Introduction - Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1642)
This page tries to go behind some of the myths about Johann Valentin Andreae.
For example, Andreae is regularly listed as an 'alchemist'. Although Andreae's father had a serious interest in alchemy, I know of no evidence that Johann Valentin himself ever engaged in this branch of chemistry. There are numerous points in Andreae's work where he makes fun of alchemists, and in general he places them alongside charlatans or self-deceiving fools. On the other hand, Andreae distinguishes between the disreputable, worldly form of activities (e.g. music, art, theatre, alchemy, astrology), and what he regarded as commendable versions of the same activities which are spiritually or morally beneficial. His early works do include the Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz, but there are many conflicting interpretations of this work.
So if we want to know what Andreae is about, I think we need to go behind the secondary literature, which is often unreliable or inaccurate, and back to the primary sources to see what Andreae himself wrote. The problem is that these are often inaccessible - the texts are rare, and the language in which they are written is difficult. This page will try to help here by assembling relevant passages and putting them into their context.
Comments will be more than
welcome to: suppedam@Tesco.net
Material on these pages may be copied or
reproduced provided that it is attributed to:
Dr Edward H. Thompson, Department of Economic Studies, Dundee University, Scotland.
Last updated 29 June 2006