Originally published on July 10, 2019 (Episode 119)
Introduction
In 1573, Anna Zieglerin gave her ducal patron a recipe for “the lion’s blood”—a miraculous substance she claimed could grow plants, create gemstones, produce the philosopher’s stone, and even prepare the world for the Last Days. She proposed that, paired with her own body, it might even generate life to repopulate the earth at the end of time.
Tara Nummedal tells this astonishing story in Anna Zieglerin and the Lion’s Blood: Alchemy and End Times in Reformation Germany (Penn, 2019). It is biography at the edge of credibility, blending histories of science, gender, apocalyptic imagination, and brutal German princely politics.
About the Guest
Tara Nummedal is Professor of History at Brown University. She is also author of Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire (Chicago, 2007) and co-creator (with Donna Bilak) of Furnace and Fugue, a digital edition of Michael Maier’s Atalanta fugiens (1618) that combines music, image, and scholarly commentary.
For Further Investigation
Tara Nummedal, Anna Zieglerin and the Lion’s Blood: Alchemy and End Times in Reformation Germany (Penn, 2019)
—, Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire (Chicago, 2007)
Furnace and Fugue: A Digital Edition of Michael Maier’s Atalanta fugiens (1618) with Scholarly Commentary, Edited by Tara Nummedal and Donna Bilak
Listen & Discuss
How did alchemy mix science, religion, and politics in Reformation Europe?
Why did Anna Zieglerin believe her body could be part of an apocalyptic miracle?
What does her story reveal about gender and power in early modern Germany?
Share this one with the friend who thinks history has no stranger-than-fiction tales.
