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Johann Grasshoff

Johann Grasshoff (or Grasshof, Grasse)^[1]^[2]^[3] (c.1560-1623) was a Pomeranian jurist, and alchemical writer. He is recorded also as a medical advisor to Ernest of Bavaria, a Syndic, and an Episcopal counselor.

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His writings include the Aperta Arca arcani artificiosissimi (1617)^[4] and a Cabala Chymica (1658)^[5]. The compilation of the 1625 Dyas chymica tripartita is also attributed to him;^[6] it includes The Golden Age Restored of Henricus Madathanus, The Book of Lambspring of Nicholas Barnaud, and the Book of Alze.

Notes

^ Known also as Johannes Grassaeus or Crassaeus, Chortolassaeus, Crotolassaeus, and other forms.
^ It is sometimes said that he wrote also as Johannes Walch (see note on Der kleine Bauer). However this page from the Mennonite Encyclopedia makes Walch an Anabaptist.
^ It is also said that he is the pseudonymous Herman Condeesyanus; but this is disputed: see the external link.
^ Translated extract: [1]. The Arca Arcani contains Der kleine Bauer attributed to Johannes Walch (Walchius, Valehius), which leads to the suggestion that Walch was Grasshoff; see this PDF of annotations to The Sceptical Chymist.
^ An earlier Cabala Chymica is that of Franciscus Kieser from 1606.
^ The Dyas consisted of six tracts: Dyas Chymica Tripartita, Das ist: Sechs Herrliche Teutsche Philosophische Tractätlein: Deren I. Vonan itzo noch am Leben: II. Von mittlern Alters: und III. Von ältern Philosophis beschrieben worden. It is initialled H.C.D. or Hermann[us] Condeesyanus, so the attribution depends on identification. The other candidate, proposed in recent times by Carlos Gilly, is Johannes Rhenanus.