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Michael Maier (1568–1622) was a German physician and counsellor to Rudolf II Habsburg, a learned alchemist, epigramist and amateur composer. == Life and career == Maier was born in Rendsburg, Holstein, the son of a specialist in beadwork in embroidery named Peter Maier.〔 He studied philosophy and medicine at Rostock (1587–1591), Frankfurt (Oder) (M.A. 1592), and Padua (1595–1596).〔 Maier left Padua abruptly after getting involved in a fight, injuring the other party, and being arrested.〔 He went on to Basel, where he attained a doctorate in medicine in October 1596. His doctoral thesis, ''De epilepsia'' was dedicated to Matthias Carnarius.〔 Maier then returned to Holstein to practice medicine. Around 1599, he became interested in alchemy and attempted to create an alchemical concordance, synthesizing the works of different authors.〔 In 1608, he went to Prague, and on 19 September 1609, he formally entered the service of Rudolf II as his physician and imperial counsellor. Ten days later, Rudolf raised him to the hereditary nobility and gave him the title of imperial count palatine.〔 Around this time, Maier published an extremely limited print run of ''De Medicina Regia et vere Heroica, Coelidonia'' (1609), including in it his autobiography. The interest of the emperor in the occult was the reason of his high esteem for Maier. Nonetheless, in April 1611, Maier left Rudolf's court and went in search of a new patron. He corresponded with Moritz of Hessen-Kassel, and visited Hessen-Kassel's brother-in-law, Count Ernst III of Holstein-Schauenburg. He was also a guest of Christoph Reinhard, Doctor of Laws and town syndic of Mühlhausen, to whom he later dedicated his book ''Atalanta Fugiens''.〔 Between 1611 and 1616, Maier spent time in England at the court of James I. His first well-known book, ''Arcana arcanissima'', was published in London in 1613 or 1614, and he dedicated copies to a number of notables, including the Bishop of Ely and Sir Thomas Smith of the East India Company.〔 Maier returned to Germany in September 1616, settling in Frankfurt, Germany.〔 His ''Atalanta Fugiens'', an alchemical emblem book, was published in 1617. Alongside images, poems, and discussion, it included fifty pieces of music in the form of fugues, the form itself being a pun on Atalanta "fleeing". In 1619, Maier became the physician of Landgrave Moritz of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). In 1620, he moved to Magdeburg to practice medicine, where he died at the age of 54, leaving a noteworthy quantity of unpublished works. A devout Lutheran all his life, Michael Maier had a strong influence on Sir Isaac Newton. He was also involved in the Rosicrucian movement that appeared around this time, which afforded part of the matter of his ''Themis aurea''.〔Hereward Tilton, ''The Quest for the Phoenix: Spiritual Alchemy and Rosicrucianism in the Work of Count Michael Maier (1569–1622'' (de Gruyter) 2003:30ff "Spiritual alchemy, Rosicrucianism and the work of Count Michael Maier".〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Michael Maier」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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