Picatrix and both texts speak of the three coniunct,ione.s
that Lazzarelli uses; both have been considered magical texts; whichever of the
two texts he uses, Lazzarelli follows it only loosely, for he does not quote either
of them faithfully but elaborates to a high degree. Probably (even if this question
deserves a more in-depth treatment) Lazzarelli is here found to carry out one of
his habitual textual interlacements.
20 See Brini, "Tcsti", 75-76; cf. Thomas Norton: "Rex Hermes
quoque idcm
fecit,/ Qui fuit vir eruditione celcbcrrimus:/ In quadripartitis suis Astrologiae/
152

verborum contextu' the secrets of theology, magic, and alchemy

to his children in the first aphorism of the where he pro-
nounces the unitary, circular structure of reality. In the Secretum,
Lazzarelli adds, 'Aristotle' repeats this pronouncement as if it were
the product of the prophecy of 'pater noster Hermogenes.' How-
ever, he continues, these secretcc (expressed in a single sentence
which is fundamental for alchemists, magicians, and theologians)
are those tria arcana that Picatrix defines `coniunctio corporis in
corpore,' 'coniunctio spiritus in corpore,' and 'coniunctio spiritus
in spirito. '27 Note that the one-three structure is much stressed and
surely intentional: one Pater legitimates three functions; one
contextus of words provides a foundation for three sciences; three
texts are embraced in a single tradition and by a single basic sen-
tence ; a single circular process of coniunctio (expressed in the
7°abula) arranges itself in three more specified forms of coniunc-
tiones between high and low. And indeed, following once more the
one-three rhythm (but no longer the schema proposed by Picatrix
or in the Clavis sapientiae), Lazzarelli specifies that these three
c.oniunctiones, which correspond to the tria arcana and the three
sciences, are actually three modes, three declinations of one sin-
gle field, namely magic .2' These three modes are magia naturalis,
practiced by alchemists in making the 'coniunctio carnis celestis
sive quintae essentiae cum corpore terrae virgineae et purificatae'
(the result of which is the lapis 29); magia coelestis, the c.oniunctio of
the spirit of the planets with suitable corporeal images that pro-
duces mirabiliaB°; and finally, magia sacerdotalis et divina, which oc-
curs when the spirit of God unites with the spirit of man. All of
Scripture speaks parabolice of this last kind of magic, and Christ in
the Gospels is the principal master of it.

Artis medicae et huius Alchymiae./Nec non magiae naturalis,/Veluti quattuor

scientiis in natura existentibus [...J" (Credemihi seu Ordinale, ed. Manget, 2: 290).
Cf. Brini, "Testi", 75: "Quod cst superius est sicut quod est inferius et quod
est inferius est sicut quod cst superius ad perpetranda miracula rei unius."
2' See D.
Pingree, ed., Picatrix. The Latin version of the Ghdyat Al-Hakim (Lon-
don, 1986), 5, and ArtefiiLiber qui ClavisMaioris Sapientiaedicitur (ed. Manget, 1 ) ,
503A.
Brini, "Testi", 75-76.
Note that one text of the ps.-Lullian Corpus (the Compendiumartis alchimiae)
appears also under the alternative title Ars magic,anaturalis; cf. Pereira, The Al-
chemicalCorpus, 69.
`'° Lazzarelli does not intend to deal with this because it is abhorred
by the
holy Fathers (Brini, "Testi", 76).
 153

Though this prologue really requires an extensive comment, I

must confine myself here to a few considerations. First and fore-
most, I would like to point out that Lazzarelli chooses not to refer
specifically to the Corpus Hermeticum (which was very well known
to him), but instead to Hermes and to a wider and more compos-
ite Hermetic tradition, which also includes Alexander, an 'Aristo-
tle', Picatrix and perhaps the Clavis sapientie. In the second place,
I would like to stress the importance given to the I'abula. In
Lazzarelli's eyes, this text has undoubtedly a technical and practi-
cal content, but at the same time also a highly philosophical rel-
evance. It is a fundamental text with a manifold meaning.31 Finally,
he stresses the affinity and mutual permeability, as it were, that
link the Christian religion with Hermeticism (the pivotal subject
of the Crater), in this case by connecting Hermes' Tabula (the
root) via a series of steps with the Gospels (texts whose most di-
vine magic had already been expressed). This prologue therefore
offers possible insights into the relationship between the two types
of acquisition of perfection, namely religious and alchemical,
which could be seen as interchangeable due to the 'single sen-
tence' by which they are revealed and established. 12
Before examining this possible opening, let us consider what is
said here regarding alchemy as such. The description of the alche-
mists' magic (connecting heavenly flesh or the fifth essence with
the body of virginal earth) is very general and certainly does not
describe specific operations. It is general, but in agreement with
the indications contained in the Tabula regarding the relationship
of mutual inclusion and circulation between high and low, heaven
and earth. Moreover, although it is general, it expresses a line of

