Lives of alchemystical philosophers To which is added a...

The comparison of a brilliant but ephemeral reputation to “the comet of a season” has been transferred from the region of poetry into that of proverb, and is certainly applicable to no figure in the history of literature or science more completely than to the subject of this memoir. The name of Raymond Lully has indeed passed so completely into oblivion that it awakes no recollections whatever except in the minds of certain specialists in history and philosophy. Yet he exercised no small influence on his generation, while for a century after his death all intellectual Europe was acquainted with his method for the acquisition of the sciences and his voluminous literary and evangelistic labours. Raymond Lully united the saint and the man of science, the philosopher and the preacher, the apostle and the itinerant lecturer, the dialectician and the martyr; in his youth he was a courtier and a man of pleasure; in mature age he was an ascetic who had discovered the universal science through a special revelation from God; after his death he was denounced as a heretic, and then narrowly escaped beatification as a saint. While his relics worked miracles in Majorca, colleges were founded in various parts of Europe for teaching the Ars Lulliana, which was to replace the scholastic method; but the miracles ceased, the universal science fell into neglect, and, as the last scene in this eventful history, Raymond Lully appears in popular legends as an adept in alchemy, whose age was prolonged through centuries by the discovery of the elixir of life.

Having succeeded in rescuing from oblivion and misrepresentation this singular man, whose sanctity was as eminent as his attainments were unique, I shall here present the first true history of his life and works to the reading public of England; the romantic narrative will be as interesting to the general student as to the occultist and the man of letters.

The father of Raymond Lully was a gentleman of Barcelona, who, having served under the banner of John I., King of Arragon, at the conquest of the Balearic Isles from the Mohammedans, was gifted with lands in Majorca, and there settled. He was of an old and noble Catalonian family, and was wedded to a lady whose name is not known. Though possessed of considerable wealth, his happiness was marred by the sterility of his wife; but, addressing themselves to the goodness of God, the lady was eventually delivered of a son, who was named, like his father, Raymond Lully. He was born, according to Ségui, in 1229, but according to Jean Marie de Vernon, and other authorities, in 1235, which, on the whole, is the more probable date. When the young Raymond had attained the use of reason, his parents endeavoured to imbue him with love for the liberal arts, but his mercurial and impetuous disposition was unsuited to serious study, and he was permitted to follow his father’s profession of arms. He was made page to the King, with whom he acquired such high favour that he was installed as Grand Prevôt, or Master of the Palace, and subsequently as Seneschal of the Isles; but he employed the advantages of these distinguished positions in the dissipations of a youth without curb or restraint. The flower of his manhood was wasted in the gaieties of court life, in winning the favours of ladies, and in composing amorous verses in their honour.

He spared no pains to make himself pleasing to those who were beautiful, and his excesses were so glaring that his parents, and King James II. himself, were forced to make great complaints to him. As a remedy for the irregularities of his life, it was proposed that he should marry, and a wife at once beautiful, virtuous, and wealthy was selected by his advisers and friends. She was named Catherine de Sabots. Though he became much attached to this lady, the bond of marriage did not prove strong enough to confine his errant inclinations, and there was one person in particular for whom he conceived a great passion, though he was already the father of two male children and of one girl. This was the Signora Ambrosia Eleonora de Castello de Gênes, whose virtue was superior to her personal attractions, though she eclipsed in loveliness all the beauties of the Court. She was married to a man whom she loved, but such was the infatuation of Raymond Lully that he paid her the most marked attentions, and on one occasion, lost to all around him except the object of his admiration, he is said to have followed her on horseback into the church of Palma, a town in Majorca, where she had gone one morning to mass. So outrageous an act could not fail to cause great scandal, more particularly on account of the high rank of both parties concerned. The lady, thus suddenly raised to such undesirable notoriety, took counsel with her husband as to the course which she should pursue to put an end to the persecutions of her admirer.

In the meantime, Raymond Lully, conscious no doubt that he had exceeded all bounds of moderation, wrote an incoherent apology, accompanied with a sonnet, in which he particularly described the beauty of her neck. To this the lady replied by a letter, written in the presence of her husband, and which is here copied verbatim from the old French writer who relates this portion of the story.

“Sir,—The sonnet which you have sent me is evidence of the superiority of your genius and the imperfection, or, rather, the perversity of your judgment. With what vivacity would you depict true beauty since by your verses you even embellish ugliness! But how can you employ such exalted talents in the laudation of a little clay briefly tinged with vermilion? Your industry should be employed in eradicating and not in publishing your passion.

