Nicolas Flamel

Nicholas Flamel (presumably in Pontoise, ca. 1330 – Paris, March 22, 1418) was a Parisian bourgeois of the 20th century XIV, public notary, copyist and sworn bookseller.

A moderately prominent personality in his time, he managed to possess a modest but important fortune for his environment, part of which he used in donations and pious foundations. This wealth was the origin of the legend according to which he obtained it through alchemy. This belief, which the sources demonstrate to be unfounded, led to the fact that, from the end of the XV century and especially in the < span style="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">XVII, alchemical treatises were awarded to him; the most notable of which was the Book of Hieroglyphic Figures (Le Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques), sometimes known as the Book of Abraham the Jew. i>, appeared in 1612. Since then he became the French alchemist par excellence, despite never having practiced the so-called "hermetic philosophy."

Biography

Sources

The biography of Nicolás Flamel has been able to be studied thanks to relatively abundant documentation, a notable case for the time as it was a character who did not belong to the nobility. Personal and family documents are preserved, including his will, that of his wife Pernelle and some of his relatives. The minutes of the parish of Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie, collected in the XVII century, provide abundant data on his life and his work. In addition, his tombstone is preserved, with the corresponding inscription, and one of the houses that he had built, although there is no evidence that he lived in it, with an interesting inscription and notable representations on its façade. Of the other buildings and religious monuments that he had built; Most of them have disappeared, but there are numerous descriptions and illustrations of them.

Notary and bookseller

Nicholas Flamel was born around 1330 (or, according to Wilkins, around 1340) probably in the town of Pontoise "seven leagues from Paris", according to François Grudé. This is the time of the Hundred Years' War; Nicholas was born shortly before the battle of Crécy (1346) and died shortly after the revolt of the Cabochiens (1413) within the framework of the war between the Armagnacs and Burgundians.

In 1348 the Black Death breaks out and Nicholas is among the survivors. Later, his presence in Paris is known, where he had to attend, like all the burghers of the city, at the entry of Queen Elizabeth of Bavaria (1389). Since the XIII century, with the founding of the Universities, the growth of secular literature and the spread of reading among the nobility and the upper bourgeoisie, private writing, copying and illumination workshops began to develop in the cities, tasks that until then were carried out in the monastic scriptoria. The city of Paris was one of the most prominent university centers in Western Europe and the opinions of its doctors defined opinions and established jurisprudence; Students from all over Christendom attended their classes and, therefore, needed books. When Flamel established himself in the city, the book trade had developed there under the auspices of the university, since its authorities supervised the production of study texts.

In Paris, Flamel began working as a copyist in a small shop attached to the church of Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie, on the rue des Ecrivains. It is possible that with him was Jean Flamel (perhaps his younger brother), secretary and librarian of the Duke of Berry (known for his Très Riches Heures). After 1368 he took an oath before the authorities of the University with which he was recognized as sworn bookseller ; that is, as a member of the guild of "booksellers, scroll makers, illuminators, writers and book binders, all merchants", known by the generic name of clerics (which did not imply being a member of the clergy).). As such, he depends on the University and not on the Parisian provost like the other merchants; This also exempts them from paying the size (personal tax). A document cited by Abbot Villain testifies that, in 1415, Flamel wanted to assert this privilege to avoid paying a tax; It is not known with what success.

In the 1360s, he bought a house on the corner of rue des Ecrivains and rue de Marivaux (today precisely called rue Nicolas Flamel) where he lived and He set up his workshop, whose emblem was the fleur-de-lis. Among the reliefs and inscriptions on its façade was the maxim: "Chacun soit content de ses biens, Qui n'a souffisance il n'a riens" (motto of Enguerrand de Marigny: "May each He who is satisfied with his possessions, he for whom nothing is sufficient, has nothing. The residence, of which written testimonies are preserved, disappeared after the widening of the rue de Rivoli and of the church only the tower remains, known as Tour de Saint Jacques and famous for the experiments of Pascal, which was built a century after Flamel, between 1509 and 1523. The testimonies allow us to infer that it was a notable house, but in no way opulent compared to that of other bourgeois in that Gothic Paris, known for the excesses of the rich.

