A. Chymische Hochzeit (The Tessera of Antilia by Donald R. Dickson)

A. Chymische Hochzeit 

CHAPTER THREE 

ANDREAE AND THE FABLE OF THE ROSICRUCIAN BROTHERHOOD 

A. Chymische Hochzeit 

Too often critics treat the Chymische Hochzeit: Christiani Rosenkreutz Anno 1459 as if it were written in response to the Fama and Confessio, when we know that Andreae composed it before, circa 1605, during the interval between his undergraduate and theological studies.11 Furthermore nothing about the published version of 1616-which in fact ends in mid-sentence with an indication that two quarto leaves are missing-suggests that the manuscript had been revised at all.12 We ought, therefore, to place the tale once again in its originary textual moment and consider it in relationship to the Besold-Hess circles. Given the alchemical interests of his parents and his wide reading, it is likely that Andreae was familiar with the idea of the chemical wedding long before he met Besold or Hess. The major sources would have also been readily available in Besold's library: Paracelsus, Agrippa, Khunrath, Figulus, all available in the recently published Theatrum Chemicum (1602). The title character Christian Rosencreutz (spelled with a k only in the title) was most likely Andreae's own creation since the name, a symbol of the central idea of his Christian philosophy, does not appear anywhere before 1605. The rose-cross came from his family's coat of arms, which derived from Luther's. Andreae's originality was in uniting the age-old symbols of the rose, the cross, and the wedding as a symbol of the union of the Lutheran reformation and Christian hermeticism. Closer examination of the Chymische Hochzeit will also show that it contains in brief one of the key ideas that motivated Andreae and the Hess-Besold circles-the belief that a spiritual elite could be formed to serve in times of need. 

Ezechiel Foxcroft tided his translation appropriately TL· Hermetick Romance (London, published in 1690), for Andreae's work was very much in the mode of the literary romance with all its attendant marvels. The controlling narrative is a pilgrimage to a royal wedding, which is also an allegory for alchemical and spiritual regeneration. The central episode of the chemical marriage is the creation of a homunculus, a feat commonly attributed to Paracelsus, which he described in his De homunculis. The rich texture of Andreae's work can only be sketched here.13 

After evening prayers on Maundy Thursday, the narrator, Christian Rosencreutz, is greeted by a lady, identified in a marginal note as Praeconissa, the conveyor of the proclamation of the Gospel, who announces a royal wedding. Her appearance confirms a vision he had had seven years before. That night he dreams he is cast into a dungeon filled with prisoners who can only escape by catching a rope thrown down seven times; on the seventh cast, because he is fortunately standing on the stone of the word (Psalm 61:2), he at last is able to extricate himself. When he awakes, recognizing the pre­monitory quality of the dream, he dresses in a white linen coat, girds himself with a red ribbon cross-ways, sticks four roses in his hat, and sets out. The narrative of the first three days concerns his pilgrimage and trials; the last four days describe the royal death, resurrection, and "wedding" that he witnesses.14 

His experiences on the second and third days recapitulate the action of his dream. From a tablet found on a cedar tree, he learns that he must decide which path to take; when a raven attacks a dove and he rushes to protect it, the decision is unwittingly made. He approaches a royal portal, presents his invitation and calls himself a "Brother of the Red-Rosie Cross."15 Once admitted to the castle, he meets many other invited guests who vaunt their abilities, accomplishments, and worthiness. Eventually, a maiden in snow white robes proclaims that each will be "weighed" the following morning. Only a few choose to spend the night in penance with Rosencreutz. On the third morning, only eight can meet the challenge of the golden scales, which are matched with seven massive weights, one for each of the virtues. The heralds specially honor Rosencreutz, who is allowed to grant membership to one not quite qualified; all are given a golden fleece adorned with a flying lion and invited to the wedding. They pass into the garden to witness the punishments of those who failed. Afterwards a unicorn appears; a lion breaks a sword in two and throws the pieces in a fountain; a dove brings an olive branch; and the guests wash their hands and heads in the fountain. Rosencreutz is allowed to visit the royal sepulcher, where the glorious phoenix stands, and the royal library. At a banquet that evening each of the guests proposes a riddle, all of which have an alchemical interpretation; the Lady also gives a mathematical cipher for her name, solved by Rosencreutz (and later by Leibniz): she is Alchima.16 Finally the Queen, attended by four virgins, comes in and prays.

