Melchior Cibinensis

Melchior Cibinensis was a Hungarian^[1] alchemical writer active in the first part of the 16th century. He is known for the Processus sub forma missae, an alchemical mass,^[2] now dated to around 1525, through which wanted to make from alchemy a religion;^[3] it was published in the Theatrum Chemicum of 1602, and formed part of a celebrated later collection Symbola Aureae Mensae from 1617 of Michael Maier.^[4]

Melchior Cibinensis as pictured in Maier's Symbola Aureae Mensae

The identity of Melchior is still a subject of debate. The candidate proposed by Carl Jung was Nicolas Melchior Szebeni.^[5] This Nicolas was chaplain and from 1490 court astrologer to Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary to whom the Processus was dedicated.^[6] It has more recently been proposed that Melchior was a pseudonym of Nicolaus Olahus.^[7] Another name given is Menyhért Miklós.^[8]

References

• Kiss, Farkas Gábor; Láng, Benedek; Popa-Gorjanu, Cosmin, The Alchemical Mass of Nicolaus Melchior Cibinensis: Text, Identity and Speculations, Ambix, Volume 53, Number 2, July 2006, pp. 143–159