This is Part I of a series that explores the early roots and influences of Rosicrucianism and Pansophy. This series seeks to identify the presence of a “proto-RC”, and raise questions about how early in Europe the ideals of Rosicrucianism and Pansophy extended; evidencing the influences adopted by later Rosicrucianism.
[for Part 2 in this series, please click here]
Historically, the Renaissance was a period largely known for its advancements in the arts and sciences. Primary examples include the work of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Copernicus, and Galileo. Yet, it was also a time associated with developments in esotericism and occultism, where seminal works by Marsilio Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Johannes Reuchlin, Trithemius, Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, as well as others, represent a concurrent development of esoteric, spiritual thought alongside academic studies. Often overlooked in this regard is how Renaissance humanism bridged religio-occult thought and practices with the scholastic developments of natural science and the liberal arts. Here, modern dichotomies such as secular vs. spiritual appeared less distinct, evidencing a worldview where science, the arts, and humanities were integrated into a single cosmology.
Prior to the usage of the word renaissance (a term coined by the 19th-century historian Jules Michelet) the period of history between the Medieval and Modern eras was referred to as belonging to the umanisti. The umanisti (henceforth humanists) were scholars and students of classical literature, language, philosophy, and religious works. One of the major projects of the humanists was to restore value to the world through an integration of the divine, human, and natural worlds.[1]
Through a revived interest in classical works, Renaissance Humanism elevated the role of human virtue made accessible through the arts, combining philosophies sympathetic to various forms of esotericism. Through a sympathy between esotericism and humanism, a clearer picture of the Renaissance era emerges, where esotericism was not seen so separately from the scientific world, where divine forces extended into the physical world, and where humanity was seen as being the recipient of this knowledge. Arguably, the period germinated the seeds of pansophy, an “all-wisdom” that prescribed knowledge of the workings of the terrestrial, the celestial, and the supercelestial in a universal outlook.
Humanist-occultist idealism spread through Europe during the Renaissance period via an international network espousing values of a prisca theologia—i.e. of a single, root theology thought to have been given to humankind by God. In turn, humanity’s liberation was thought to be found in timeless principles, philosophies, and religious practices from the ancient world, that would dispel generations of ignorance culminating in the “dark ages” and offering a future of renewal. For this very reason, the classicism prized by Renaissance thinkers was not digressive like some might assume but was progressive—offering humanity a road forward with ancient pearls of restorative wisdom.
Through a golden thread of works seen stemming from figures like Zoroaster, the Chaldean Oracles, Orpheus, Plato, Hermes Trismegistus, Proclos, Plotinus, Maimonides, Abulafia, and others; several in the Renaissance sought to revive and syncretize various religio-mystic traditions into a single whole. Through such “uncorrupted” works of Western civilization, humanity’s liberation might then be realized through the powers of natural science, philosophy, arts, and mysticism; uplifting humankind through intellectual and spiritual enlightenment.
[ Curiously, these are terms synonymous with what the Rosicrucian manifestos themselves proclaimed at the beginning of the 17th century. ]
What is Pansophy?
If we are to find the roots of Pansophy, here in the Renaissance, we must try to understand what it is in the first place. Is pansophy even a thing? Its proposition at first seems dodgy, perhaps even begging the question—of a knowledge of “all”. To “have a wisdom of all” might be interpreted as encyclopedic knowledge, and indeed Medieval thinkers like Raymon Llull sought singular, root modes of organizational principles early on. Others might turn to a definition of pansophy found in Comenius’ universal system of education, as part of his utopian vision. This might get us a little closer since Comenius’ pedagogy involved a greater scheme of humanitarian reformation, a plan that sought to heal the souls of society. Comenius’ Pansophic view was in fact an entire cosmological system he referred to as Pantaxia involving eight different worlds. [2] And then yet, principles behind his concept can be found in the philosophy behind the teaching the liberal arts themselves; as the trivium and quadrivium.
To approach an understanding of Pansophy as rooted in the Renaissance, a few things have to be considered. First is the idea that the humanist movement was a reaction against the rationalist limitations seen as imposed by medieval scholasticism. More to the point, until the recovery of texts like the Corpus Platonicum and the Corpus Hermeticum—in addition to the emphasis of studying classical texts in their original languages—much of the learned-world relied on post-Aristotelian scholastic methods of study developed during the medieval post-Aquinian period. The Renaissance “discoveries” brought another dimension of the universe into focus. A highly reductive explanation be would that the post-Aristotelian medieval view focused more on the mechanical universe, whereas the “missing” Platonic and Hermetic universes revealed higher, divine causes. The strain of this concept—of completing wisdom for this full cosmogony—becomes one we are able to trace a path of following in the wake of Marsilio Ficino’s translations of the Platonicum and the Hermeticum. It can also be seen carried into the Rosicrucian manifestos where ideas of bridging the “upper”, “middle”, and “lower” worlds are formed.
The focus here surrounding pansophy will be placed on works that focus on the various pearls of wisdom that become associated with Rosicrucianism. There is theosophy, ie the wisdom of God, revealing a mystical orientation towards the divine, cosmogony, ontology, and what basis of understanding is held of them. Such thought can found in Cabala; in the work of Abulafia, Agrippa, Paracelsus, and many others. Higher magic, philosophy, and the arts reveal an anthroposophy, revealing an understanding of humanity within the cosmos, its knowledge, its soul, its societal structure, and its underlying reflection of the divine macrocosm’s workings. There is also natural magic, being an understanding of how the terrestrial world is involved with the spiritual or supernatural structure of the cosmos. Alchemy, vitalism, metaphysics, and natural philosophy are all involved in this sphere of wisdom.
These are concerns to emerge prominently in the era of Renaissance Humanism, where thought turns to inter-relationships between the secular, the terrestrial, the celestial, and the divine (super-celestial) realms.