The tableau by the fountain that greets the chosen ones on the fourth day has been significantly altered, for instead of a sword the Lion bears a tablet that translated reads: "Hermes the Prince. After so many losses sustained by mankind, by the counsel of God: with the help of art, a healthful medicine is made, here I flow. Let him who is able drink from me: let him wash, who wishes: let him disturb me who dares: Drink, Brothers, and Live."17 Here the brotherhood bathes and drinks before viewing a spectacle that foreshadows all that will be viewed in the remaining four days: a princess, captured by a Moor, is rescued and betrothed to the king's son, but begins to act wantonly and consents to be the Moor's concubine; the young King battles for his betrothed despite her apparent unfaithfulness and appears to die at the hands of the Moors; after he is revived, they are wed. All proclaim, VIVAT SPONSUS, VIVAT SPONSA. After the spectacle, they are feted and another, far more complex, series of mysteries begins that reenacts this same drama of death, rebirth, and marriage. The events also correspond to the alchemical death, rebirth, and marriage in the great work.18 After six royal persons are beheaded by a Moor, the Virgin (Alchimia) tells them, 

"The Life of these standeth now in your hands, and in case you follow me, Ms Death shall make many alive"19 

A fleet of royal ships conveys the coffins across a lake to a laboratory where a solution is made from the corpses; in a golden globe a snow white egg is produced that hatches into a blue bird that is beheaded and cremated. From these ashes a homunculus and homunucula are fashioned, which are brought to life as the new king and queen, who then sail home for their wedding feast. The brotherhood is clothed in yellow habits with golden fleeces and declared Knights of the Golden Stone; they also bear a white ensign with a red cross just as Rosencreutz was arrayed when he ventured forth. At the banquet the articles or leges of this brotherhood are given:

I. You my Lords the Knights shall swear, that you shall at no time ascribe your order either unto any Devil or Spirit, but only to God your Creator, and his hand-maid Nature. 

II. That you will Abominate all Whoredom, Incontinency and Uncleanness, and not defile your order with such Vices. 

III. That you through your Talents will be ready to assist all that are worthy, and have need of them. 

IV That you desire not to employ this honor to worldly Pride and high Authority.

V. That you shall not be willing to live longer than God will have you.20 

Having been invested, the pilgrim at last reveals his true name, Christian Rosencreutz, as he inscribes it in the book of life. Late in his life Andreae wrote slightingly about this youthful work, even amazed that it had drawn such attention or was so popular (three editions were issued within twelve months). He wrote, "The Nuptiae Chymicae survives in contrast [to his writings that did not], with its fecund brood of monstrosities: a ludibnum that you may wonder was valued by some and explicated with such subde ingenuity, and certainly this shows the inanity of the curious."21 The story of the "invisible" appearance of the brotherhood in Paris in 1623 as well known and can serve as an example of the inanitatem to which Andreae referred, as can the hundreds of responses and commentaries to the Rosicrucian manifestos, which are mostly of the subtly ingenious kind that Andreae derided.

A full-scale analysis of the Chymische Hochzeit lies beyond the scope of this study, but a few key points need to be set forth. First, in the passage quoted above, Andreae described the work as a ludibnum. As a "jest" or "mockery" it satirizes deceitful alchemists and other fools-i.e., those who seek entry to the wedding but are found unworthy - while extolling the spiritual renewal possible through esoteric alchemy. One of his main purposes, as several critics have noted, is to advance a Christian purpose.22 Secondly, Andreae's romance is a youthful work filled with wit and humor. Especially noteworthy is the comic character of Alchimia, who tries to seduce Christian and whose actions lend a light, amusing character to the whole. The narrative is studded with enigmas and riddles that demonstrate the young author's wit and abilities. One tour de force involves the Virgins' "premeditated device" to cozen the brotherhood into thinking they are being given bedmates for the evening. Andreae's mathematical prowess is displayed in the construction of a circular arrangement in which Virgins end up paired with Virgins, despite the direction in which the counting proceeds.23 Finally, and most importantly for this study, the Chymische Hochzeit describes the kind of elite brotherhood to which Andreae and his associates in Tübingen aspired. Clothed in special habits and bearing a white ensign with a red cross, purified by symbolic trials, the Knights of the Golden Stone pledged obedience to God and loyalty to their ideals, vowing to assist all that were worthy of their talents. The similarities with the brotherhoods described in the Fama and Confessio are striking. The fable of Christian Rosencreutz, thus, is a composite of Chaucerian ernest and game, the risible and the grotesque, whose purpose was to ridicule the deceitful while proclaiming the spiritual renewal possible through a Christian hermeticism (though no specifics are offered about this mystical path).24 Its author was just nineteen, and while his youth was evident in the loose narrative and the fanciful details, so too were the Utopian aspirations that would characterize his life's work.