gems, ancient lapidaries, Albertus Magnus, alchemy

Albert’s investigations into the properties and interactions of natural objects — including stars, stones, minerals, and herbs — along with his work in mathematics, astrology, and alchemy, earned him a reputation as a “magician,” a term which in medieval usage often simply denoted a learned practitioner of applied natural science rather than anything diabolical. This more respectful interpretation is evident in the words of his student Ulrich of Strasburg, OP, who, noting Albert’s frequent departures from established opinions, emphasized the authority with which he spoke: “My Master (the Lord Albert, sometime bishop of Ratisbon, a man so god-like, divinus, in all science that he could be called with propriety ‘the marvel and the miracle of our time,’ experienced too in the magical arts on which knowledge of this material greatly depends) thought differently from all the aforesaid.”