Alchemy, chemistry and metallurgy in Renaissance Europe: a wider context for fire-assay remains
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Published
Nov 13, 2021
Abstract
During the Renaissance, what we nowadays call ‘alchemy’ and ‘chemistry’ constituted a single, all-inclusive, sphere of activity, that involved the routine conduct of fire assays. The quest for the philosophers’ stone was just one endeavour within a wider spectrum, and it did not convey the religious or speculative connotations attached to this practice in later interpretations. This al/chemical world overlapped with metallurgy substantially: both fields were strongly intertwined and there was a bi-directional flow of theories and practices. Fire assay, as a technique for quantitative metallurgical analysis, was the most important point of intersection and, as such, it was essential for the development of modern metallurgy, but also of chemistry and science in general. These ideas are presented here in an attempt to provide a reference framework for the interpretation of fire-assay remains. The discussion is illustrated with material from the on-going study of the laboratory remains from Oberstockstall (Austria).
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References
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Blair A and Grafton A 1992, ‘Reassessing Humanism and Science’, Journal of History of Ideas 53, 535–540.
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Diderot D and D’Alembert J 1751–72, Encyclopédie (Paris).
Eckstein K, Hauptmann A, Rehren Th, Richter U and Schwabenicky W 1994, ‘Hochmittelalterliches Montanwesen im sächsischen Erzgebirge und seinem Vorland’, Der Anschnitt 4–5, 114–132.
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Hannaway O 1992, ‘Georgius Agricola as Humanist’, Journal of History of Ideas 53, 553–560.
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Henry J 2002, The Scientifi c Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science (2nd edn; 1st edn 1997) (New York: Studies in European History).
Hoover H C and Hoover H L (trans) 1950, Georgius Agricola: De Re Metallica. Translated from the fi rst Latin edition of 1556 (rep edn; 1st edn London, 1912) (New York).
Ihde A J 1984, The Development of Modern Chemistry (rep edn; 1st edn 1964) (New York).
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Kamber P, Kurzmann P and Gerber Y 1998, ‘Der Gelbschmied und Alchemist(?) vom Ringelhof’, Archäologische Bodenforschung des Kantons Basel-Stadt - Jahresbericht 1998, 151–199.
Knight D 1992, Ideas in Chemistry. A History of the Science (London).
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Leicester H M 1956, The historical background of chemistry (New York and London).
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Lewis W 1746, A course of practical chemistry: in which are contained all the operations described in Wilson’s complete course of chemistry... (London).
Libavius A 1597, Alchemia (Frankfurt).
Long P O 1991, ‘The openness of knowledge: an ideal and its context in 16th-century writings on mining and metallurgy’, Technology and Culture: The International Quarterly of the Society for The History of Technology 32(2/1), 318–355.
Lopes I A, Argüello Menéndez J, Dordio P and Teixeira R 2000, ‘Excavaciones arqueológicas en la Casa de la Moneda de Oporto (sgs. XIV–XVI)’, Actas do 3º Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular, Vol VII: Arqueologia da Idade Média da Península Ibérica (Porto), 57–72.
Martinón-Torres M 2003, ‘Química en arqueología y la arqueología de la química: el ensayo’, Gallaecia 22, 383–405.
Martinón-Torres M 2005, Chymistry and Crucibles in the Renaissance Laboratory: An Archaeometric and Historical Study. PhD thesis. University of London.
Martinón-Torres M and Rehren Th forthcoming a, ‘Alchemie, Chemie oder Metallurgie? Alles. Probierkunst in der Renaissance’, Der Anschnitt.
Martinón-Torres M and Rehren Th forthcoming b, ‘Ceramic materials in fire assay practices: a case study of 16th-century laboratory equipment’, Proceedings of the 7th European Meeting on Ancient Ceramics, Lisbon 2003 (Lisbon).
Martinón-Torres M, Rehren Th and von Osten S 2003, ‘A 16th-century lab in a 21st-century lab: archaeometric study of the laboratory equipment from Oberstockstall (Kirchberg am Wagram, Austria)’, Antiquity 77(298) [http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/martinon/martinon.html].
McLees C 1996, ‘Itinerant craftsmen, permanent smithies and the archbishop’s mint: the character and context of metalworking in medieval Trondheim’, Historical Metallurgy 30, 121–135.
Needham J and (a contribution by) Gwei-Djen L 1974, Science and Civilization in China, vol. 5, pt. II: Chemistry and Chemical Technology. Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Magisteries of Gold and Immortality (Cambridge).
Newman W R 1994, Gehennical Fire: The Lives of George Starkey, an American Alchemist in the Scientific Revolution (Cambridge, Mass).
Newman W R 2000, ‘Alchemy, Assaying and Experiment’, in F Holmes and T H Levere (eds) Instruments and Experimentation in the History of Chemistry (Cambridge, Mass and London), 33–54.
Newman W R and Principe L M 1998, ‘Alchemy vs. Chemistry: The Etymological Origins of a Historiographic Mistake’, Early Science and Medicine 3, 32–65.