The Origins of Renaissance Humanism
The movement properly known as Renaissance humanism emerges as early as the 14th century, presenting a distinct ethos from the medieval era. Although it had inherited many methodologies and views from the medieval period such as arts, science, theology, philosophy, and magico-mystical doctrines, the Renaissance humanists often combated against what they saw as the old and dogmatic ideas preserved by the scholastics. Rediscoveries of many works previously unseen in continental Western Europe were made, leading to the Renaissance humanist’s focus on foundational works of antiquity. Such works include the Corpus Platonicum and the Corpus Hermeticum, as mentioned, but other teachings including Kabbalah, early Latin works by Virgil and Cicero. With a focus on classical education and languages, the curriculum of the humanists became known collectively as the humanitas.
Many of these classical works contained theologies, cosmology, and natural sciences that complimented the traditional liberal (“liberating”) arts that included the Trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy). With the humanists, further educational emphasis was placed on grammar, rhetoric, poetry, moral philosophy, history, and the study of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. From this point, the humanitas developed into the Studia Humanitatis, a philosophy through which the human ideal could be reached.
A good example of the idealism behind the Studia Humanitatis is seen in Pico della Mirandola’s Oration to the Dignity of Man, where he describes the role of the arts and sciences in terms of their development for humanity:
…the dignity of the liberal arts, which I am about to discuss, and their value to us is attested not only by the Mosaic and Christian mysteries but also by the theologies of the most ancient times…These initiates, after being purified by the arts which we might call expiatory, moral philosophy and dialectic, were granted admission to the mysteries. What could such admission mean but the interpretation of occult nature by means of philosophy? [3]
From Italy, the humanism of the Renaissance spread North, with the occultism as implicated by Pico attached to it. Its influence was carried through printed material and manuscripts, but also —as well will see— direct contact between members traveling across Europe to study and exchange with others. Where there initiations passed during these meetings between students and teachers? It’s a question to ponder, yet even if we doubt a physical initiatory lineage, if we accept Pico’s suggestion, intellectual initiation would make sufficient inroads towards approaching an occult learning. Through personal contact and documented meetings, in this sense, direct transmissions certainly took place. Yet by this admission, the trail of literary and intellectual material made available during the era suggests itself as initiatory.
This humanist-occultist network spanned from Italy to France, Germany, and England and included many arriving from the declining Eastern Roman Empire during the Ottoman seige. We will uncover the roots of this network beginning with Ficino’s Florentine Platonic Academy and see where it spread from there.
Historic Background to the Movement
For a better understanding of how this humanist-occultist network developed, some background history is necessary. Some of the earliest humanists were collectors of ancient manuscripts like Francesco Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Coluccio Salutati, and Poggio Bracciolini. Prior to this, higher education was concentrated during the medieval scholastic period at universities surrounding ecclesiastic and monastic centers; thus limited to members within these closed circles. Leading up to the more widely dispersed forms of education in the Renaissance (limited still to an aristocratic society) a trend of opening up Universities and Academies across Europe occurred rapidly during the 14th and 15th centuries.
The foundation of this movement rests upon a few other historic events. First was the Western Schism of 1378, a period with the papacy in crisis and conflicting claims for the seat of the church. This period lasted for almost forty years, until 1417, with a resulting public distrust in the papacy and the growing perception of its corruption, dishonor, and greed. During this period, interests in forms of religiosity outside the scope of Roman church authority increased. The environment was becoming one where many began inquiring with calls for reform.
The papal schism was finally resolved through a council that convened to select a legitimate pope. This meeting marked the beginning of the Conciliar movement, a more democratic effort that endeavored to buffer the autocratic authority of the pope within the church. The effect of this movement, combined with an influx of knowledge arriving from the Eastern empire, would soon galvanize the progressive spirit of Renaissance Humanism.
Another important event was related to the Conciliar movement. In an effort to reconcile the severed contact between the Eastern and Western churches occurring centuries earlier (1054), the councils of Ferrara and Florence were convened (1434). A delegation was sent to Constantinople, returning to Italy with many including Gimestos Pletho, an important Greek philosopher and teacher. Ficino allegedly learned directly from Pletho and began to lecture and form circles; eventually becoming dubbed as the new ‘Platonic Academy’. This endeavor was supported by the patronage of Cosimo de’ Medici.
If we take a look at Ficino, among his most influential work are his De amore (On Love, 1484) and De vita libri tres (Three books on life, also known as De triplici vita). Ficino’s De amore covered the subject of love from a Platonic perspective, with the understanding that love was ultimately the desire of lesser forms to return to their source of unity in God. Ficino (following Plato) saw that since the body was corporeal, it was less subtle than the soul. He also saw that the force of love mediated between the two, with the soul bound to the divine realm through its relationship with beauty.[4] Ficino’s De amore would prove influential for many later works dealing with ideas of lower and higher aspects of love, including those by Francesco Colonna, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, in addition to even the Chymical Romance of Christian Rozenkreutz.
Ficino’s De triplici vita, on the other hand, was a series of books outlining his views on medicine, physiology, philosophy, magic and astrology. In this book, Ficino defines the agency of spiritus, which he considered a subtle material substance connected to cosmic spirit and the Anima Mundi (aka World Soul, following Plato), that itself penetrated and mediated between the physical and divine worlds. [5] In this work, the Platonic theurgies of Iamblichus and Proclus appear to meet ideas of imminent spirit found in the Corpus Hermeticum, wherein the mind (nous) of the One permeates all matter and reality. In reality, Ficino’s cosmogony would appear to adheres to an Alexandrian-era view of Stoic pneuma interacting with the noetic world of Plato’s Timeus. In any event, Ficino’s work would appear influential for anticipating the theosophical alchemy of Paracelsus and Agrippa’s Three Books on Occultism, where his own approach to magic covers the realms of the terrestrial, celestial, and supercelestial. Ficino’s work also helps establish the syncretic Christian tone that we see pervading much of Renaissance occultism.
Another influential figure during this period is Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Although often treated as a mere pupil of Ficino’s, Pico published his own ideas about magic after his own years of study. Following his brief trip to Paris in 1487, Pico published his 900 Conclusions, a work outlining an understanding of Cabala, late Platonism, Christian mysticism, and natural magic. Among other things, Pico’s work defines hierarchies of angels considered to possess corporeal substance, participating in material creation, and not entirely separate from the physical world. For Pico, theurgy was a vehicle allowing human beings to become angelic, to attain gnosis and theosis.
