Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

Name: Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Author: Heinrich Khunrath

The 1599 German text with a new English translation, introduction, glossary, and notes.

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Early New High German

p. 6

werden; Als wird derselbige / je nicht vnbillich / von den Weisen auch erkennet vnd genennet DONVM DEI triunius Catholici triunum Catholicon; quod datur homini Catholico triuni; ex Mundi maioris FILIO triuno, Hermaphrodito, Catholico; in Regimine triuno; ad Vsum Finemq; Catholicè triunum; Eine sonderliche grosse / des dreyeinigen allgemeinen GOTTes / dreyeinige VNIVERSAL GABE, So Er schencket / dem dreyeinigen Catholischen Menschen; Aus dem dreyeinigen Hermaphroditischen allgemeinē SOHN der grossen Welt; In Dreyeinigem Regiment; zu Allgemeinen nützlichen dreyeinigen BRAuch vnd ENDE; Wie in circumferentia der dritten Figur / vnd an andern örten mehr / meines AMPHITHEATRI SAPIEN-

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum: Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

p. 6

be — so is that same thing, not without justice, also recognized and named by the Wise DONVM DEI triunius Catholici triunum Catholicon; quod datur homini Catholico triuni; ex Mundi maioris FILIO triuno, Hermaphrodito, Catholico; in Regimine triuno; ad Vsum Finemque; Catholicè triunum;

a singular and great, triune VNIVERSAL GIFT of the triune universal GOD, which He bestows upon the triune catholic Man; out of the triune Hermaphroditic universal SON of the great World; under a Triune Regimen; unto a universally profitable, triune USE and END; as has also been reported in the circumference of the third Figure, and in other places besides, of my AMPHITHEATRVM SAPIEN-

5.‘The triune Catholicon of the triune Catholic GOD’S GIFT; which is given to the triune catholic man; out of the triune, Hermaphroditic, catholic SON of the greater World; under a triune Regimen; unto a catholicly triune Use and End.’ triunius is Khunrath’s own coinage, and triunius Catholici is genitive with DEI — the gift of the triune catholic GOD, as his own German restatement confirms: des dreyeinigen allgemeinen GOTTes … GABE. Catholicon is left standing: it is at once the universal thing and, in the medical register he is about to invoke, the universal remedy. The German that follows is not a translation of the Latin but a second statement of it, and the two are set side by side here as he set them.

6.Marginal glosses: (i) ‘The Catholic man is he who, in acquiring the Stone of the Philosophers, makes use of the Catholicism of Nature. Particularism is a solecism.’ (ii) ‘To the Nature-conforming catholic Man.’ The pun is exact and is meant: Particularismus is both the pursuit of particularia — partial, metal-specific work — and a fault of grammar.

7.Hermaphroditic is retained, not interpreted. In Khunrath’s usage it marks the conjunction of complementary principles in one subject, and he will not let the reader settle whether the reference is cosmological, chymical, or Christological — the SON of the greater World is all three at once.

8.The Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, Hamburg 1595. The ‘third Figure’ is one of the engraved circular plates, whose circumference carries an inscription — Khunrath is citing a picture, not a passage.

About This Reading Edition

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum argues that alchemy has one universal subject, that this subject cannot be extracted from the metals, and that nothing in the work can begin without recognizing it. This complete reader begins with the supplied seven-part introduction and orientation, then presents every printed page of the 1599 German treatise opposite its new English translation.

Historical Text and Translation

The German reading text is a fresh diplomatic transcription from 600 dpi images of the Magdeburg copy printed by Johann Bötcher in 1599. It preserves Khunrath’s capitalization, word division, authorial marginal keys, glosses, errata, and three unnumbered closing pages: the errata leaf, owl emblem, and colophon.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared the new English translation, introduction, notes, glossary, collation, and editorial apparatus. The translation follows Khunrath directly, retaining his technical vocabulary, changes of register, repetitions, rhetorical questions, and distinctions between German, Latin, and coined terms.

Rights

Heinrich Khunrath’s 1599 German work is in the public domain. The 2026 English translation, introduction, notes, glossary, editorial arrangement, and related matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos.

supplied-bilingual-editionSupplied complete German–English scholarly edition