The polysemic radicality of the Tabula is also emphasized in the De lapide

philosophicoet de auro potabili ad summum pontificem by Guglielmo Fabri de Die
(mid-fifteenth century; Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria, ms lat. 104 (138), ff.
245r-253v), especially in the last section: cf. C. Crisciani, "From the Laboratory to
the Library: Alchemy according to Guglielmo Fabri", in A. Grafton and N. Siraisi,
eds., Natural Partic,ular.s:Nature and the Disciplines in Renaissance Europe (Cam-
bridge, Mass., forthcoming). Note that references to the I'abula also appear in
the Epistola Enoch, Lazzarelli's description of the Hermetic appearance of
Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio (Brini, "Testi", 38,44). Here, Lazzarelli describes
other experiences of transformation, and in particular, his own regeneration.
32 Bonus had
already closely linked alchemical doctrines and operations with
Christian truths, through textual comparison, suggesting that the respective writ-
ings are reciprocally metaphorical (Pretiosa, 29-30): see B. Obrist, "Les rapports
d'analogie entre philosophie et alchimie medievales", in J-C. Margolin and S.
Matton, eds., Alchimieet philosophie La Renaissance (Paris, 1993), esp. 56-58.
154

doctrine that undoubtedly has Baconian and Lullian overtones. In

this connection, we may refer back to the 'heavenly corporeal sub-
stance' and 'non-heavenly corporeal substance' of Roger Bacon; to
the simple virginal element at the center of the elementarized
earth of the Te.stamentum; and to the correspondence between the
first matter and the fifth essence which is suggested in various ways
by both authors. 33
However, leaving aside these connections with alchemical texts,
I propose to compare this passage on alchemy in the Vademecum
with the most enigmatic and controversial passage in the Crater,
which concerns the creation of 'new mcn.'? This creation is a
divinum opus, and King Ferdinand asks Lazzarelli, though without
obtaining a reply, "quo ordine quave operatione tantum opus
perficitur." These words have overtones that are operative and also
specifically alchemical. Moreover, as far as the process of creation
is concerned, Lazzarelli uses Eleazar of Worms' commentary on
the seer Yezirà, where this subject is treated as a recipe for making
a Golem, instructions that are interpreted allegorically by
Lazzarelli. In any case, the new man must be created out of 'terra
rubra et virginea,' suitably laid out and vivified. In this respect, I
agree with Garin and Bacchelli?5 in seeing this not as an allegory
of the relationship between master and disciple, but as a magic
and cabalistic operation, which does not give rise to a metaphori-
cal kind of generation of entities, but to a real, concrete genera-
tion, even if it is not corporeal. These concrete entities are "Angeli
vite soci", doubles projected by one's own soul, personifications of
the 'complete Nature' (a significant concept in Pic.atrix), and fac-
ulties that have turned into persons. They help man, teach him
how to keep the soul-body compound sound and healthy, and
send him prophetic dreams and sapiential teachings. This crea-
tion, which is admittedly practical, has concrete results, and is

33 For these themes see Pereira, L'oro,

esp. 62-65, 184-85, 191; see also her
paper in the present volume. Obviously this generic indication could also be re-
ferred to more precise directions contained in the texts of the Vademecum(see
here, note 36).
Cf. Ludovici Lazarelli Septempedanipoetae christiani ad divum Fer(linandumAr.
Siciliae regemde summa hominis dignitate dialogus qui in,scribiturvia Christi et Crater
Hermetis,ed. in Moreschini, Dall' 'Asclepio,29.1, 259-261; for the interpretations
of this 'creation' cf. Walker, Spiritual, 68-72; Garin, Ermetismo,59-62; Bacchelli,
Giovanni Pico, 75-82.
Bacchelli, 70-75; 83-84 highlights similar topics proposed by Giovanni
Alamanno and Pierleone da Spoleto during the same years.
 155