Also from Pico, we already know about his Oration on the Dignity of Man (originally published as A Very Elegant Oration), but there is also his Heptaplus of 1489, itself an important Kabbalist commentary on the first 26 verses of Genesis. [6] His Oration would prove to establish some of the basic tenets of humanism as well as define an esoteric tone for much of the Renaissance era.
There are course numerous other figures to mention. In as much that humanism found a major center surrounding Ficino and Pico in Florence, Francesco Giorgi’s De harmonia mundi totius, for example, is another important work that penetrated ideas about harmony between the macrocosm and microcosm from the point of view of Cabala, Neoplatonism, and Hermeticism.
Nicholas de Cusa, one of the leaders of the earlier delegation to Constantinople, allegedly wrote On Learned Ignorance after receiving an experience of divine illumination on the ship returning back to Italy. As a theologian and philosopher, Cusa was influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Raymond Llull, Meister Eckhardt and the Latin Asclepius. His ideas on coniunctio oppositorum—the union of opposites— became an important mystical idea adopted by many in following generations.
For brief mention, there was Angelo Poliziano, the Italian poet who translated portions of the Iliad into Latin for the Medici family. There was also Paolo Ricci, who translated the Sha’are Orah by Joseph Gikatilla. Many Greeks from the Eastern Roman Empire arrived Italy as well. There was Basil Bessarion, George Hermonymus, Janus Lascarius, Theodorus Gaza, Demetrius Chalcondyles, and John Argyropoulos. These are just a few we will see appear connected to the humanist-occultist network of Renaissance Europe.
The Humanist-Occultist Network in Renaissance France
In France, many proponents of humanism soon emerged after 15th-century developments in Italy. Robert Gaguin, minister general of the Trinitarian Order, traveled from Paris to Rome in 1471, where he met Basil Bessarion [7], Roman Catholic cardinal bishop who introduced several works previously unknown in the West, including several to Marsilio Ficino. Bassarion was a member of the Greek delegation invited by the envoy led by Nicholas de Cusa returning in 1437 from Constantinople, along with Gimestos Plethon. Bessarion was in fact a student of Plethon’s. To Bassarion are credited several translations in Latin, including Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Xenophon’s Memorabilia as well as the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, a compendium of Greek myths and heroic legends. Robert Gaguin is important for setting up the first printing press in France (along with Guillaume Fichet in Paris). Among the first publications from his printing press were speeches made through his acquaintence Bassarion.[8]
In 1485, Pico della Mirandola traveled to Paris, where he made several friends during his year-long stay.[9] He studied at the University of Paris, which was then a major center of scholastic and theological study. Pico began writing his 900 Conclusions, proposing his defense of religion, philosophy, natural philosophy, and magic. [10] Overall, it seems that Pico’s ideology of humanism and a “true religion counseled by divine command” [11] made an enlightening discovery in Paris, since in 1486 he immediately returned to Italy to publish 900 Conclusions in Rome.
Robert Gaguin made another trip from France to Italy in 1486, where he met with Ficino. Years later, after his eventual return to France in 1496, he proclaimed himself as the spiritual heir to both Bassarion and Ficino [12]. Gaguin and Pico must have met and crossed each other in France or Italy because when Pico was tracked down by Pope Innocent VIII’s for his “heretical” 900 Theses, Gagiun shows his familiarity with Pico by publishing Pico’s letter Conseils profitables contre les ennuis et tribulations du monde, citing Pico as “an illustrious philosopher, a most famous orator, and a learned scholar in several languages.”[13] The connections between Gaugin and Bassarion, Ficino and Pico are thus pretty clear. Gaguin would qualify as an informal member of Ficino’s Florentine Academy, bringing this influence back to Paris.
Humanism in Germany, the Rise of 16th Century Magic
Among the humanist-occultists traveling across Europe, Johannes Reuchlin stands out as one of the most influential in Germany. Reuchlin himself made several trips to Italy. In 1490, he traveled to Rome, stopping over in Florence to meet with Pico. Reuchlin, considered by some as an heir to Pico’s Cabbalistic work, becomes later known for his De Virbo Mirifico, a work attempting to syncretize Christian theosophy, Greek philosophy, and Jewish Kabbalah.[14] Reuchlin’s Cabalistic influence comes from other sources as well, including Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla’s Gates of Light, translated by the Italian Cabalist Paolo Ricci in Pavia. Gikatilla, who was an earlier student of Abraham Abulafia, lends a clue to Reuchlin’s permutations of letters and divine names, particularly notable in his idea of the “pentagrammaton” (YHSWH) involving Christ in place of Adam Kadmon as the divinely-restored Anthropos.
Reuchlin had studied Greek earlier at the University of Paris, where in 1477, he mentored under George Hermonymus who, like Plethon, was also from Mystra. As instructor in Paris, Hermonymus taught Greek to several other notables, including Erasmus of Rotterdam, Guillaume Budé and Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples. Erasmus and Bude would later become among the most famous humanist scholars of the Northern Renaissance. [15]
Through Hermonymous, it becomes clear how the study of Greek became valuable for this generation of humanists. Many traveled far distances to learn from native-speaking Greek teachers. Budé, for example, traveled to Rome to learn from Janus Lascaris; another Greek scholar who arrived to Rome after the fall of Constantinople, in 1453. Lascarius was supported by Bessarion (the aforementioned teacher of Gaguin) and found acceptance within the Medici’s circle. In Florence, he lectured on Thucydides, Demosthenes, Sophocles, and the Greek Anthology.
