The alchemical library of Ramon de Perillos

 

In 1382, Ramon de Perillos purchased a collection of documents. A recent analysis of the material has revealed that the majority of these writings had alchemy as their subject. It opens remarkable avenues of thought. One is that his later voyage to Ireland may not so much be a pilgrimage, but rather an initiation...

The purchase

The document that was studied by Pierre Ponsich is an act signed on January 26, 1382, in Perpignan, at the home of Guillem Bernard, a lawyer in Perpignan. The witnesses were Francesch de Tregura, Father ltzina, Bernat de Ribesaltes and Guillem Bernat.
The act certified the transaction of money, in return for books. Nicholau Gil, “chanoine” of Elne, received from Ramon the sum of 26 golden Aragon pounds, which were his by brother Guillem Sedasser, from the order of Sainte-Marie of Mount Carmel. In return, Ramon got a series of books from the latter.

The collection

Pierre Ponsich describes the collection as “opening interesting horizons on the library of the Carmelite Sedasser”. At the same time, it opens “interesting horizons” into why Ramon was interested in this collection.
The acquisition was for a total of 36 titles. They fall in the following categories, with the number of documents on the subject given in brackets: cooking (1), Canonical law (1), grammar (1), geography (1), philosophy (1), physics and natural sciences (2), logic (2), theology (2), other religious works (2), non identified material (3), astronomy and astrology (5), medicine (6), alchemy (10).
This is an interesting inventory, whereby it can be definitely concluded hat this was the acquisition of a largely “alchemical library”: About one in three books was about either alchemy or astrology.

A Hermetic library

The collection could be labelled as being Hermetic in nature: there is a clear interest in astronomy, medicine and alchemy – all subjects that are found in the Corpus Hermeticum. What is equally remarkable is that, for a man so close to the pope, the collection contains so little material on canonical law or religion. Still, such documents may have been the subject of other acquisitions.
The books on astronomy are largely those of Ptolemy, and books that were translations from Arab documents. The alchemical texts are those from or about Ramon Lull, Roger Bacon, Arnau de Vilanova, and Arab texts by Abu Djafar al-Sufi and Gabir ben Hayyan.

Ramon Lull

In 1274, the Spanish theologian Ramon Lull climbed Mount Randa in Majorca in search of spiritual sustenance. After fasting and contemplating his navel for several days, Lull experienced what he believed to be a divine revelation, and he promptly rushed back down the mountain to pen his famous Ars Magna.
This involved a mechanical contrivance, a logical machine, in which the subjects and predicates of theological propositions were arranged in circles, squares, triangles, and other geometrical figures. By moving a lever, turning a crank or causing a wheel to revolve, the propositions would arrange themselves in the affirmative or negative and thus prove themselves to be true. This device he called the Ars Generalis Ultima or the Ars Magna. Underlying this scheme was a theoretical philosophy, or rather a theosophy, for he identified theology with philosophy. He felt that reason was an important part of theology.
Ramon – a namesake of Ramon de Perillos – wrote 300 documents in both Catalonian and Latin. His rationalistic mysticism was formally condemned by Gregory XI in 1376 and the condemnation was renewed by Paul IV. Despite this condemnation, Ramon de Perillos acquired books by this mystic.

Arnaud de Vilanova

Ramon Lull was a friend and disciple of Arnaud de Villeneuve. Arnauld de Villeneuve, also known as Arnau de Vilanova or Arnaldus de Villanova lived from ca. 1240 to ca. 1311. He was a doctor, theologian and Spanish diplomat and one of the most learned scholars of the 13th century. Three popes and kings used his services, either as patients, admirers or defenders.
Having left his native Montpellier, he spent ten years in Paris, between 1265 and 1275. Before his arrival, it had been the scene of Roger Bacon (1248-1250), Albert Magnus (1245-1248) and Thomas of Aquinas (1252-1259).
In 1285, he was called for by Peter III, the king of Aragon, to serve as his court doctor and ambassador to Philip le Bel. The following year, he was in Barcelona, studying alchemy and medicine. Working for James II, the king of Aragon, he had to leave the town and was excommunicated by the bishop of Tarragon for his controversial ideology. He returned to Paris, and later would serve more popes… It is a voyage that reminds us of the life of Ramon de Perillos himself.
He was the doctor to Bonifatius VIII 1294-1303), Benedict XI (1303-1304) and Clement V (1305-1314).