“’Tis not that you are unworthy of the affection of the noblest woman in the world, but you become unworthy of it by devoting yourself to the service of one who is the least of all. Is it possible that an intelligence created for God alone, and illuminated as it is, can be so blind on this point?

“Abandon then a passion which deprives you of your native nobility. Do not tarnish your reputation by the pursuit of an object which you can never possess. I could terribly disillusion you by showing you that what you so much admire should rather be held in aversion. Yet rest well assured that I love you all the more truly because I appear to have no regard for you.”

This letter served only to feed the flame in the breast of Raymond Lully, till, other means having failed, the lady, still acting under the advice of her husband, called her lover into her presence, and exposed to him her breast which was almost eaten away by a cancer, whence an offensive odour issued.

“Look on what thou lovest, Raymond Lully,” she cried, with tears in her eyes, “Consider the condition of this wretched body in which thy spirit centres all its hopes and pleasures, and then repent of thy useless attempts; mourn for the time which thou hast wasted in persecuting a being whom thou didst fondly deem perfect, but who has so dreadful a blemish! Change this useless and criminal passion into holy love, direct thine affections to the Creator, not to the creature, and in the acquisition of eternal bliss take now the same pains which thou hast hitherto vainly spent to engage me in thy foolish passion!”

The sight had already melted the heart of Raymond Lully and restored him to reason. After expressing to the noble-hearted lady how deeply he felt for her misfortune, he withdrew from the house, ashamed of the passion he had conceived, and reaching home, overwhelmed with confusion, he cast himself at the feet of a crucifix, and vowed to consecrate himself henceforth to the service of God alone. He passed a more than usually tranquil night, being filled with this zealous resolution, and the vision of Christ is said to have appeared to him, saying, “Raymond Lully, from henceforth do thou follow me!” This vision was repeated several times, and he judged it to be an indication of the Divine Will. Raymond was at this period about thirty years old; he filled one of the most noble situations at court, and might have aspired to any honour for himself or his family. He resolved, nevertheless, to renounce the world, and soon arranged his affairs, dividing so much of his estate among his family as would enable them to live honourably, retaining a small portion for his personal necessities, and distributing the rest among the poor. His plans in the matter were so punctually fulfilled, that he was accused of plunging from one folly to another.

At this period he is said to have made a pilgrimage to St John in Galicia, and a retreat thereat. He returned in due course to Majorca, and took the habit of religion, but did not, however, embrace the religious life. He retired to a small dwelling on the mountain of Randa, a possession which had not been included in the general sale of his estate. Here he fell ill, and was consoled by two visions of the Saviour.

After his change of life, the first boon which he asked of God was so to illuminate his mind that he might compose a book capable of completely annihilating the errors of Mahomet, and of forcing the infidels, by good and solid reasoning, to embrace the faith of Jesus Christ. In answer to this prayer, he was conscious, it is asserted, of a perfect spiritual illumination, and became instantaneously capable of reasoning powerfully on all subjects, so that he passed henceforth for a great and subtle doctor both in human and divine sciences. A more sober account informs us that “he prepared himself to labour for the conversion of the Mahometans, by studying their books in the Arabic language,” and that his preparation continued for the space of six years. According to another authority, this missionary zeal did not date from an earlier period than 1268—three years after his reformation—when in another of his visions he beheld upon the leaves of a myrtle or a mastic tree, certain marks which resembled Turkish or Arabic characters. On awaking, he regarded himself as called to a mission among the heathen.

Convinced, says one of his biographers, that the Spirit of God had not inspired him with the Celestial Science to let it rest idle, and that he would be betraying his vocation if his light were hidden under a bushel, he resolved to journey to Paris and there publish the eternal truths which had been revealed to him. Others have supposed that in undertaking this journey he was simply seeking instruction in the Latin tongue at one of the centres of learning. Several of his treatises on Philosophy, Theology, Medicine, and Astronomy are, however, referred to this period, as well as some works on alchemy, but this point will receive adequate consideration hereafter.

Still imbued with his evangelistic and missionary zeal, he engaged a young Arab as his valet, that he might perfect himself in colloquial Arabic; but he, discovering that his master intended to demolish the divine principles of the Koran, and preach against the holy law of Mahomet, piously resolved to assassinate him, and one day plunged a dagger into his breast. He sought to repeat the blow, but Raymond Lully, wounded and bleeding as he was, contrived to disarm him, perhaps with the assistance of a holy and opportune anchorite, who is advanced at this critical moment by one of the biographers. The young Arab was imprisoned with the reluctant consent of his over magnanimous master, who does not appear to have proceeded further against him; but the unhappy Mohammedan enthusiast was so overwhelmed with vexation at the failure of his heroic design to destroy, at all costs, the implacable foe of the prophet, that he strangled himself in his dungeon in a paroxysm of impotent fury.