Ruechlin, as a humanist scholar of both Greek and Hebrew, himself translated several classical Greek texts, while also creating a grammatical lexicon of Hebrew entitled De Rudimentis Hebraicis (“On the Fundamentals of Hebrew”). His humanist principles are reflected in his support of the Jewish community in Cologne during 1509, when Johannes Pfefferkorn of the Dominican order of Cologne insisted that Emperor Maximilian I destroy all Hebrew literature because of its so-called threat to Christianity. Reuchlin stood in defense and was placed on trial with the Dominican Inquisition. After submitting an appeal to Pope Leo X in 1513, Reuchlin gained the support of others in the European liberal arts and humanist communities; resulting in a papal commission acquitting him of heresy in 1516.[16]
Reuchlin’s significance as an early German humanist appears proven by his title as “Germany’s First Humanist”. The title was granted to him posthumously.
Also in Germany at this time was humanist and mage, the Abbott of Sponheim, Trithemius. Mostly known for his occult works, Trithemius also wrote what is considered to be one of the earliest works of humanist history, Annales Hirsaugienses (1509–1514). This work explored humanism through French, history, German history, works commissioned by royalty, by noblemen and other noteworthy figures. Trithemius’ humanism is exemplified by his interest in the subject of human history, itself an important humanist subject:
In the writing down of their historical events the ancients applied great diligence, for they believed that their republic was adorned by nothing so well as by the laws and the memory of things belonging to the past. History is the preserver of a certain everlasting memory which, by inducing a certain venerable recollection, alone makes immortal the fame of good men who by their wisdom (sapientia), courage (fortitude), or holiness (sanctity) have succeeded with great labor in striving beyond and distinguishing themselves from ordinary men. Only by history may it come about that, by means of reading, we who are separated by a very long period of time from those ancients may both be witnesses to their deeds and live with them in their own times. History instructs in faith, encourages hope, and enkindles the spark of love. History renders us heedful before every danger, makes us foreseeing in all we do, and helps us to be astute in every activity which perchance falls to our lot. History confers knowledge upon the deprived, and incites the minds of the infirm to virtue. [17]
Trithemius’ idealism of history presents an interesting view—particularly coming from one well-known for his magical and occult work. Taken at face value, it is a view that appears quite sympathetic, if not synonymous with ideals of pansophy; through considerations that humankind’s wisdom and memory can contribute to an almost mystical experience of faith, hope, love, and virtue beyond the boundaries of time. Trithemius’ endeavors of magic and humanism alone present a curious connection between matters pertaining to both celestial and secular natures. His position seems to raise human exceptionalism to a metaphysical level, a subject also related to ideas of humanitarian reform. These are hallmarks we have seen so far in Pico’s Oration. The much later Fama Fraternitas of 1614 speaks of similar matters in much the same tone.
As it turns out, Ruechlin and Trithemius were closely acquainted. In 1494, Reuchlin made trips to visit Trithemius in Sponheim to discuss matters of “language study”, and to visit the later’s famed library.[18] By 1495, Reuchlin and Trithemius had also became connected through a society known as the Sodalitas Litterarum Rhenana (Rhenish Literary Sodality), a group that had also been dubbed the “Academia Platonica”— in recognition of Ficino’s own informal Florentine Platonic Academy.[19] The Rhenish Society was an elite, secret group founded in 1495 by Conrad Celtis, and patronized by Johann von Dalberg. Among its members were Conrad Peutinger, Willibald Pirckheimer, Heinrich Bebel, Ulrich Zasius and Jacob Wimpfeling. These were men known to have been among the few scholars of Greek in Germany at the time.
Celtis himself was a student of languages, himself having traveled widely. With the culmination of his journeys, other secret “sodalities” were founded along the way; including the Sodalitas Litterarum Hungaria in Budapest (Hungarian Literary Sodality), the Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana in Kracow (Vistulanian Literary Sodality), the Sodalitas Litterarum Baltica (Baltic Literary Sodality) and the Sodalitas Litterarum Danubiana in Vienna (Danubian Literary Sodality). [20]
Celtus had learned Greek from Rodolphus Agricola, himself a student of Theodorus Gaza in Ferrara. Gaza hailed from Thessaloniki, arriving in Italy after the city was captured by the Ottomans in 1430. Among Gaza’s other students are counted Demetrius Chalcondyles. Chalcondyles, from Athens, was considered also a member of Ficino’s circle, and once himself a teacher to Reuchlin.
Beyond Celtus’ interest in languages (which has now been established as a hallmark of the humanist curriculum), his more mystic tendencies become evident in works such as his Quatuor libri amorum (Four Books on Love). This work is an erotic, poetic work covering the subject of divine love, with dedications to Sophia, Daphne, Apollo and others, published in 1502. Seeing the crucial role of printed material during the Renaissance, Celtus established his own publishing arm called the “Sodalitas Celtica” to publish this book. Albrecht Durer was responsible for the several woodcuts filling its pages.
From the inscription on the bottom of the book’s frontispiece we read:
Whatever heaven contains, what earth, the air, and the water,
Whatever can exist among all things that are human,
Whatever the fire-god makes in the whole circle of the earth,
All that I, Philosophy, carry within my own breast.
That is, all human knowledge is based on philosophy [21]
What seems suggested by Celtus’ image is a Sophianic allusion to the auspices of love (note Celtus’ separation of ‘Philo’ and ‘Sophia’) as well as pansophic inclusions of the realms of earth, humanity, and the divine. (More of this work to be explored later in Part II).
Celtis clearly had ambitions to create a network in the North comparable to that present in Italy.
The German-French-Italian Network Nearing the Turn of the 16th Century
At the turn of the 16th century, the University of Paris was an important center for students arriving from abroad. The well-known French instructor Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples (who later became Bishop of Cahors and Orleans) was there at the time. Lefevre was a humanist who himself had traveled to Italy, spending time there with Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and others connected to the Florentine Platonic Academy like Ermolao Barbaro and Angelo Poliziano. He also studied under John Argyropoulos; the Greek lecturer, philosopher, and humanist who counted Gemistus Plethon among his teachers (Leonardo was a student of his). Lefevre wrote works on mathematics and natural magic in addition to several curriculums on university logic, works on natural philosophy, moral philosophy, and metaphysics. These, as already pointed out, are considered as cornerstones to humanist thought during the 15th and 16th centuries. [22]
In 1494, Lefevre published Ficino’s translation of Corpus Hermeticum accompanied with his own commentary. Later, he published works by Dionysius the Areopagite, Nicholas de Cusa, and Ramond Lull. In the 1490s, he completed his own work titled On Natural Magic (De magia naturali), taking inspiration from Ficino’s Three Books on Life. Lefevre’s treatise on magic contained cabbala, pre-Socratic philosophy, and Pythagoreanism. [23] Lefevre dedicated On Natural Magic to Germanus de Ganay, his patron, and also a close friend of Ficino’s. Documents show that Ganay and Ficino themselves corresponded by letters in 1494 (coinciding with Pico’s death) while later discussing Orphism and other matters [24] .