His interest in the “occult sciences”

The “great physician” of the kings and popes also studied astrology and alchemy. Though these did not lead him to discover the Stone of the Philosophers, he did make a certain number of discoveries, each of which made him famous. One of these involved the usage of alcohol and other substances that were used for medicinal and therapeutic potions.
He considered himself to be a prophet; he believed in the existence of demons, the arrival of the Antechrist and the persecution of the Church, and the End of the World… which he prophecised for between 1300 and 1400 or 1464, with the most likely date 1335.

Roger Bacon

Roger Bacon lived from 1214 till 1294. He studied at Oxford and Paris, and was later professor at Oxford (Franciscan school). His writings were deemed to be “secret” – not to be revealed to people outside of the order – at least not without a thorough inspection; the pope in a letter from Viterbo (dated 22 June, 1266) commanded him to send his work immediately, notwithstanding the prohibition of superiors or any general constitution whatsoever, but to keep the commission a secret.
In the beginning of 1267, he sent to the pope a burning-mirror and several appertaining to physics.
The most important of all his writings are the “Opus Majus”, the “Opus Minus”, and the “Tertium”. The “Opus Majus” deals in seven parts with (1) the obstacles to real wisdom and truth; (2) the relation between theology and philosophy, taken in its widest sense as comprising all sciences not strictly philosophical: here he proves that all sciences are founded on the sacred sciences, especially on Holy Scripture; (3) the necessity of studying zealously the Biblical languages, as without them it is impossible to bring out the treasure hidden in Holy Writ; (4) mathematics and their relation and application to the sacred sciences, particularly Holy Scripture; here he seizes an opportunity to speak of Biblical geography and of astronomy (if these parts really belong to the “Opus Majus”); (5) optics or perspective; (6) the experimental sciences; (7) moral philosophy or ethics.
Of the “Opus Minus”, the relation of which to the “Opus Majus” has been mentioned, much has been lost. Originally it had nine parts, one of which must have been a treatise on alchemy, both speculative and practical.

Abu Jafar al-Sufi

Muhammad ibn ‘Ali Abu Ja’far al-Qassab al-Sufi died in 888-89 AD. He lived in Baghdad and was the master of Junayd, or Junayd ibn Muhammad Abu al-Qasim al-Khazzaz (the silk merchant) al-Baghdadi.
Both were early Shayks of Sufism. When asked about Sufism, he said: “Sufism consists of noble behaviour (akhlaq karima) that is made manifest at a noble time on the part of a noble person in the presence of a noble people.” When Junays was asked about Sufism, he said: “Sufism is that you should be with God – without any attachment.” Others have all defined Sufism as a method to surrender to God, and live in accordance with his Will. This is a direct comparison with the Hermetic principle, whereby the initiate is asked to surrender his Will to God, who will help him – as God has to help him.
Junayd used to say that he “did not learn (lit. take) Sufism by discourse, rather by hunger, abandoning the world, and severing [one’s attachments to] familiar and pleasant things; since Sufism consists of purity of [one’s] relationship with God. Its foundation is in turning away from the world, as Harith [al-Muhasibi] said, ‘My self (nafs) has turned away from the world; so I have spent my nights in wakefulness and my days in thirst.’“

Gabir ben Hayyan

Also known as Jabir ibn Hayyan, who was a well-known writer on alchemy and medicine. He died in 813 AD. He has been labelled as the “most well-known name amongst Islamic alchemists” and was known in Europe as Geber. Experts believe he may have been a doctor who later turned to alchemy.
In the end, he is credited with having written 300 books on philosophy, 1,300 books on mechanical devices and military machinery, and hundreds of books on alchemy. Because of this massive production, Paul Kraus, writing in 1943, argued that Jabir ibn Hayyan was a legendary figure and that the corpus of Jabirian alchemical writings were attributed to a group of Isma’ili scholars at the end of the 9th century. Fuat Sezgin, writing in 1971, rejected Kraus’s conclusions and argued that all the writings under the name of Jabir are attributable to one historical personage named Jabir ibn Hayyan, living in the 8th century. In either analysis, it is clear that once again, this was a prominent alchemist, whose books ended up on the shelves of Ramon’s library.