Newman W R and Principe L M 2002, Alchemy Tried in the Fire. Starkey, Boyle, and the Fate of Helmontian Chymistry (Chicago and London).
Obrist B 1982, Les débuts de l’imagerie alchimique (XIVe–Xve siècles) (Paris).
Pettus J 1685, Fleta Minor, or The Laws of Art and Nature, in Knowing, Judging, Assaying, Fining, Refining and Inlarging the Bodies of Confined Metals (2nd edn) (London).
Pittioni R 1975, ‘Zwei Probierschälchen des 16. Jahrhunderts aus Kitzbühel, Tirol’, in G Heilfurth (ed) Bergbauüberlieferungen und Bergbauprobleme in Österreich und seinem Umkreis (Vienna), 148–150.
Pittioni R 1978, Studien zur Industrie-Archäologie V: Die Probierschälchen vom Burgbichl bei Safelden, Salzburg (Vienna).
Pittioni R 1985, ‘Ein Probierschälchen vom Falkenstein bei Schwaz’, Tiroler Heimatblätter 60, 34–38.
Principe L M 1987, ‘’Chemical Translation’ and the role of impurities in alchemy: Examples from Basil Valentine’s Triumph-Wagen’, Ambix 34, 21–30.
Principe L M 2000, ‘Apparatus and Reproducibility in Alchemy’, in F Holmes and T H Levere (eds) Instruments and Experimentation in the History of Chemistry (Cambridge, Mass and London), 55–74.
Principe L M and Newman W R 2001, ‘Some Problems with the Historiography of Alchemy’, in W R Newman and A Grafton (eds) Secrets of Nature: Astrology and Alchemy in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge (Mass.) and London: Secrets of Nature: Astrology and Alchemy in Early Modern Europe), 385–431.
Pumfrey S, Rossi P and Slawinski M 1991, Science, Culture and Popular Belief in Renaissance Europe (Manchester).
Ramage P and Craddock P T 2000, King Croesus’ Gold: Excavation at Sardis and the History of Gold Refining (Cambridge, Mass).
Read J 1936, Prelude to Chemistry. An Outline of Alchemy, its Literature and Relationships (London).
Rehren Th 1996, ‘Alchemy and Fire Assay – An Analytical Approach’, Historical Metallurgy 30, 136–142.
Rehren Th 1997, ‘Metal Analysis in the Middle Ages’, in G de Boe and F Verhaeghe (eds) Material Culture in Medieval Europe: Papers of the ‘Medieval Europe Brugge 1997’ Conference (Zellik), Vol. 7, 9–15.
Rehren Th 1998, ‘Kontext und Analyse der Aschkupellen von Oberstockstall’, in S von Osten, Das Alchemistenlaboratorium von Oberstockstall (Innsbruck: Monographien zur Frühgeschichte und Mittelalterarchäologie 6), 333–348.
Rehren Th 2001, ‘Ores, crucibles and cupels: past and present possibilities of scientific analysis’, Cahiers d’archéologie du CELAT 10 (Série archéométrie 1), 65–71.
Rehren Th 2002, ‘Die Tiegel und Schmelzschalen aus der Freiburger Innenstadt’, in L Galioto, F Löbbecke and M Untermann (eds) Das Haus “Zum roten Basler Stab” (Salzstrasse 20) in Freiburg im Breisgau (Stuttgart: Forschungen und Berichte der Archäologie des Mittelalters in Baden-Württemberg, Band 25), 551–538.
Rehren Th and Eckstein K 2002, ‘The development of analytical cupellation in the Middle Ages’, in E Jerem and K T Biró (eds) Archaeometry 98. Proceedings of the 31st Symposium, Budapest, April 26 – May 3 1998 (Oxford: BAR International Series 1043 – Central European Series 1), Vol. 2, 445–448.
Riche A 1888, L’art de l’essayeur (Paris).
Roberts G K 1991, ‘Science from the Earth in Central Europe’, in D Goodman and C A Russell (eds) The Rise of Scientific Europe (Sevenoaks), 145–170.
Rocke A J 1985, ‘Agricola, Paracelsus, and “Chymia”’, Ambix 32, 38–45.
Rossi P 1970, Philosophy, Technology and the Arts in the Early Modern Era (New York).
Schifer, T. 1998. Archäometallurgische Untersuchungen an den Überresten einer frühneuzeitlichen “Probierwerkstatt” aus der Stadt Münster im Südschwarzwald. Unpublished report.
Sisco A G and Smith C S (eds) 1949, Bergwerk- und Probierbüchlein (c 1500 for the 1st; c 1520 for the 2nd) (New York).
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How to Cite
Alchemy, chemistry and metallurgy in Renaissance Europe: a wider context for fire-assay remains. (2021). Historical Metallurgy, 39(1), 14-28. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/241
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How to Cite
Alchemy, chemistry and metallurgy in Renaissance Europe: a wider context for fire-assay remains. (2021). Historical Metallurgy, 39(1), 14-28. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/241