In de Ganay’s and Lefevre’s circle was another important French humanist, Charles de Bovelles. De Bovelles, student and follower of Lefèvre’s, was an esotericist following Pythagoreanism and Platonism. Also, like his instructor, de Bovelles followed de Cusa, Lull, Hermes Trismegistus and Dionysius the Areopagite.[25] In 1504, De Bovelles traveled to Germany, where he paid a visit to Trithemius. While there, de Bovelles is said to have browsed an early copy of Trithemius’ Steganographia. His reaction was of one who had witnessed the lowly veneration of demonic spirits and forces. De Bovelles published his thoughts about the encounter and his comments contributed to a negative reputation surrounding Trithemius that would endure for centuries later. Trithemius’ ritual work was once charged for being heretical, yet as he defended himself in his own words, his work possessed no such enchantments of black magic, but instead, his operations took place wholly under the jurisdiction and allowance of Christ and God. It is clear that Trithemius was misunderstood. Nevertheless, he shied from further revealing his work to others during his lifetime. [26]
When Ganay heard de Bovelles’ account, however, he wrote to Trithemius right away. In their exchange, de Ganay explains that he saw some of Trithemius’ teachings in the hands of a priest named Johannes Steinmoel, information which Steinmoel claimed to have learned directly from Trithemius. Ganay himself was eager to learn more about it:
A letter has come into my hands which you sent to a certain Johannes Steinmoel and in the salutation, after your own name, you call him a man with an appetite for sacred things. It contains some truly unusual and remarkable philosophy, concerning both numbers and elements, but veiled in such riddles and expressed in such arcane words that it did not penetrate my understanding and far exceeded the grasp of my mind. So if you happen to have some sort of interpretation of it and are not reluctant to share it with me there is nothing I should be more eager to read. I am led to conjecture that an appropriate and lofty meaning underlies those words and relates to things more valuable than any wealth. I am a standing admirer of your reputation, and I implore you not to refuse to share it.
Our friend Charles de Bovelles, who visited your excellency when he was travelling in Germany a few years ago, has often mentioned you to me and to tell the truth has quite turned me into a follower and admirer of your virtues. Lastly, the bearer of these letters, Narciscus, who is a friend and acquaintance of your eminence, will futher explain to you the wishes of our mind, which we cannot easily cram into the confines of a letter. [27]
The letter paints a different picture about Ganay’s—and possibly even de Bovelles’—attitude about Trithemius’ magic. Here de Bovelle was apparently speaking admirably about Trithemius and Ganay wants to learn more from Trithemius.
Unfortunately, as Trithemius explains in a separate letter to Johannes Steinmoel (mentioned above by Ganay), it turns out that Steinmoel was sharing Trithemius’ teachings in Paris in exchange for money. We learn that Steinmoel was tutored by Trithemius, but never authorized to share what he learned:
…in view of your conceited behaviour concerning the secrets of arcane philosophy which you gleaned from us and then, as we have been informed, hawked them around to be sold for money. You seem to think you are really somebody by virtue of your claim to have been the pupil of Trithemius. This is not the way of true wisdom, Johannes, and it is unworthy of a man of your age to place your hopes in celebrity, and to cast your pearls, for whatever price you can get, before swine. You circulate grand claims about us hoping to be thought a great man by popular opinion, and by overstepping the limit of true praise you have done me considerable harm, forgetting the old proverb: sparing with praise, twice sparing with slander. [28]
Fortunately for Ganay, however, Trithemius tells him that he will accommodate his request for further information about his magical knowledge:
Your spokesman Master Narciscus came to us at Speyer on 15 August bringing your letters and welcome gifts. I have kept him with me for nearly twelve days to make sure that he should be seen not to have wasted his journey. You have conveyed great news through him, and it would not be my way to give a reply without sufficient consideration. From his story we have fully understood your mind, and as far as I am permitted I have taken pains that you shall not think yourself frustrated of your desire. I have simply been unable to satisfy you on all points at this time, because we have not been in our monastery since 1 April this year, for reasons which we have charged Narciscus to explain to you in full. As for understanding the letter which we wrote to Johannes Steinmoel last year, we have given Narciscus some introduction to it, from which you should understand the foundation of the secret things which you are striving to know. [29]
In this dialog, we get a clear picture of the exchange between Ganay’s group in Paris and Trithemius in Germany. The exchange shows how two otherwise “learned” University and monastic men also operated around “arcane secrets” in addition to the humanist philosophies they adhered to. Learning, language, humanism, and occultism are were being spread and shared hand-in-hand.
Frank L. Borchardt, in his The Magus as Renaissance Man makes the following observation about humanism and occultism being enveloped in a holistic way:
What makes Renaissance magic a Renaissance phenomenon is, at least in part, its share in the humanists’ compulsion to return to the sources, the claim to have rediscovered, restored, and drunk at the lost and forgotten spring of ancient wisdom. [30]
In other words, it’s in the pursuit of ancient wisdom that the ethos of humanism becomes entwined with this “other” wisdom; ie, the mystical or occult knowledge.
In this next section, we’ll look at how this sympathy between humanism and occultism existed in the Renaissance even when it was more hidden from the public eye.
The Humanist Movement of England: “The Oxford Reformers”
While the humanist movement was spreading into Germany and France, it had been also been underway in England. There, however, any public interest in occultism was severely downplayed. In the North, by consequence, the climate was much more directed toward using the humanist influence to reform the church silently from within, while at the same time internalizing some of its esoteric ideas carried along with it. The movement in England involved many of the same figures working behind the scenes in Germany, France, and Italy.