A learned lord

The acquisition of this library underlines the notion that Ramon was a learned man. We know this from his correspondence with the king of Aragon, which often dealt with trying to find key documents located across Europe.
But the general nature of these books was “easier” than those part of this collection. Alchemy itself is a difficult subject and the books he acquired here were of the masters in the field. No doubt, the brother who had to part with this wisdom felt sad, but perhaps it were these books and the time spent studying them that had placed him into debt in the first place.
His voyage to St Patrick’s Purgatory may have been part of his alchemical interest. But perhaps his interest also involved an important issue, which he faced at home. When he returned from Ireland, he stated that he was now convinced that his domain had an entrance into “The Otherworld”. The “Otherworld” is exactly the dimensions that the alchemists tried to access. It suggests that his visit to St Patrick’s Purgatory was not a spur of the moment decision, but an important part of a very long process, that brought Ramon de Perillos to an understanding – an understanding that seems to have been alchemical in nature.

Ramon Perillos : alchimist?

Pierre Ponsich also discusses an allegation of witchcraft, directed towards a bishop of Mende. One Etienne Pépin was implicated for this offence in 1347. He was from the Auvergnat and a Franciscon monk at Souvigny, in the Bourbon region. In Souvigny, he had become the disciple of a certain master, Théodore Barbancie, expert in the affairs of the Philosopher’s Stone. “It is not a stone, as is generally believed, but a powder”, Pepin stated. In the end, he is defrocked and installs himself in Langeac, near Brioude, where he continues his researches with one Guillem Rocell. Their fame rises and soon, one Garin de Châteaunneuf de Randon, lord of Apcher, visits them, with the proposal to charm the bishop of Mende, his enemy. Pepin underlines his incompetence in such matters; for such magical practices, a rare book is required: the Liber juratus, composed by the philosopher Honorius, with the aide of the angle Attohel. It is sacred book, never to be read lightly and never in the presence of women. At that moment, the lord of Apcher confides in Pepin that he has a powerful friend, who could possibly procure a copy of this indispensable book. This friend is none other than the king of Mallorca, James III; the lord of Apcher was chamberlain and counsellor to this king.
Garin d’Apcher left for Perpignan, where he shortly afterwards invites his accomplice to join him. The king welcomes the alchemist with open arms and even offers him a work, edited by himself, which has “De naturalibus” as title. Pépin contacts several men of science in Perpignan, amongst them Berenguer Guanell, an expert in magic, who is said to be able to raise demons. Guanell states he knows where the Liber juratus is: at Tresserra.
This site and castle in the Roussillon, of which some parts remain, belonged to king James III. This makes the episode very plausible. In 1382, the castle belonged to the king of Aragon, John I, who left it to his wife, queen Yolande. She sold it to Pons de Perillos, the younger brother of Ramon.
Guanell asks Guantall to make a copy of the work. The original contained 93 chapters. While the work is being copied, Pépin goes to Spain, in search of other works; upon his return, the translation is still not completed. In the end, he has to revisit Perpignan three or four times and is eventually forced to copy the work himself – which burns any allegiance he had towards Guanell.
In the end, Pépin was sentenced to 15 years in prison, in the Episcopal tower. We learn that the Liber juratis begins with the words “with the invocation to the Holy Trinity”, which are the same opening words as one of the alchemical texts in the library of Guillem Sedasser. Ponsich cannot confirm whether or not this is indeed the case, but the possibility exists…