An Alchemist in Chains : The Case Against the Mystic Johann Konrad Dippel in Altona

Abstract

In 1717–1719, a court case against the pietist and alchemist Johann Konrad Dippel in Altona led to the burning of his writings and his banishment to Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. This book investigates the details of the strange process against Dippel as the center of a portrayal of his adventurous life involving royal courts, chemists, theologians, persecutions, and prisons in Germany, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden.