Text.Alchemica.1600-01.A2r/Translation
To the Most Serene and High-Born Princes and Lords,
Lord Joachim Friedrich, Duke in Silesia of Liegnitz and Brieg, etc., Canon Provost of the Primatial and Archiepiscopal See of Magdeburg, etc.,
and to His Princely Grace’s Consort, the Most Serene and High-Born Princess and Lady, Lady Annämaria, born Princess of Anhalt, Duchess in Silesia of Liegnitz and Brieg, etc.,
as well as to Lord August, Prince of Anhalt, Count of Ascania, Lord of Zerbst and Bernburg, etc.,
my gracious and benevolent sovereigns and patrons.
Most Serene, High-Born Princes and Lords, and likewise gracious Princess: Since Your Princely Graces—all three—showed such extraordinary and wholly undeserved generosity and kindness toward me and my family in organizing my wedding, and we can by no means repay such a favor, I have resolved at least to express my humble gratitude. Therefore, I present and dedicate this little “Bergbüchlein” (Mining Booklet) to all three of Your Princely Graces together. Furthermore, I deem it fitting because Your Princely Graces have recently assumed possession of the noble gold mine known as “Reichstein” and the precious silver mine “Silberwergk,” and, as is proper for high and princely persons, bear enthusiasm and affection for mining—a pursuit greatly worthy of praise, seeing that ordinary folk, owing to poverty, can hardly advance or maintain such endeavors as fully as necessity demands in all lands.
Since God in His bounty has also richly blessed Your Princely Graces, granting you the two principalities of Liegnitz and Brieg, along with the two splendid mining towns already mentioned, He has likewise instilled in you a special inclination to engage in mining with great eagerness—surely an inherited virtue of your illustrious ancestors. In particular, this heritage comes from Saint Hedwig, that “Silesian Sibyl,” for (as nearly every land has had its own Sibyls) she in her time brought extraordinary secrets to light for the benefit of this land and the heirs of her princely line. Among other feats, she opened the gold mines of Goldberg and Liegnitz. The latter, as the annals attest, yielded at least 120 marks of gold surplus per week over eight years—amounting to a total of 49,920 marks of gold—and often as many as 160 marks per week. Yet, during the Tatar wars some four hundred and fifty years ago, the Hussite wars, and other domestic conflicts—lamentable events indeed—the entire operation ceased. Since then, no one knows the locations of the ore-bearing rocks, nor the methods of extraction, even though that same saintly Duchess would doubtless have wished, like a loving mother of her subjects and land, to preserve all such knowledge, along with every necessity, forever: not in writing or words, but in deeds and acts that remain imperishable to those who can understand them. For this, from the beginning of the world, has been the practice of the wise and the Sibyls in teaching the most crucial secrets.
How fervently we wish—and let us pray to God for it—that these most precious mines were still in operation, for they would bring no small benefit to Your Princely Graces and the entire land. Or at least, we hope they might one day be rediscovered, together with “Reichstein” and “Silberberg,” and be brought to a more abundant and prosperous state. Toward that end, this present “Bergbüchlein,” if rightly understood, may prove no small assistance. Indeed, both the book and its author deserve the highest esteem—not only on account of his vast experience in mining and in the lofty art of alchemy, but also because he has studied and draws upon the works of the most enlightened, God-gifted man, Theophrastus Paracelsus, which are as yet little known or recognized in scholarly circles. He fully concurs with Paracelsus’s views and no doubt derived all his insights from them, for even the handwriting of the original manuscript closely resembles that of Paracelsus himself, as though the latter had written it.
Therefore, I humbly beseech the three of Your Princely Graces to accept this booklet from me as a modest token of gratitude. I commend all of you, together with your entire Princely House, to God’s gracious protection, and I place myself under your continued favor and support. Given at Brieg in Silesia, August 14, in the Year of Christian Salvation 1600.
Your Princely Graces’ most humble servant,
Elias Montanus.
