The ''Liber Ignium ad Comburendos Hostes'' (translated as ''On the Use of Fire to Conflagrate the Enemy'', or ''Book of Fires for the Burning of Enemies'', and abbreviated as ''Book of Fires'') is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

collection of

recipes A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. Hist ...

for

incendiary weapons Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, th ...

, including Greek fire and

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...

, written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and allegedly written by a certain Marcus Graecus ("Mark the Greek")—a person whose existence is debated by scholars. The work has been subjected to numerous academic analyses, resulting in contradictory conclusions vis-a-vis origin and influence on its contemporaries.Partington, James Riddick. A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998, pp. 58-60 One of the most influential studies of the ''Liber Ignium'' was conducted by

Marcellin Berthelot Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot (; 25 October 1827 – 18 March 1907) was a French chemist and Republican politician noted for the ThomsenBerthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic substa ...

which is cited in 20th century works on the topic.

The ''Liber Ignium'' is a collection of 35 recipes without any internal classification, as it was typical of "secret recipe" list of the era. Of these, 14 are related to warfare, 11 with lamps and lights, 6 with the prevention and treatment of burns, and 4 with the preparation of

chemicals A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...

, chiefly

saltpetre Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitra ...

. Some recipes were found to be worthless. Recipe no. 14 contains advice for the harvesting and processing of saltpeter. In Berthelot's interpretation, it says: "saltpeter is a mineral of the earth, and is found as an efflorescence on stones. This earth is dissolved in boiling water, then purified and passed through a filter. It is boiled for a day and a night and solidified, so that transparent plates of the salt are found at the bottom of the vessel." Furthermore, there are four recipes (nos. 12, 13, 32, and 33) that describe mixtures resembling gunpowder.

Origins and influence on contemporaries

The premillennial Byzantine Greek origin of the text has been rejected by scholars, who date it to the late 13th century. Study of the text has suggested that it was originally translated from

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, possibly by a person from

Moorish Spain Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...

.Pan, Jixing. ''On the Origin of Rockets'',

T'oung Pao ''T’oung Pao'' (; ), founded in 1890, is a Dutch journal and the oldest international journal of sinology. It is published by the publisher E. J. Brill. ''T'oung Paos original full title was ''T’oung Pao ou Archives pour servir à l’étud ...

, Vol. 73, pg. 5–6Dana, Charles E., Notes on Cannon-Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'', Vol. 50, pg. 149 The influence the ''Liber Ignium'' had on Roger Bacon and

Albertus Magnus Albertus Magnus (c. 1200 – 15 November 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great or Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar, philosopher, scientist, and bishop. Later canonised as a Catholic saint, he was known during his li ...

has been debated. Early scholars like the 18th-century scientist

Johann Beckmann Johann Beckmann (1739–1811) was a German scientific author and coiner of the word technology, to mean the science of trades. He was the first man to teach technology and write about it as an academic subject. Life He was born on 4 June 1739 at ...

thought that both men had read and quoted it, but others have claimed that all three were based on a common source. Iqtidar Alam Khan writes that while the ''Liber Ignium'' contents can be traced back to Arabic and Chinese texts, the work of Bacon appears to represent a parallel tradition, especially because the decoded formulas of Bacon contain considerably less nitrate.

References

{{Alchemy, state=expanded Alchemical documents 13th-century manuscripts 13th-century Latin books

Contents

Origins and influence on contemporaries

References