Flamel was a literate man. He was a copyist and understood Latin correctly. According to legend, when he was in the middle of the Hundred Years' War working as a bookseller in Paris, around 1355 Flamel acquired an alchemical grimoire - different versions claim that he received it from an unknown person, who bought it almost at random or which was given to him by an angel in a dream—which far exceeded his knowledge, and he spent 21 years trying to decipher it. To do this, he traveled to Spain, where he consulted both the authorities on Kabbalah and the specialists in the ancient world - at that time the best translations of ancient Greek were produced in Spanish universities - until he found, after asking many people, in He read to an elderly rabbi, Master Canches, who identified the work as the Aesch Mezareph of Rabbi Abraham, and taught Flamel the language and symbolism of its interpretation.

The narration of all these events takes place in a book that later tradition attributed to him, the Book of Hieroglyphic Figures (printed in 1612, although it is assumed that he wrote it in 1399), which briefly describes these adventures at the beginning, explaining throughout said work the philosophical teaching described as if it were the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, however some theories suggest that said framework has a much deeper meaning, being a reflection of the initiatory mysteries hidden behind this work. Among these mysteries were the discovery of the philosopher's stone and the creation of homunculi through shadow palingenesis (creating an astral, animal or plant body).

Flamel returned to Paris in 1382, in 1407 he had a house built, still standing, at the current 51, rue de Montmorency, in addition to financing chapels, asylums and hospitals. King Charles VI of France asked him to contribute gold to the royal coffers through his transmutation system.

It is said that during those years he also made a stone, thanks to which he and his wife, Perenelle, obtained immortality. Although it clearly failed since they died and were buried between 1410 and 1418 in the cemetery of St. Jacques de la Boucherie, when he attempted to exhume it he found an empty tomb; Although it could well have been due to the looting of it in search of valuable objects or texts, this only reinforced the rumors of his immortality, as well as the stories about his life as a youth and visiting places like India and Turkey after his supposed death, compiled by Paul Lucas (1664-1737). His richly engraved tombstone is preserved in the Cluny Museum.

Influence on popular culture

• This historical character is part of the fantastic world of Harry Potter, being named friend of Albus Dumbledore in the first book of the series, (Harry Potter and Philosopher Stone). It appears in the film “Fantastic Animals: Grindelwald Crimes”.
• It is also mentioned in the diver of the "Dossier Secrets" as the eighth Grand Master of the Priory of Zion, successor in the position of Blanca de Évreux.
  • Based on this, it appears quoted in the book The Da Vinci Code as a Great Master of the Priory fictitious of Zion.
• He is one of the protagonists of Michael Scott's book series "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel".
• In the novel Our Lady of Paris Victor Hugo is mentioned on several occasions as an important alchemist.
• In Foucault pendulum Umberto Eco.
• The name of Nicolás Flamel is named in the mystery novel The Dumas Club, by Arturo Pérez Reverte.
• In "Memories of a Doctor" by Alejandro Dumas, protagonist José Balsamo claims to have worked with him.
• In "The Egyptian Secret of Napoleon" by Javier Sierra.
• In "The Mercury, Sulphur and Salt" by Manuel Nonídez.
• Carlos Poveda's "The Cabinet of the Dead Alchemist" is repeatedly named together with other alchemists such as Paracelso, Basilio Valentín, Lulio or Cyliani.
• Its symbol of the crucified snake appears in the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise.
• He is an anime character Ulysses: Jehanne Darc to Renkin no Kishi.
• He is the main character in Peter Harris' book "The Secret of the Pilgrim".
• In the game of Ragnarok Online there is a character with his name, required to convert a character into Alchemist.
• In the video game for PS2 Haunting Ground one of the objects that can be used during the game is a book by Nicolas Flamel.
• In the novel “The Lab of Souls”, Nicolas Flamel is mentioned as the author of the book “The Hammer of Demons”.
• It is named in the film "Thus on Earth as in Hell" Its tombstone is used in the museum to discover the location of the "Piedra Filosofal".
• He is named in the fiction series "The liberaians", in the third chapter of the first season.
• In the horror film "Thus on Earth as in Hell" (so named in Hispanoamérica) you can see how the philosophal stone is explored and found, also mentioning Nicolas Flamel.
• In Paris there is still its old mansion, set on 51 Rue de Montmorency, now converted into a very proud restaurant of its alchemical tradition as a tourist claim.