Between 1487 and 1492, two scholars from Oxford, Thomas Linacre and William Grocyn, traveled across the continent to study Greek and philosophy. They studied with Demetrius Chalcondylas and Angelo Poliziano in Italy— two scholars within the Florentine Platonic circle of Ficino and the Medicis. Chalcondylas, as already mentioned, was the same Athenian Greek scholar who had taught Reuchlin. Demetrius’ cousin, Laonicus, was in turn taught by Gemistos Plethon in Mystra. Poliziano, on the other hand, was an Italian from Montepulciano who learned under the tutelage of John Argyropoulos. Argyropoulos, himself from Constantinople, is counted among those in attendance at the Council of Florence and within the Platonic Academy surrounding Ficino.
From a pansophic point of view, it’s worth noting that in 1491, Poliziano wrote a work entitled Panepistemon (All-Knowledge). This was a work that attempted a presentation of “all knowledge”, in an encyclopedic fashion made in an effort to reconcile a variety of positions from every philosophic perspective.[31] Poliziano’s “Panepistemon” will be further touched upon more mystically with some other important works in the late 1500s.
In 1493, the English scholar and theologian John Colet traveled to Paris to study Greek with George Hermonymus (also from Mystra) at the Collège de Sorbonn, just as Reuchlin had earlier. Also, like many, Colet traveled to Italy, where he spent time studying in Rome, quenching his thirst for the Platonism of the nearby Florentine Academy while studying the more mystical writings of Origen and Psuedo Dionysius the Areopagite.
Although there is no evidence that he ever met with Ficino while in Italy, Colet later becomes known for his scholarship on both Ficino and Pico. He refers, for example, to Pico’s Heptaplus in his Letters to Radulphus, while also paraphrasing Ficino’s Theologia Platonica in his Lectures on Romans. Colet also paraphrases Pico’s Apologia and Ficino’s Dialogus inter Paulum et Animan in his Dionysian abstracts. Yet, furthermore, there is even evidence of correspondence between Colet and Ficino in letters.[32] There can be no question that Colet—known primarily as a theologian— was influenced by the Renaissance humanists and Platonists.
Colet was Dean and founder of St. Paul’s school in London and a strong proponent of the liberating effects of education. His school was open to all, while he was first to teach Greek to young students in London. In England this was a significant effort, as for many, Greek held stigma as a language of “pagans”, especially to the majority of scholastic theologians there.
No surprise, on account of his unorthodoxy, Colet was accused of heresy (1512). His views on the condemnation of sins of the clergy, as well as his embrace of Platonic definitions of soul and divinity, were without doubt controversial.[33] His charge of heresy was eventually dropped. The event doesn’t present deep occult sympathies, but shows Colet as an early church reformist with humanist views aligned with “pagan” theology.
Colet’s interest in “pagan” theology presents an interesting backdrop for his ongoing interest in the Pauline Epistles; a subject he would lecture and write about often throughout his life.[34] In 1510, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa came to visit Colet in London, stayed with him at his home, and studied the Epistles with Colet. It’s suspected that Colet’s interest in the Epistles was related to their Platonic and Stoic nature.[35] Paul’s descriptions of Christ and pneuma in a very physical, corporal manner is a subject perhaps worth exploring further in this regard.
One of Colet’s close friends was Thomas More; the Oxford lawyer, philosopher, author, and statesman. More himself studied Latin and Greek under Thomas Linacre and William Grocyn in England. Like Colet, More’s work presents esoteric sympathies, however, he was not overtly public about them. Some clues exist in some of his views that appear to verge towards heterodoxy. In his work Utopia (1516), for example, More writes of a utopian island society with unorthodox religious, social, and political customs. In an almost veiled fashion, More presents the syncretism of Pico’s Oration of the Dignity of Man, through descriptions of pagans— worshipers of the sun, moon, and planets— coexisting harmoniously alongside monotheists.[36] This might seem an unusual work (or, maybe not) coming from someone like More; later becoming canonized as a Saint in the Catholic church.
Although openly he is seen as being quite a misogynist, More presents women as priests in his Utopia. Some have since considered More to have been an early supporter of women’s advancement, evidenced also by his insistence on giving his daughters a robust education; something which was generally frowned upon at the time. [37]
Like Colet’s condemnations of church clergy, many referred to More’s position as an early reformer of 16th century Catholicism. [38] With regard to Rosicrucianism, however, perhaps most significant is that his Utopia stands at the head of a line of literature dealing with social reformation and the divine city (with Plato’s Republic providing the template), including other treatises like Tomasso Campanella’s The City of the Sun, Johannes Valentinus Andreae’s Republic of Christianopolis and Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis. John Amos Comenius would later cite these very works as representing the foundations for his 17th-century view of pansophy in his Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart from 1631.
Another important humanist from nearby Netherlands was Desiderius Erasmus. Erasmus traveled to Paris in 1495 to begin his theological studies. Like his friends Colet and More, Erasmus criticized the church’s abuses; another potential reformist. Erasmus was, however, much more adamant against subjects of occultism.[39] In any regard, Erasmus, like Colet, also studied classics at the University of Paris. He then took the requisite trip to Italy. In Italy, Erasmus stopped in Venice, where he became friends with Aldus Manutius, the well-known publisher of books and founder of Aldine Press. Manutius’ publishing house produced numerous classical and rare works, many of them written in Greek, and many of them of an esoteric nature. One important work from Aldine Press, for example, is the work Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (The Dream of Poliphilus, 1499). This work illustrates a metaphysical romance involving the goddess Venus across a landscape of bucolic, pastoral architecture. Written by Francesco Colonna, some scholars have since referred to this work as a blueprint for Johann Valentin Andreae’s The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz from 1616.[40]
In 1502, Manutius founded his own “New Academy”, involving a group of scholars who self-organized to promote Greek studies and to publish rare book translations. Erasmus is said to have been involved with this group, a group that also included Pietro Bembo, the Italian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who had studied Greek under Constantine Lascaris. Lascaris was another student of John Argyropoulos. Other members of Manutius’ “New Academy” included Scipio Fortiguerra, John Gregoropoulos, Giambattista Egnazio, Paolo da Canal, Gerolamo Menocchio and Francesco Rosetto. [41]
For someone who was quite secular in his approach to humanism, Erasmus was oddly one also well-connected to many occultists. He was, for example, instrumental in introducing Colet, More, and Bishop John Fisher to Reuchlin’s work De arte cabalistica.[42] This circle of friends was already familiar with Reuchlin’s work De verbo Mirifico, appreciating it under the guise of “language study” because it dealt with Hebrew. In anticipation of Reuchlin’s publishing of De arte cabalistica, Erasmus wrote the following to Reuchlin in 1516: “The Bishop of Rochester [Fisher] has an almost religious veneration for you. To John Colet, your name is sacred.” Again, quite an odd familiarity of someone against occultism. Later, we will see that Erasmus even had exchanges with Agrippa and Paracelsus.[43]
Erasmus, like the other Northern humanists, showed deep respect for Reuchlin, although publicly keeping a safe distance from his occultist side. Reuchlin, being a well-respected humanist for his advancement of Greek and Hebraic study, after all, wrote books on magical, miracle words.
