LEADER 04147nam 2200697Ia 450 001 9910779118603321 005 20230124183813.0 010 $a0-231-51934-6 024 7 $a10.7312/devu14538 035 $a(CKB)2550000000105175 035 $a(EBL)908742 035 $a(OCoLC)818856335 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000721552 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12328559 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000721552 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10692965 035 $a(PQKB)10107550 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC908742 035 $a(DE-B1597)458797 035 $a(OCoLC)1024012393 035 $a(OCoLC)1029834740 035 $a(OCoLC)808344579 035 $a(OCoLC)979753826 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780231519342 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL908742 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10580063 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL675019 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000105175 100 $a20080708d2009 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aProphecy, alchemy, and the end of time$b[electronic resource] $eJohn of Rupescissa in the late Middle Ages /$fLeah DeVun 210 $aNew York $cColumbia University Press$dc2009 215 $a1 online resource (273 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-231-14539-X 311 $a0-231-14538-1 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [223]-243) and index. 327 $tFrontmatter -- $tContents -- $tIllustrations -- $tAcknowledgments -- $tOne. Introduction -- $tTwo. The Proving of Christendom -- $tThree. John of Rupescissa's Vision of the End -- $tFour. Alchemy in Theory and Practice -- $tFive. Artists and the Art -- $tSix. Metaphor and Alchemy -- $tSeven. The End of Nature -- $tEight. Conclusion -- $tNotes -- $tBibliography -- $tIndex 330 $aIn the middle of the fourteenth century, the Franciscan friar John of Rupescissa sent a dramatic warning to his followers: the last days were coming; the apocalypse was near. Deemed insane by the Christian church, Rupescissa had spent more than a decade confined to prisons—in one case wrapped in chains and locked under a staircase—yet ill treatment could not silence the friar's apocalyptic message. Religious figures who preached the end times were hardly rare in the late Middle Ages, but Rupescissa's teachings were unique. He claimed that knowledge of the natural world, and alchemy in particular, could act as a defense against the plagues and wars of the last days. His melding of apocalyptic prophecy and quasi-scientific inquiry gave rise to a new genre of alchemical writing and a novel cosmology of heaven and earth. Most important, the friar's research represented a remarkable convergence between science and religion.In order to understand scientific knowledge today, Leah DeVun asks that we revisit Rupescissa's life and the critical events of his age—the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War, the Avignon Papacy—through his eyes. Rupescissa treated alchemy as medicine (his work was the conceptual forerunner of pharmacology) and represented the emerging technologies and views that sought to combat famine, plague, religious persecution, and war. The advances he pioneered, along with the exciting strides made by his contemporaries, shed critical light on later developments in medicine, pharmacology, and chemistry. 606 $aAlchemy$xReligious aspects$xChristianity$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aReligion and science$zEurope$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aPharmacology$zEurope$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aApocalyptic literature$xHistory and criticism 615 0$aAlchemy$xReligious aspects$xChristianity$xHistory 615 0$aReligion and science$xHistory 615 0$aPharmacology$xHistory 615 0$aApocalyptic literature$xHistory and criticism. 676 $a274/.05 686 $aNM 7250$2rvk 700 $aDeVun$b Leah$01525386 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910779118603321 996 $aProphecy, alchemy, and the end of time$93766737 997 $aUNINA