based on passages from the Corpus Hermeticum, cabalistic texts and

Picatrix, is definitely not an alchemical opus. However, I would like
to point out the contiguity, at least as far as the terms and espe-
cially the images are concerned, between the `terra rubra virginea'
of the Crater and the 'corpus terrae virgineae et purificatae' men-
tioned in the prologue to the Vademecum. There exists also a con-
sonance of both these passages with the chapter on vivification of
the lapis in De investigatione lapidis by pseudo-Lull (which is in-
cluded in the collection36), where alchemists are taught to prepare
a purified, white earth in which the operator should 'animam
seminare' by means of a 'germen spirituale.'
To sum up: Although we cannot go further than this on the
basis of such faint consonances and generic assonances, we may at
least make the following assertions: A) In the Vademecum, divine
magic and natural magic/alchemy are definitely connected be-
cause both are rooted in the first aphorism of the Tabula. B) In
the Crater, especially if compared with the whole Vademecum,=3' we
can at least recognize in the creation of 'new men' terms and im-
ages present in alchemical texts known to Lazzarelli. C)
Lazzarelli's alchemical interests and readings are thus not the re-
sult of occasional curiosity, but act as ingredients, albeit less im-
portant than his cabalistic interests, but nonetheless specific, which
are operative in the construction of his highly syncretistic reper-
toire of texts, terms and, above all, images. It is a repertoire that
he uses (in an often tightly interwoven way) to elaborate both his
conception of Hermetic magic in the Vademecum, and also his
magic-Hermetic philosophy and theology in the Crater.
4. The problem of the relationship between the prologue and
the texts of the Vademecum and, more generally, of the possible
convergence between alchemical magic, sacerdotal and divine
magic and also between religious perfection and alchemical per-
fection, which (as has been said) the prologue appears to consider
interchangeable, remains open.-" Why do the new ideas in the pro-
logue not influence the texts in the collection, either in style or in
content? Why does Lazzarelli not fully develop the complemen-

36 Vademecum,ff. 12rv.
" This
reading is at least possible, because the dates of the two works are
close, as they were both written between 1492 and 1495 (the precise date is un-
certain).
" Cf. above,
pp. 152-153.
156

tarity and circularity of high and low pronounced in the aphorism

of the Tabula? Why does he not therefore affirm that the highest
theological magic (in the Vademecum and in the Crater) is 'alchemy'
(in other words, a concrete transformation of the soul-mind), and
that alchemy is the 'theology' of bodies (and in this case, really
'what is above is like what is below' and vice versa)? Yet, in addition
to what Lazzarelli sets out in the prologue, the alchemical texts
that he knew, notably 'Lull' and Bonus, could also allow this inter-
pretation, even though with some effort. As I see it, there are two
reasons why this is not the result: one is internal to Lazzarelli's
philosophical approach; the other is connected with cultural trans-
formations occurring around the middle of the Quattrocento and
involving alchemy no less than the overall reassessment of disci-
plines and the status of the practices of transformation.
The first point regards a tension not fully resolved in the pro-
logue between a hierarchical and a circular conception.3`-' It is true
that, in the prologue, the concepts of circularity and interpenetra-
tion of 'heaven' and 'earth' are often repeated; it is also true that
each of the three types of magic proposes it in its own way, and
each of them carries out the same process of unification of high
and low and the creative and wonderful transformations deriving
from it. The three types of 'magic' are thus structurally homoge-
neous and corresponding. However, it is also true that the three
types of magic belong to a hierarchy of levels starting out from
alchemy and ending in divine and sacerdotalis magic, a hierarchy
in which the interpenetration of high and low is increasingly more
refined.
But it is precisely this tension between circularity and hierarchy
that can help us to understand the relationship between the pro-
logue and the subsequent texts. Indeed, if one places alchemy on
a specific rung of the ladder in the unitary sphere of magic as a
whole, as Lazzarelli does, it is not necessary to use the alchemical
project and its operations to convey claims and programs that can
be better developed at other levels of magic. Consistently, texts
and doctrines elaborated by a long tradition are collected in the
Vademecum without any modification of their content or style. In-
deed, it was sufficient to provide, in the framework of the pro-

?9 This tension can also be noted in the initial

dedicatory verse, where Lazza-
relli declares (Brini, "Testi", 75) that "Res una alterius gradus est," and that
"Omniaque esse unum."
 157

logue, the foundations and the overall meaning of what the col-
lected texts contained. This prologue in fact aimed at dignifying
natural magic/alchemy by setting it within the unifying framework
of general magic.
It seems to me that the same special relationship between frame-
work and content can also clarify the more general link between
Hermeticism and alchemy in the Quattrocento.? We may once
more start from the vantage point offered by the case of Lazzarelli.
His Hermetic approach to alchemical texts (which surely Lazzarelli
had chosen because they were consonant with his Hermetic inter-
ests for religiously qualified operative transformations) does not
involve a development of the hints offered by those texts, or a
treatment of them in a more explicitly Hermetic religious sense.
For example, Lazzarelli does not turn practical instructions into
spiritual processes, nor does he accentuate the allegorical and
initiatory language of some alchemical works he knew.
Therefore, Lazzarelli's Hermetic approach does not imply a
reformulation of alchemical terminology, theories or operations.
Rather, his intention seems to subsume completely traditional
doctrines in the framework of a high Hermetic and philosophical
evaluation of alchemy as a whole. In this way, he carries out a
dignification of these doctrines from without, leaving their content
unchanged. In other words, this means that what in the
Quattrocento was a philosophically consistent, fully restored and
culturally enhanced Corpus (the Corpus Hermeticum) did not seem
to be "embodied" in a necessary or favored way in the alchemical
perspectives of the "filii Hermetis", who instead, since the twelfth
century, had actually embodied the instances of transformation
which the Hermetic philosophy had entailed since its origin.41
Clearly, the Hermetic framework of the Corpus Hermeticum was
philosophically more important than the particular, specific disci-
plines it dealt with.
A similar interpretation can also be applied to the relationship
between magic and alchemy, which are now connected in rela-
tively new ways. This is particularly noticeable in Lazzarelli's pro-
logue, but is also present in other coeval texts.42 In my opinion, a

