Basilius Valentinus

author

Basilius Valentinus

A shadowy figure in the history of alchemy, this writer was long described as a 15th-century Benedictine monk, but modern scholars often treat the name as a pseudonym. Works published under that name became especially famous for their influence on early chemical writing, including texts on antimony and alchemical practice.

1 Audiobook

Of Natural and Supernatural Things Also of the first Tincture, Root, and Spirit of Metals and Minerals, how the same are Conceived, Generated, Brought forth, Changed, and Augmented.

Of Natural and Supernatural Things Also of the first Tincture, Root, and Spirit of Metals and Minerals, how the same are Conceived, Generated, Brought forth, Changed, and Augmented.

by Basilius Valentinus

About the author

Basilius Valentinus, often known in English as Basil Valentine, is the name attached to a group of influential alchemical writings from the early modern period. Tradition presented him as a Benedictine monk, and later readers linked him with the 15th century, but the historical person behind the name remains uncertain.

The books associated with Valentinus helped shape later European alchemy and early chemistry. He is especially remembered for writings on antimony, and for texts that mixed practical laboratory material with spiritual and symbolic language, which made them important to both experimenters and occult readers.

Because the identity of Basilius Valentinus is still debated, many modern reference works describe him cautiously rather than as a firmly documented individual. Even so, the name remains one of the best-known in alchemical literature, and the works attributed to it continued to be printed, translated, and discussed for centuries.