The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz: the alchemical tale of 1616
Seven days, a castle and a royal couple who die and rise again: the Chymical Wedding attributed to Johann Valentin Andreae and the Rosicrucian myth.
In 1616 a small German book appeared in Strasbourg under the title Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz, Anno 1459. It told in the first person the journey of an old hermit, Christian Rosenkreutz, invited to the mysterious wedding of a king and a queen. The text closely followed two anonymous manifestos that had stirred learned Europe by announcing the existence of a secret Rosicrucian brotherhood.
The manifestos and the author
The Fama Fraternitatis, printed in Kassel in 1614, and the Confessio Fraternitatis of 1615 told the life of the brotherhood's legendary founder and the discovery of his tomb. The Chymical Wedding took up the same protagonist, but in a completely different tone: not a manifesto, but an allegorical tale rich in alchemical images and fairy-tale episodes.
Today the work is attributed with good confidence to Johann Valentin Andreae, a Lutheran theologian from Württemberg born in 1586. In his autobiography Andreae recalled having written in his youth a work with this title and called it a ludibrium, that is, a jest or literary game. His role in writing the two manifestos, on the other hand, is still debated by historians.
Seven days towards the castle
The story unfolds over seven days. On the eve of Easter a female figure dressed in sky blue and strewn with golden stars brings Christian a sealed letter of invitation. After a dream in which he sees himself imprisoned in a dark tower, the old man sets out, chooses one of the four roads leading to the palace and arrives at sunset among guests of every kind.
The next day all the guests are weighed on golden scales. Many who had boasted of their wisdom prove too light and are driven out or punished; Christian, who had considered himself unworthy, passes the test. It is a recurring theme of the book: humility is worth more than the presumption of knowledge, and the true adept is the one who does not believe himself to be one. Andreae, critical of the greedy alchemists of his day, seems here to address a warning to charlatans.
Death and resurrection of the royal couple
At the centre of the story lies a startling scene. The sovereigns, after a theatrical performance, are beheaded, and their bodies carried by ship to an island, to the Tower of Olympus. There Christian and the other chosen ones labour for several days at a mysterious work that culminates in the birth of two small figures, later brought back to life as the king and queen.
The stages of the story closely follow the symbolic language of alchemy: death and putrefaction, distillation, rebirth in a nobler form. The wedding, the union of opposite principles, represents the completion of the Great Work. Andreae does not teach a procedure, but uses these images to speak of spiritual regeneration.
In the end Christian, for having unwittingly uncovered the goddess Venus asleep, is condemned to remain as porter at the castle gate, and the story breaks off abruptly with some pages declared missing. The Chymical Wedding enjoyed enormous success among alchemists and esotericists, and in the twentieth century it was commented on by authors such as Rudolf Steiner, who saw in it an initiatory path.