8th - 13th Century                     

See also Early Alchemy for discussion of prior alchemical period (2nd to 7th Century).

MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS contained many practical recipes and showed the state of chemical knowledge in Europe from the 8th to the 13th century.

• "COMPOSITIONES AD TINGENDA" (ca. 8th century)
• "MAPPAE CLAVICULA" (12th century); contains the first positive reference to the distillation of alcohol and the refining of sugar.
• "BOOK OF FIRES" by MARCUS GRAECUS (11th or 12th Century)
• "LIBER SACERDOTUM" by JOANNES (10th-11th Century)
• "BOOK OF STONES" Falsely attributed to ARISTOTLE. Oldest Arabian work on mineralogy.
• "DIVERSARUM ARTIUM SCHEDULA" by THEOPHILUS THE MONK (12th century). Excellent descriptions of many processes, including cementation methods in metallurgy. Several metallurgical procedures are first mentioned here.
• "DE ANIMA IN ARTE ALCHEMIAE" is falsely attributed to AVICENNA (980-1037). It was much quoted by later authors.
  
  
  
  THE 13TH CENTURY IS MARKED BY THE APPEARANCE OF THE "ENCYCLOPEDISTS".

  ..."no one of them contributed anything of importance either of facts or theories to the knowledge of their predecessors"... but "by their extensive summarizing of the authorities existing in their time and by the weight of their authority they did much to make accessible the accumulation of the knowledge of the past and to revivify and popularize the study of science." ---Stillman

  The "ENCYCLOPEDISTS" showed reasonable skepticism on the question of transmutation (concerning which much fraud was then practiced. The "ENCYCLOPEDISTS" included:
  
  

  • BARTOLOMEUS ANGLICUS: "LIBER DE PROPRIETATIBUS RERUM" (ca. 1240)
  • VINCENT DE BEAUVAIS: "SPECULUM NATURALE" (ca. 1250)
  • ALBERTUS MAGNUS (1193-1280): "DE REBUS METALLICIS ET MINERALIBUS"; marked by a wide knowledge of chemical facts and clarity of expression. He described arsenic.
  • ROGER BACON (1214-1292): "OPUS MAJUS," "OPUS MINUS," "OPUS TERTIUM." Especially stressed the value of experiment in the development of knowledge.

  
  
  Go to 14th Century and beyond.