Alexandra Ballová
(Masaryk University)
” ‘To divide the flesh from soul’:
Hieronymus Brunschwig’s Early Printed Book
on Distillation and Its Unique Czech Translation”
Abstract of Paper
presented at the 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies
(Kalamazoo, 2024)
Session on “Alchemical Manuscripts, Printed Books, and Materials”
Co-Sponsored by the Societas Magica
and the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
Organized by David Porreca (University of Waterloo)
2024 Congress Program
Abstract:
The Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus by Hieronymus Brunschwig (circa 1450 – circa 1512) was the first printed book on distillation techniques of various substances, composed in the German vernacular. Originally published in 1500, the book gained widespread success, emanating from its precise division of various ingredients, detailed illustrations, and descriptions. The book combined knowledge of various fields, including medicine, chemistry, and alchemy. It was translated into the Czech language by Jan Jevický Černý upon the request of the printer Jan Günther and published in 1559 in the Moravian town of Olomouc. Jevický Černý also provided a preface, which gives us some information on the circumstances that led to the translation and how he expects the Czech edition to be used. Furthermore, he elaborates on the changes and omissions he applied, hinting a target audience.
The Czech translation was made in times prior to the Battle of White Mountain, during the interim period of relative religious stability. The content of the book did not bring new information, though it was newly presented through a printed medium. Rather, the recipes were based on older, medieval handwritten texts and oral tradition for the creation and usage of herbal remedies, however here perfected and presented in a strictly medicinal manner. The language of the book — the Czech vernacular — implies continuous shifts in society that also influenced contemporary local businesses, in this case book-printers, which then appropriated their offerings accordingly.
The proposed paper thus aims to inspect and analyse these shifts in Czech society that led to the increase of books printed in the Czech vernacular as well as to analyse the possible target audience. It will try to answer questions related to the overall environment, social context, and state of vernacular knowledge to which this particular publication contributed. The paper will further analyse how the thematic focus of Brunschwig’s and Černý‘s book corresponds with social demand, including advice and recipes which it describes, and how it fits into the general socio-economic, political, and religious shift during this transformative period.
Hieronymus Brunschwig, Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus (1500) Title Page. Image Public Domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Brunschwig_1500a.png.