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Nicolas Flamel was a 14th and 15th-century Parisian scribe, who turned into an alchemical legend, and remained an enduring enigma. He was born around 1330 in Pontoise in France, and his life’s mystique centers on his association with the elusive Philosopher Stone and his pursuit of alchemical enlightenment.
Flamel’s journey began as a humble manuscript seller in Paris, where he stumbled upon the cryptic Book of Abraham the Jew, said to contain alchemical secrets. With his wife, Perenelle, they purportedly deciphered the text and embarked on legendary alchemical quests, allegedly turning base metals into gold and achieving immortality. There is, however, no historical evidence for this.
Flamel died in 1418, and his tomb can be found in the Church of the Holy Innocents in Paris, which became a pilgrimage site for alchemists and seekers of the Philosopher’s Stone.
Despite historical uncertainties, Flamel’s story endures, inspiring literature, films (such as Harry Potter), and art, symbolizing the timeless pursuit of hidden knowledge and spiritual enlightenment.
Nicholas Flamel, his exposition of the hieroglyphicall figures which he caused to bee painted vpon an arch in St. Innocents Church-yard, in Paris. Together with the secret booke of Artephius, and the epistle of Iohn Pontanus: concerning both the theoricke and the practicke o the philosophers stone. Faithfully, and (as the maiesty of the thing requireth) religiously done into English out of the French and Latine. London, 1624 ➤
Des Berühmten Philosophi Nicolai Flamelli Chymische Wercke, Alß 1. Das güldene Kleinod der Hierogliphischen Figuren. 2. Das Kleinod der Philosophiae. 3. Summarium Philosophicum. 4. Die grosse Erklärung des Steins der Weißen zur Verwandelung aller Metallen. 5. Schatz der Philosophiae, Hamburg 1681 ➤
Das kleinot der Philosophie oder Das Original der Begierde. 1672 ➤
Sammlung der neuesten und merkwuerdigsten Begebenheiten, die sich mit unterschiedlichen vermuthlich noch lebenden Adepten und philosophischen Tinktur zugetragen haben Hildesheim, 1780 ➤
