Johannes Valentinus Andreae

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Johannes Valentinus Andreae (1586-1654), a.k.a. Johannes Valentinus Andreä or Johann Valentin Andreae, was a German theologian and author of Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459 (1616, Strasbourg, the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz) one of the three founding works of the Rosicrucians.

1 Life
2 Bibliography
3 References
4 External link

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Life

Andreae was the son of Johannes Andreae (1554-1601), the superintendent of Herrenberg and later the abbot of Königsbrunn. His mother Maria Moser went to Tübingen as a widow and was court apothecary 1607–1617. The young Andreae studied theology and natural sciences 1604–1606. He was refused the final examination and church service, probably for attaching a pasquill (offensive, libelous note) to the chancellor Enzlin's door, on the occasion of his marriage. After that, he taught young nobles and hiked with his students through Switzerland, France, Austria and Italy.

In 1612 he resumed his theological studies in Tübingen. After the final examination in 1614, he became deacon in Vaihingen an der Enz, and in 1620 priest in Calw. Here he reformed the school and social institutions, and established institutions for charity and other aids. To this end, he founded the Christliche Gottliebende Gesellschaft ("Christian God-loving Society"). He obtained funds and brought effective help for the reconstruction of the town, which was destroyed in the battle of Nördlingen (1634) by the imperial troops and visited by pestilence. In 1639, he became preacher at the court and councilor (Konsistorialrat) in Stuttgart, where he aimed at a fundamental church reform. Among other things, he operated for the conservation and furthering of the Tübinger Stift [1]. In 1646, he was made a member of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft ("Fruitbearing Society"), where he got the company-nickname der Mürbe ("the soft"). In 1650, he took over the direction of the monasterial school Bebenhausen; in 1654, he became abbot of the evangelical monasterial school of Adelberg.

His role in the origin of the Rosicrucian legend is controversial. In his autobiography he indicated the Chymische Hochzeit ("Chemical Wedding") as one of his works. However, in his later works, alchemy is the object of ridicule and is placed with music, art, theatre and astrology in the category of less serious sciences.

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Bibliography

Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz Anno 1459, published as anonymous (1616)
- "The chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz Anno 1459"
Reipublicae Christianopolitanae descriptio (Beschreibung des Staates Christenstadt) (1619)
- "Description of the Republic of Christianopolis"
Peregrini in patria errores (1618)

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References

Roland Edighoffer, "Hermeticism in Early Rosicrucianism," in Gnosis and Hermeticism: From Antiquity to Modern Times, edited by Roelof van den Broek and Wouter J. Hanegraaff, State University of New York Press, 1998.
Christopher McIntosh, The Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order, 3rd revised edition, Samuel Weiser, Rok Beach, Maine, 1997.
John Warwick Montgomery, Cross and Crucible: Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654). Phoenix of the Theologians, 2 Vols. Martinus Nijhoff, the Hague, 1974.
Frances A. Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972.

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