It was after this episode, and after the recovery of Raymond Lully from the violence of his valet, that, according to another historian, he retired to Mount Randa, and that then, and then only, he received from the Father of Lights that new illumination with which others have accredited him at a much earlier period. This was probably a second visit paid to his Balearic solitude; he tarried there seven months, “always absorbed in prayer, and conversing, as it seemed to him, continually with angels, whose consolations he received—consolations,” says the pious writer, “which the soul can indeed realise, but which the lips cannot worthily describe.”

Having left his retreat, he determined to travel to Rome, to exhort his Holiness to establish in Europe several monasteries, where monks should be occupied in acquiring and teaching languages, in order to spread everywhere the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to labour for the conversion of the infidels. But Honorius IV., from whose piety he had everything to hope, died as soon as Lully reached Rome, and he therefore returned to Paris, where he explained publicly his General or Universal Art for the acquisition of all sciences. From Paris he went to Mont Pelin, where he also taught and wrote; thence to Genoa, where he translated his Art Inventif into Arabic. From Genoa he again proceeded to Rome, but seeing that it was impossible to attain his ends on account of the obstacles which presented themselves in the Sacred Court, he returned to Genoa, intending to start for Africa, and personally labour in the conversion of the infidels. He made terms with the owner of a vessel, shipped his books on board, with the other necessities of his journey, but, when he was himself on the point of embarking, a vision of all the dangers he was about to encounter so worked upon his mind, that he was deprived even of the power of walking, and was obliged to renounce his intention. His effects were consequently returned to him, and with these he re-entered Genoa in the midst of a crowd of vagabonds, who derided his weakness.

Whether consequent on this raillery, or through shame at his cowardice, he became dangerously ill.[K] On the Vigil of Pentecost, 1291, he was carried to the Convent of Friars Preachers, and received the care which his condition required. He received the last sacraments, and dictated his last will and testament; nevertheless, he was destined to recover, and had scarcely regained his strength when, to repair his previous fault, he embarked upon the first vessel bound for Tunis. During the voyage he composed his “General Tabulation of the Sciences.”

Immediately on his arrival at Tunis, he held conferences with those who were most erudite in the law of Mahomet. He proved, at least to his own satisfaction, that they were in error and darkness, and that truth was on the side of Jesus Christ. He was accused before the King of Tunis of seducing the people, was arrested, cast into prison, and ultimately condemned to death. But a learned Arabian priest, overcome by his arguments, obtained his pardon on condition of his instant departure. He left the town amidst the insults and opprobrium of the populace, prohibited to return, on pain of certain death.

In 1293 he arrived at Genoa from this disastrous mission, and he appears to have proceeded immediately to Naples, where he remained till the pontificate of Celestin V., teaching publicly his Ars Magna and Arbor Scientiarum. In December 1294, he repaired to Rome to persuade the Pope to send missionaries to the infidels, and he appears to have obtained the establishment of several colleges for the study of oriental languages. Moreover, the University of Paris, by an authentic act, adopted and recommended the use of his short method of acquiring knowledge, and some of his more important philosophical doctrines. Still, his missionary efforts were not generally successful, and he again wandered from place to place, confuting heretics. He travelled to Montpellier, where he was received with distinction by Raymond Gauffredy, General of the Order of St Francis. He obtained letters of association, as a benefactor to the order, the superiors of which were put under his direction, and he taught his method in their houses. He preached in Cyprus against the Nestorians and Georgians, striving to bring them back to the bosom of the Church. He addressed himself for assistance in his manifold enterprises to the Kings of France, Sicily, Majorca, and Cyprus, but generally in vain.

In 1308 he returned to Paris, where he conversed with the celebrated Johannes Scotus, who is known as the subtle doctor. He had the satisfaction to find that King Philip le Bel had directed the oriental languages to be taught in the University of Paris. This induced Raymond to proceed in the following year to Ferdinand IV., King of Castile, to engage him to unite with the King of France for the recovery of the Holy Land, but this oft-repeated and invariably disastrous and futile enterprise was fortunately not undertaken. He ventured again to Africa, landed at Bona, that ancient Hippo which was the diocese of St Augustine, and despite the opposition of its Mohammedan inhabitants he succeeded in converting seventy followers of the philosopher Averroës. Thence he travelled to Algiers and converted many, which brought down on him the persecution of the authorities. A bridle was put into his mouth, as if he were a horse, and he was deprived by this means of the free use of speech for the space of forty days; he was then publicly beaten, and expelled from the kingdom. He had no other road open to him but to return to Tunis, where sentence of death awaited him, but he remained concealed, and shortly after proceeded to Bugia. There he confounded the doctrines of the Mohammedan priests, successfully avoiding innumerable deadly snares prepared by the people against him at the suggestion of their religious teachers.

