Quotes:Trithemius

H. P. Blavatsky

Trithemius. An abbot of the Spanheim Benedictines, a very learned Kabbalist and adept in the Secret Sciences, the friend and instructor of Cornelius Agrippa.

Source: H. P. Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary, art. Trithemius

Zirkoff, Boris

Trithemius, or Johannes Tritheim. German occultist and mystic, the son of a vine-grower named Heidenberg, and whose Latinized name is derived from Trittheim, a village in the electorate of Trier (Treves), where he was born Feb. 1, 1462. His mother who married a second time had no love for him, and the young lad was ill-fed, ill-clothed, and overworked. After toiling all day in the 667 vineyards, he devoted the night hours to the acquisition of knowledge, reading whatever books he could beg or borrow. Extorting his small share of the patrimony bequeathed by his father, he wandered away to Trier, entered the famous University there and assumed the name of Trithemius. His progress in studies was phenomenal. At the age of twenty, he had acquired the reputation of a scholar, a fact which meant at the time much more than it does today. In the winter of 1482 he left Trier on a solitary journey to Trittheim, desirous of seeing once more his mother, in spite of the ill treatment he had received from her. Caught in a blizzard near Kreuznach, he found the roads impassable. He found asylum in the Benedictine monastery of Spannheim, and liked it so much that he voluntarily took the monastic vows and remained there. Two years later, he was elected Abbot. He inspired the monks with his own love of learning, and worked for twenty-one years to improve and raise the standard of the monastery. Eventually, the monks revolted against his discipline and elected another Abbot. After some wanderings, Trithemius was elected Abbot of the Schottenkloster St. Jakob at Wurzburg, where he died December 13, 1516.

Trithemius was a prolific writer, but his works, written in Latin, have not been translated. They deal on such subjects as Geomancy, Sorcery, Alchemy, the Guardian Angels, etc. The best known are: Annales de origine Francorum (incomplete); Catalogus illustriunt Viroum Germaniae (1491); De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis (1494); Steganographia (Frankfurt, 1606; Darmstadt, 1621, 1635).

He is said to have gratified the Emperor Maximilian with a vision of his deceased wife, Mary of Burgundy, and tradition asserts that he had the ability of producing gold. He was the friend and instructor of Cornelius Agrippa.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 4, pp. 666-667