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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2021
It is my intention to demonstrate that Chaucer, far from attacking alchemy in his Chanouns Yemannes Tale, was probably not only in sympathy with it, but possibly knew (and if so, respected) the famous secret. The common opinion, of course, is just the reverse: virtually all the critics follow Tyrwhitt in thinking that Chaucer's satire may have been inspired by personal resentment and that it may in its turn have inspired the statutes against “multiplying” passed in 1403. Both these assumptions are possible; yet there seems to be another side to the story, as Professor Kittredge has already hinted.
1 G. L. Kittredge, “The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and Tale,” Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, 2nd Series, (1910) XXX, 92.
2 Musaeum Hermeticum Reformatum. Francofurti 1678, p. 473.
3 Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, London 1652, p. 470.
4 Theatr. Chem. Brit., p. 468.
5 Religio Medici I, 39.
6 J. L. Lowes, “The Dragon and His Brother,” Mod. Lang. Notes, XXVIII, 229.
7 Senior's tract, as Tyrwhitt noted, is to be found in vol. V of Zetzner's Theatrum Chemicum (Argentorati 1660). It is also to be found in vol II of Manget's Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa (Geneva 1702). Neither Salomon nor Plato say that the water is made of “elementes foure”; but earlier (Theatr. Chem., V, 204) Senior says: “Haec est enim aqua calida, & aer quietus, & terra liquescens, & ignis circumdans.” Some commentators refer Chaucer's first quotation to pseudo-Aristotle's Secreta Secretorum because Chaucer calls alchemy “the secree of secrees”; this phrase, however, is also to be found in Senior (Theatr. Chem. V, 195).
8 This is my own wording of the formula, based on an analysis of some thirty alchemists (excluding Chaucer).
9 Michael Maier found this passage from Arnaldus sufficiently important to use it as the Motto for the 25th Emblem of his Scrutinum Chymicum (Francofurti 1687).
10 “Titanos” is a rare term, defined by Dr. James Campbell Brown, in his authoritative History of Chemistry from the Earliest Times (London 1913, pp. 45-46) as a “calx”—the residuum left by the roasting of a metal or mineral. Chaucer's importance among the alchemists can be gauged by the appearance of this word, which was introduced into England by the Chanouns Yemannes Tale: every subsequent writer who uses it is quoting either Chaucer or his admirer Norton. Being rare, the word was often misunderstood. Chaucer's paradox has been taken for a definition, not only by the New Oxford Dictionary (which says that “Titanos” is equivalent to “Magnesia”), but by some alchemists as well. It should have been obvious, however, that “Titanos” the powder, “Magnesia” the stone, and the water of four elements would not be synonymous.
I have traced the following examples of the word in English:
Thomas Norton: Ordinal of Alchemy (Theatr. Chem. Brit., p. 42), where it is spelled “Titanos.” In a note, p. 470, Ashmole misprinted it as “Tytans.”
Richard Carpenter (Theatr. Chem. Brit., p. 275) begins his Work: “Of Titan Magnasia take the cler light.” Carpenter is supposed to have been a friend of Norton's, who quotes Chaucer by name.
Reginald Scot: Discoverie of Witchcraft Bk. XIV, ch. ii (ed. 1886, p. 295) quotes Chaucer and spells the word “Titanus,” distinguishing it from Magnesia.
The anonymous Short Enquiry into the Hermetick Art (London 1714, pp. 23-24) says that Magnesia is “called, by Plato, Titanos.” The “lover of Philalethes” who wrote this quotes Norton copiously; but the false reference to Plato would have proved in any case that the ultimate source was Chaucer.
The rarity of the word is further demonstrated by the ease with which it was seriously misspelled. In Zetzner's publication of Senior (Theatr. Chem, V, 224), and also in Manget's (Bib. Chem. Cur. II, 228), the word is given as “Thitarios”; and in Maier's translation of Norton (Mus. Herm. Ref. p. 473), reprinted by Manget (Bib. Chem. Cur. II, 295), it becomes “Dytanos.” (Maier's translation was published before the original.)
11 Mercury being a product of Luna, they were sometimes identified. Cf. Kelley's Work (Alchemical Writings of Edward Kelley, London 1893, p. xlviii): “What will you say if I a wonder tell you And prove the mother is child and mother too”?
12 A Passus XI, 157. “Alberde” is Albertus Magnus.