Secret Northern Cabbalists
The Bishop of Rochester, John Fisher, stands as perhaps the most vocal advocate of Hebrew and Cabala in England during the time. Later venerated as a saint (like Thomas More) Fisher was open about his appreciation for Pico and Reuchlin. As described in Erasmus’ letter to Reuchlin, Fisher was an advocate of Reuchlin’s work, but Fisher also corresponded with Reuchlin directly. On top of this, it appears that Fisher was also involved in a small circle of Cabalists in England. The circle was comprised of a small group of mostly Catholic and noble figures lead by Robert Wakefield and patronized by Fisher. Other members of this group included Thomas Hurskey, master of the Gilbertine Order and the Prior of Watton; John Taylor, Archdeacon of Derby and Buckingham; John Stokesly, Bishop of London; James Boleyn, brother to Thomas Boleyn, the 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and uncle to Queen Anne Boleyn; William Frisell, Prior of the Rochester Cathedral chapter; William Tate, canon and prependary of St. George’s Chapel in Windsor; and Thomas Lovell, canon of Bath and Wells. This group met over a period of time between the 1510’s and 1520’s. [44]
Around 1517, Fisher expressed interest in meeting with Reuchlin in person, through communications forwarded by Erasmus to Reuchlin. He eventually was unable to complete the journey. Later, he planned to send his son to meet Reuchlin instead, yet it was Wakefield who eventually made the trip to Tubingen. In the events transpiring between, however, Reuchlin fell ill and passed away. In Reuchlin’s stead, Wakefield ended up filling Reuchlin’s position as lecturer at Tubingen University. Erasmus later wrote to Fisher announcing the success of “his Robert” at the post.[45] Again, Erasmus is seen busily involved with keeping everyone informed.
As it turns out, Wakefield already had connections to the continent, via his Hebrew teacher, Matthaeus Adrianus, whom he studied under in Louvain during 1517. Adrianus was a Jew of Spanish descent who had previously spent time in Venice, writing books and translating Hebrew with Aldus Manutius between 1501 and 1512 (Manutius—the aforementioned publisher of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and the center of the “New Academy”).[46] Through Manutis, Adrianus also became acquainted with Erasmus.
Perhaps coming as no surprise, Adrianus was also acquainted with Reuchlin. Reuchlin recommended Adrianus for a position to work with Johann Amerbach in Basil. Amerbach was another pioneering printer in Switzerland.[47] After time in Basel, Adrianus was offered a permanent position in Louvain, following Erasmus’ recommendation, where he became an instructor at the Collegium Trilingues— the newly-founded Academy funded by Dutch humanist Hieronymus van Busleyden. The college was founded on instructing in “the Three Languages”: Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Van Busleyden received ample encouragement and support from Erasmus for this endeavor.
Matthaeus Adrianus once referred to himself as a “doctor of medicine, knight of the Holy Land, and expert on the sacred language and in Cabala”. It is also worth noting, that in respect to the study of the Hebrew language, Adrianus, like many, considered the oral tradition of Cabala as the correct pronunciation of certain words, effectively altering the meanings behind certain biblical passages in the Old Testament. [48].
Adrianus also taught Cabala to Bonifacius Amerbach. Many consider Amerbach to be Erasmus’ “spiritual heir”. Bonificius’ father, Johann, was the publisher of Reuchlin’s De Verbo Mirifico, the same publisher who had hired Adrianus upon Reuchlin’s recommendation. The connections at this point appear to become less and less canny.
Setting the Stage for the Next Generation of Reformists
In this window of time presented, between the mid 1400s to early 1500s, the humanist-occultist network has been defined by those invested in an exploration of classical works, often dealing with occultist subjects hand-in-hand. Some were open, they published works on occult subjects, while often others kept their views hidden from the public. Many pseudonymous occult works appear during this time as well.
This network showed that separation by land or bodies of water did not prohibit those who were able from travelling abroad to study and to find teachers. In Part II, we will take a closer look into some of the material produced by this network; outlining an intellectual lineage tracing from Ficino’s Platonic Academy in Florence, to Aldus Matunius’ “New Academy” in Venice, and on to the Conrad Celtis’ “Academia Platonica” in Germany.
Further parts of this work will explore how the life of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus had become interwoven into this network and how they became involved with a new generation of proto-RC humanist-occultists moving forward into the mid 1500s.
[for Part 2, click here]
[1] The first usage of the term “anthroposophy” appears in 1575, in the Arbatel de magia veterum, summum sapientiae studium, a grimoire written by Pseudo Paracelsus that describes contact with the “Olympic spirits”, but which also makes the first distinction known between human wisdom (“anthroposophia”) and divine wisdom (“theosophia”), thus alluding to the tenets of humanism playing a role in its cosmogony.