He was at length cast into a miserable dungeon, where he might well have perished, but the solicitations of certain Genoese merchants obtained him a better prison, in which he was confined for six months. Here the Mohammedan doctors came to him in troops, to persuade him to embrace their law, promising him the most alluring recompences—slaves, palaces, wealth, beautiful women, and the King’s friendship. “The result,” says one of Lully’s biographers, “was that they were almost persuaded to embrace His law, Who alone could promise them eternal beatitude.”

The gates of Raymond’s prison were at length thrown open, and, as a disturber of the public peace, he was enjoined to quit those parts at once. The illustrious wanderer embarked in a Genoese vessel with his books and papers, but he was wrecked ten miles from the town of Pisa, escaping hardly with the loss of all his effects. At Pisa he fell sick, and was carefully attended by the Dominicans. On his recovery he resumed his public teaching. The conversion of the Mohammedans and the conquest of the Holy Land were still his chief ends, and he so eloquently solicited the inhabitants of Pisa to institute an order of Christian Knights for the deliverance of Judea, that they sent him with letters to the Holy Father; he was entrusted by the inhabitants of Genoa with similar documents, and bore also the voluntary offer of the ladies in that town to contribute towards such a pious and praiseworthy purpose a considerable sum of money. With these assurances he sought the Pope at Avignon, presented his letters, and added the most powerful reasons of his own to persuade him to proclaim another crusade. Naturally, he obtained nothing from the Papal Court, and he retired to Paris, sorrowful at his failure and at the coldness of the prelates of the Church. He continued writing and teaching, and in October 1311, hearing that a general council would be held at Vienna, he considered this a favourable opportunity and presented himself before it to demand three things:—

2. The reduction of all the Military Orders in the Christian world into a single order, so that living under one religious rule, and inspired with the same desires, they might all do battle with the Saracens, and, suppressing all seeds of jealousy, all selfish interests, by a laudable emulation, with true Christian piety, seek to deliver the Holy Place from the hands of the miscreants.

3. The condemnation, by authority of the Pope and the Council, of all the works of Averroës used in Christian colleges and schools, because they were distinctly and directly opposed to the doctrines of true religion. In order to throw more light on this last point he composed a treatise entitled De Natale Pueri. He was again unsuccessful, and returned to Paris without having accomplished anything. With unconquerable perseverance he again set himself more diligently than ever to the composition of books in Latin, Spanish, and Arabic, for the edification of the Faithful and the instruction of the Saracens. He became indeed one of the most voluminous authors in the world, and when weary of the repose of letters he returned to Majorca, far advanced in years, he embarked, despite the peril, for Tunis, hoping to work secretly in the conversion of its inhabitants.

According to another account, he publicly proclaimed his return, crying, “Do you not remember that I am the man whom your princes formerly hunted from this country and from Tunis in dread that I should illuminate your souls with the truths of our holy religion, towards which you already had some disposition? The single hope of your salvation, and the resolution I have taken to suffer all the torments of the world for the love of my God, lead me back among you, to do with me as you please.”

In either case his return was discovered; as one man the people rose in tumult against him, and having covered him with opprobrium and atrocious injuries, they chased him with stones from the town to the port, where he fell miserably overwhelmed.

According to numerous biographers, certain merchants, either of Majorca or Genoa, passing Tunis, saw a great light, in the shape of a pyramid, near to the port, on the night of this catastrophe. This light seemed to issue from a heap of stones, and, curious to discover its cause, they put ashore in a boat, and thus came upon the precious body of Raymond Lully, whom, in spite of his disfigured condition, they immediately recognised.

But M. E. J. Delécleuze, writing in the Revue des Deux Mondes, gives us the same narrative unadorned by the veneer of the miraculous. “The night fell, and the body of Raymond Lully remained on the sea-shore. During the whole of this terrible scene none of the converts, and still less the European Christians then sojourning in the town, had dared to defend the missionary, or even to intercede in his favour. Certain Genoese merchants, however, desiring to pay the last honours to his corpse, came in a boat, under cover of the darkness, to bear it away. In the accomplishment of this pious duty they perceived that Raymond Lully was still breathing. They carried him in haste to their ship, and immediately set sail for Majorca, in sight of which island that holy and learned man expired on the 29th of June 1315, at the age of eighty years.”[L]