10 See, in
general, S. Matton, "L'influence de l'humanisme sur la tradition
alchimique," in Micrologus3 (1995), 279-345, and the essays collected in Alchimie
et philosophieà la Renaissance.
See Crisciani and Pereira, "Alchimia nella transizione", sections 5-6.
42 Cf.,
e.g., Guglielmo Fabri, De auro potabileet de lapidephilosophorum;C=iovanni
158

radical rearrangement of the sciences and practices of transforma-

tion is taking place here, a rearrangement which involves texts,
philosophical commitments, programs for renovatio, definitions of
science and knowledge, styles of thinking. This rearrangement
entails not the dilation of the alchemical project, but instead its
narrowing and its inclusion as a part-in fact not even its most
important part-of the overall project of magic, which now ap-
pears as a philosophically structured and all-pervasive perspective.
Obviously, this rearrangement does not exclude alchemy, but
attributes to it a different (and perhaps less important) role than
the one it had played in medieval culture from the twelfth to the
fourteenth centuries. Indeed, during that period, the alchemists'
texts, theories and laboratories had perhaps been the most appro-
priate places for proposing transformations and vivifications of
matter. In the Quattrocento (and after Ficino), not the alchemi-
cal laboratory, but the whole cosmos was to be considered the
place of transformation, animated by a vivifying spirit and per-
vaded by influences that could be governed according to the rules
of the "Natura and by the spiritual power of the sage. The
sage could choose various paths and different operations (the ef-
ficacy of music, the force of images and talismans, the power of
words) both to perfect himself and to achieve wonderful transfor-
mations in nature. It is no coincidence that Ficino and Pico-to
give two examples whose connection with Lazzarelli is docu-
mented-paid little, occasional, or no attention to alchemy as
such. They obviously had no need to link their theories of trans-
formation to alchemical practices. But precisely because Lazzarelli
was highly interested in alchemy, he inaugurated and rendered
explicit this kind of inclusion of alchemy in the vast theoretical
and practical fields of the new magic. At the same time, he con-
fined alchemy to a lower level of magic, namely to the one that
actually involved a reduction of the philosophical and operative
vitality and richness of the alchemical trends of the late Middle
Ages.
Mercurio da Corrcggio, De Quercu JuliiPontificissive de lapide philosophico;Antonio
dell'Abazia, Revelatione.... The connection between magic and alchemy in the
Middle Ages is quite rare and is mainly expressed in criticism expressed by non-
alchemists : in any case, it takes quite different forms (see the positions of Albert
the Great and Roger Bacon).
43 See A. Tarabochia Canavero, "Tra ermetismo e
neoplatonismo: l'immagine
della 'Natura maga' in Marsilio Ficino", in NéoPlatonismeet philosophiemedievale:
ActesColloqu,eInt. SIEI'M (Turnhout, 1997), 273-290.
 159

The definite decline in theoretical commitments and the start

of a syncretistic popularization which one may observe in the al-
chemical texts of the Quattrocento, are perhaps also due to these
profound changes in the philosophical culture of that century.
With the progression of time, we may observe the conversion of
alchemy into a relatively static esoteric tradition which was acti-
vated metaphorically for religious and erudite aims, and also the
fragmentation of its remains and their redistribution into diffe-
rent fields, notably into a new metallurgy, a new pharmacology,
and into the 'science of secrets,' the new reservoir of operative
knowledge, of recipes, promises, and arcana.44

SUMMARY

This paper examines the alchemical interests of Ludovico Lazzarelli

(1450-1500) and of some alchemical texts connected with his name,
analyzing them within the context of Lazzarelli's Hermetic philosophical
position. Beginning with an analysis of the specific relationship between
alchemy and Hermeticism expressed by Lazzarelli, this paper proposes for
discussion some general hypotheses on the link between alchemy and
Hermeticism and between alchemy and magic in the Quattrocento.

44 Cf. W. Eamon, Scienceand the Secrets

of Nature (Princeton, 1994) and his pa-
per in the present volume.