Bernard Trevisan (''Bernard of Treviso'', ''Bernardus Trevisanus'') was a fictional Italian

alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

who lived from 1406 to 1490. His biography has been composed by editors and commentators of alchemical texts from the 16th century. It is said that he was born into a noble family in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

and spent his entire life spending his family fortune in search of the

Philosopher's stone The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver; it was also known as "the tincture" and "the powder". Alchemists additionally believed that it could be used to mak ...

. The mythical character emerged by a confusion with the alchemist called Bernard of

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

. A recent study founded a chronicle of his death in 1387. He has been identified with

Eberhard I von der Mark Eberhard is an old Germanic name meaning the strength or courage of a wild boar. People First name *Eberhard of Friuli (815–866), Duke and key figure in the Carolingian Empire *Eberhard of Béthune (died 1212), Flemish grammarian *Eberhard I, Du ...

(1305-1387), a law graduate and clergyman, who became chorbishop of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. He resigned his positions in the Church to marry in 1346 with Maria de Looz-Agimont (ca.1336-1410), whose titles and territories counties were key points in feudal disputes involving Von der Marck family. From 1366 he was closely related to

Kuno II von Falkenstein Kuno II von Falkenstein (, Falkenstein Castle 21 May 1388, Maus Castle), also known as Konrad II von Falkenstein-Münzenberg, was a German nobleman and theologian who served as Archbishop and Elector of Trier from 1362 until his resignation in ...

(ca.1320-1388), archbishop of Trier.

Biography

The fictional Bernard Trevisan began his career as an

at the age of fourteen. He had his family's permission, as they also desired to increase their wealth. He first worked with a monk of Cîteaux named Gotfridus Leurier. They attempted for eight years to fashion the

out of hen eggshells and egg yolk purified in horse manure. He is believed to have been influential on the work of

Gilles de Rais Gilles de Rais, Pays de Retz, Baron de Rais (; also spelled "Retz"; 1405 – 26 October 1440) was a knight and lord from Duchy of Brittany, Brittany, Duchy of Anjou, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army during the Hundred Years' W ...

in the 1430s. He then worked with minerals and natural salts using

distillation Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

and

crystallization Crystallization is a process that leads to solids with highly organized Atom, atoms or Molecule, molecules, i.e. a crystal. The ordered nature of a crystalline solid can be contrasted with amorphous solids in which atoms or molecules lack regu ...

methods borrowed from

Jabir ibn Hayyan Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Arabic: , variously called al-Ṣūfī, al-Azdī, al-Kūfī, or al-Ṭūsī), died 806−816, is the purported author of a large number of works in Arabic, often called the Jabirian corpus. The treatises that ...

and

Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, also known as Rhazes (full name: ), , was a Persian physician, philosopher and alchemist who lived during the Islamic Golden Age. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of medicine, and a ...

. When these failed he turned to vegetable and animal material, finally using human

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

and

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and many other animals. In placental mammals, urine flows from the Kidney (vertebrates), kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder and exits the urethra through the penile meatus (mal ...

. He gradually sold his wealth to buy secrets and hints towards the stone, most often from swindlers. He traveled all over the known world, including the Baltics, Germany, Spain, France, Vienna, Egypt, Palestine, Persia, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, to find hints left by past alchemists. His health had been deteriorating, most likely from the fumes he had created with his alchemy. He retired to the Island of Rhodes, still working on the

until his death in 1490.

Attributed works

In the sixteenth century, several alchemical works were attributed to Bernard. For example, ''Trevisanus de Chymico miraculo, quod lapidem philosophiae appellant'' was edited in 1583 by

Gerhard Dorn Gerhard Dorn (c. 1530 – 1584) was a philosopher, translator, alchemist, physician and bibliophile. Biography The details of Gerhard Dorn's early life, along with those of many other 16th century personalities, are lost to history. It is k ...

. ''The Answer of Bernardus Trevisanus, to the Epistle of Thomas of Bononia'', and ''The Prefatory Epistle of Bernard Earl of Tresne'', in English, appeared in the 1680 ''Aurifontina Chymica''.

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevisan, Bernard Fictional Italian people

Biography

Attributed works

Notes

Further reading

External links