Bavor Rodovský mladší of Hustířany (around 1526 in Hustířany – 1591/92 or 1600 in

Budyně nad Ohří Budyně nad Ohří (german: Budin an der Eger) is a town in Litoměřice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,100 inhabitants. It lies on the Ohře river. The town centre is well preserved and is protected ...

) was a Czech nobleman and alchemist. Bavor Rodovský mladší was born into the Rodovský of Hustířany noble family to Jan Rodovský of Hustiřany and his wife Anna Šelndorfská of Hornšperk. He was named in honor of his grandfather, the elder Bavor Rodovský. The family was too poor to send Rodovský mladší to university, and he had to study on his own. Among other things, he taught himself German, Latin, mathematics,

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

, philosophy, and in particular,

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

. In 1566, Rodovský mladší married Voršila of Šelndorf. With her dowry he was able to purchase an estate in Radostov, but was later forced to sell it to settle his debts. The family then moved to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. There Rodovský mladší again fell into debt, at which point his wife left him, taking their only son, Jan. From 1573 Rodovský mladší worked with alchemists like

William of Rosenberg William of Rosenberg ( cz, Vilém z Rožmberka; 10 March 1535 – 31 August 1592), was a Bohemian nobleman. He served as High Treasurer and High Burgrave of Bohemia. Life William of Rosenberg was a member of the influential noble House of ...

, and

Zbyněk Zajíc of Hazmburk Zbyněk Zajíc of Hazmburk or of Hasenburg ( cs, Zbyněk Zajíc z Hazmburka; c. 1376 – 28 September 1411) was a Czech nobleman, and an important representative of the Roman Catholic Church in the Crown of Bohemia. He was the 5th Archbishop of P ...

, and also found work in the alchemical laboratories of Emperor

Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–160 ...

. One of his alchemical manuscripts survives as part of the Vossiani Chymici collection at the

Leiden University Library Leiden University Libraries is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of Culture of Europe, European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave directi ...

.Petrus Boeren, ''Codices Vossiani Chymici'' (Leiden: Universitaire Pers, 1975), 7-13.

Works

*''Smaragdová deska'' (1591), a Czech translation of the

Tabula Smaragdina The ''Emerald Tablet'', also known as the ''Smaragdine Tablet'' or the ''Tabula Smaragdina'' (Latin, from the Arabic: , ''Lawḥ al-zumurrudh''), is a compact and cryptic Hermetic text. It was highly regarded by Islamic and European alchemists a ...

attributed to

Hermes Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus (from grc, Wiktionary:Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος, "Hermes the Thrice-Greatest"; Classical Latin: la, label=none, Mercurius ter Maximus) is a legendary Hellenistic figure that originated as a Syn ...

*''Alchimie česká'' *''Kniha o dokonalém umění chymickém'' *''Vo Hermesově filosofii, tj. vo požehnaném kameni filosofické'' *''Řeči filosofické o kameni filosofickém'' *''Secreta Aristotelis aneb Kniha lidských cností a mnohých naučení, kterak se králové, knížata i páni v svém panování mají opatrovati'' *''Kuchařství, to jest knížka o rozličných krmích, kterak se užitečně s chutí strojiti mají'' (1591); one of the oldest Czech

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

References

Bibliography

*Karpenko, Vladimír. "Bohemian Nobility and Alchemy in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century: Wilhelm of Rosenberg and Two Alchemists." ''Cauda Pavonis'' 15, no. 2 (1996): 14–18. *Krumlowský, Felix. ''Jména z českých dějin, která byste měli znát II.'' Pavel Dobrovský – Beta, 2008. * Nummedal, Tara. Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007, esp. 22–23. *Zachar, Otakar. "Z dějin alchymie v Čechách. I. Bavor mladši Rodovský z Hustiřan, alchymista český." ''Časopis Musea Kralovstí Českého'' 21–22 (1899–1900): 157–63. 1526 births 1600 deaths Habsburg Bohemian nobility Czech alchemists 16th-century alchemists People from Náchod District {{CzechRepublic-bio-stub