Johann Valentin Andreae: Gesammelte Schriften / Band 3: Rosenkreuzerschriften

In the 17th century, these four anonymous works triggered a flood of missives to the – nonexistent – »Brotherhood of the Rosicrucians«, thus having a formative influence on the typical image of a secret society during the ensuing period. This applies in particular to the ›Fama‹ and the ›Confessio‹; which describe the life of the founder, Christian Rosenkreuz, and call for theological, scholarly and also political reforms. The ›Chymical Wedding‹ is one of Andreae’s long early works, which incorporates an allegory of the alchemical Ergon into a visionary frame story. The ›Reformation‹ is the German translation of an Italian satire by Trajano Boccalini. In the introduction, Roland Edighoffer, who consulted all the available editions and transcripts for this edition and gives a critical analysis of the variants, discusses the difficult question of Andreae’s part in the Rosicrucian phenomenon.