[2] Comenius’ eight worlds were Platonically-inclined, and as well related to the cosmogony of Psuedo Dionysius and were likely inspired also by Ficino. It included the mundus possibilis: the world of potentiality; the idealis seu archetype, the ideal or archetypal world; the intelligibilis seu angelicus, the intellective or angelic world; the materialis seu corporeus, the material or corporeal world; artificialis, the artificial world; moralis, the moral world; spiritualis, the spiritual world; and aeternus, the eternal world.
For Comenius’ system, see: Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart from 1631
[3] Della Mirandola, Pico. Oration on the Dignity of Man. See:http://bactra.org/Mirandola/
[4] See: Crawford, Katherine. “Marsilio Ficino, Neoplatonism and the Problem of Sex”. Renaissance and Reformation, XXVIII, 2. 2004 p. 6. This work provides commentary on the erotic nature of Ficino’s De Amore.
[5] See Copenhaver, Brian. Renaissance Magic and Neoplatonic Philosophy: Ennead 4.3-5 In Ficino’s De Vita Coelitus Comparanda. Also, see Walker, D.P. Spiritual and Demonic Magic From Ficino to Campanella. PA State University Press, first edition 1958.
[6] See Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction. Oxford University Press. 2008, chapter “Italian Renaissance Magic and Cabala” for an overview of Pico’s magical philosophy.
[7] Levi, Anthony. Renaissance and Reformation: The Intellectual Genesis. 159
[8] “Patronage and Propaganda at the First Paris Press: Guillaume Fichet and the First Edition of Bessarion’s “Orations against the Turks””. The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. P. 97 (4): 527.
[9] Tilley, Arthur Augustus. The Dawn of the French Renaissance. 195
[10] Brians, Paul. “Pico Della Mirandola: Oration On the Dignity Of Man (15th C. CE)”. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
[11] Oration on the Dignity of Man. See:http://bactra.org/Mirandola/
[12] Levi. p 159
[13] Ibid.
[14] See: https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/abg700b32623975.pdf& https://www.ritmanlibrary.com/books/hermes/cis-van-heertum/philosophia-symbolica-johann-reuchlin-and-the-kabbalah/
[15] Giese, Rachel. “Erasmus’ Greek Studies”The Classical Journal, 29, 1934. pp. 517-526.
[16] See The Jewish Virtual Library’s article on the “Battle of the Books”, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/reuchlin-johannes-x00b0
[17] Trithemius. Annales Hirsaugienses, vol I, epist. Preface, sig. A 2
[18] Borchardt, Frank L. The Magus as Renaissance Man. The Sixteenth Century Journal Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring, 1990) p. 63
[19] Spitz, Conrad. Conrad Celtis: The German Arch-Humanist See also: Allen, Prudence. The Concept of Woman, Volume 2, Part 2 p. 750 for a discussion of humanism and early feminism.
[20] Bran, Noel L. Trithemius and Magical Theology: A Chapter in the Controversy over Occult. p 5
See Also: Price, David. Johannes Reuchlin and the Campaign to Destroy Jewish Books p. 52
[21] Celtus, Conrad. Quatuor libri amorum 1502, from Smith, Jeffrey Chips. Nuremberg, a Renaissance City, 1500-1618 103
[22] Laurens, Pierre (ed.). Anthologie de la poésie lyrique latine de la Renaissance(Gallimard, 2004) p. 405
[23] Oosterhoff, Richard J., “Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2019/entries/lefevre-etaples/
[24] Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples. La Magie naturelle / De Magia naturali: I. L’Influence des astres, edited and translated by Jean-Marc Mandosio, Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2018.
[25] Victor, JM. Charles de Bovelles, 1479-1553: An Intellectual Biography 50
[26] Trithemius. Steganographia, preface. http://trithemius.com/steganographia-english/#post-32
[27] Letter from Germain de Ganay to Johannes Trithemius, dated 30 July 1505
[28] Letter from Johannes Trithemius to Johannes Steinemoel, dated July 20, 1505
[29] Letter from Johannes Trithemius to Germain de Ganay, dated 24 August 1505
[30] Borchardt p. 62
[31] Politianus, Angelus. Angelo Poliziano’s Lamia: Text, Translation, and Introductory Studies 10
[32] Miles, Leland. John Colet and the Platonic tradition. 1961 18-19
[33] Ibid
[34] Ibid
[35] Yates, France. The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age. (Routledge, London, 1979) p. 45
[36] Kessler, Sanford. “Religious Freedom in Thomas More’s Utopia”. The Review of Politics, 64, No. 2 (Cambridge University Press, Spring, 2002) pp. 207-229
[37] Judith P. Jones and Sherianne Sellers Seibel, “Thomas More’s Feminism: To Reform or Re-Form”. Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies Vol. 10, Quincentennial Essays on St. Thomas More(The North American Conference on British Studies, 1978), pp. 67-77
[38] Sanford
[39] Werner L. Gundersheimer. “Erasmus, Humanism, and the Christian Cabala”. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 26, No. 1/2 (The Warburg Institute, 1963), pp. 38-52
[40] Francesco Colonna, forward by Joscelyn Godwin, translator. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream. London & New York: Thames & Hudson, 1999 and re-editions.
[41] Lowry, M.J.C. “The New Academy of Aldus Manutius: A Renaissance Dream.” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
[42] Bradshaw, Brendan; Dufy, Eamon, editors. Humanism, Reform and the Reformation: The Career of Bishop John Fisher 89
[43] Dowling, M. Fisher of Men: a Life of John Fisher, 1469–1535 37
[44] Rex, Richard. The Theology of John Fisher p 58
[45] Jones, G. Lloyd. The Discovery of Hebrew in Tudor England: A Third Language 182
[46] Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : ADRIANUS, Matthew. In: Biographical Bibliographic Church Lexicon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975
[47] H.G. , “Adrianus Matthaeus.” The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/861-adrianus-matthaeus
[48] Grafton, Antrhony. “The Jewish Book in Christian Europe: Material Texts and Religious Encounters,” in Andrea Sterk and Nina Caputo, eds., Faithful Narratives: Historians, Religion, and the Challenge of Objectivity (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2014), 96–114, 243–247
