26 alchemy
“perpetual administrators” of the assets of this rich order,
thus making it a royal institution.
See alsoRECONQUEST.
Further reading:Georgiana Goddard King, A Brief
Account of the Military Orders in Spain(New York: His-
panic Society of America, 1921); Joseph F. O’Callaghan,
The Spanish Military Order of Calatrava and Its Affiliates
(London: Variorum, 1975).
alchemy Alchemy was a theoretical and practical
search for a way of transforming base metals into gold or
silver. Alchemy developed into the search for the
Philosopher’s Stone, a substance to be used to help with
this transformation. Despite some earlier forerunners,
alchemy or the transmutation of metals was introduced
to the West in the movement of translations of texts
from Arabic to Latin, around the mid-12th century. Texts
circulated under various names but all were purportedly
written by Arabs. The most famous of these eighth-
century texts was supposed to be by Abu Musa Jabber
ibn Khiyan al-Sufi. The dominant theory of this alchemy
made sulfur and mercury the constituents of metals and
took into account the theory of the four elements.
The first challenge for Western intellectuals was to
find a place within the knowledge hierarchy for this
new discipline, which straddled the realms of both art
and science. In the 13th century treatises apocryphally
or doubtfully attributed to ALBERTUSMAGNUSfollowed
IBNSINA’Sor Avicenna’s assertion that alchemists were
incapable of transmuting metals; at most, they could
modify accidental properties, producing mere imita-
tions. Albertus and Ibn Sina admitted a theoretical pos-
sibility of a transmutation of metals after their reduction
to “prime matter.” Albertus considered it possible that
alchemy can arrange matter to render it naturally muta-
ble. In the texts attributed to him, Roger BACONdefined
alchemy as a part of his experimental science, beyond
the simple attempt at transmuting metals into gold. For
Bacon the secret of alchemy was the search for an elixir,
admittedly a mixture of metals, to change them into
gold, also an elixir of the body that could “prolong life.”
If the transmutation of a metal into natural gold remained
within the realm of nature, the production of a divine
stone capable of producing these transmutations or
purifications belonged to the supernatural. The true
alchemist needed a divinely illuminated supplement to
accomplish his work.
In the 14th and 15th centuries there were more
false attributions to famous names, such as Albertus
Magnus, Roger Bacon, and Thomas AQUINAS. Alchemy
now had a wide audience in the West. However, in the
years 1270–80, the authorities of the mendicant orders
forbade their members to practice it. The most notable
condemnation was a decretal of Pope JOHNXXII in 1317
that attacked alchemy as a possible source of falsification.
Despite this, within the church there were voices sym-
pathetic to alchemy. After this official condemnation,
alchemical thought retreated into veiled and allegorical
expression in art and literature.
Further reading:Johannes Fabricius, Alchemy: The
Medieval Alchemists and Their Royal Art(Copenhagen:
Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1976); E. J. Holmyard, Alchemy
(Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1957); Pearl Kibre, Studies in
Medieval Science: Alchemy, Astrology, Mathematics, and
Medicine (London: Hambledon Press, 1984); Claudia
Kren, Alchemy in Europe: A Guide to Research(New York:
Garland, 1990); Lynn Thorndike, A History of Magic and
Experimental Science, 8 vols. (New York: Macmillan,
1923–1958).Alcuin of York (Albinus, Alchuuine, Alcuinus)(ca.
730–804)respected educator, statesman, deacon, liturgist
Born in or near York about 730, Alcuin was early
entrusted to the cathedral school there under the master
teacher Egbert, who had been a pupil of the great English
historian BEDE. When Egbert became archbishop of York,
Alcuin had the good fortune to study at the cathedral
school there under the mentoring scholar Œlberht (r.
767–78). Alcuin visited the Continent to secure books
and art treasures to enrich the library at York.
Alcuin’s education was firmly classical, since at this
time the resources of Mediterranean or classical learning
were pouring into England. And under the impact of
Bede, such secular studies as literature, science, history,
and music, which had been uncommon in earlier monas-
tic schools, were added to the curriculum. Dedicated to
learning, Alcuin was promoted at age 30 from student to
teacher, and soon to master. In the meantime he was
ordained a deacon. He never advanced to the priesthood.RELATIONSHIP WITH CHARLEMAGNE
AND EDUCATIONAL REFORM
Returning from a visit to Rome in 781, Alcuin happened
to meet the future emperor CHARLEMAGNEat Parma. As a
serious and learned teacher, he made a deep impression
on the Frankish leader, who urged Alcuin to take charge
of the palace school, which had been established not only
to educate royalty and members of noble families, but
also to prepare missionaries and scholars to convert the
heathen tribes Charlemagne intended to integrate into his
projected Christian empire. In 782 he joined Charle-
magne and from then on he visited England occasionally
only as an agent and personal representative of Charle-
magne. Alcuin set about reforming the palace school. He
did not have an original point of view, but he gave to the
task great persistence and a mind that was a great store-
house of knowledge.
Gradually Charlemagne drew him into an ever-closer
collaboration on matters of politics. Besides establishing
his school, which quickly became a center of Western