Product Description

A history of the role that the occult has played in the formation of modern science and medicine, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment has had a tremendous impact on our understanding of the western esoteric tradition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #383395 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780415267694
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Review
'Brilliant analysis of events, movements, relationships and consequences. Her book is compulsive reading, and forces the reader back not only to alternative accounts of early seventeenth-century movements, which seem superficial, but to Dr Yates's other books.' - Asa Briggs

'No one has done more than she to recreate, from unexpected material, the intellectual life of past ages. It is Dr Yates's great achievement to identify the ideas and, by delicate scholarship and profound study of symbolism, to provide them with a pedigree and a home. A brilliant and exciting book.' - Hugh Trevor-Roper, The Sunday Times

'Zestful, stylish, full of suggestive ways forward, Yates's bold reassessment of Rosicrucianism is provoking, exhilarating and indispensable.' - Diarmaid MacCulloch, BBC History Magazine

Brilliant analysis of events, movements, relationships and consequences. Her book is compulsive reading, and forces the reader back not only to alternative accounts of early seventeenth-century movements, which seem superficial, but to Dr Yatess other books. - Asa Briggs

No one has done more than she to recreate, from unexpected material, the intellectual life of past ages. It is Dr Yatess great achievement to identify the ideas and, by delicate scholarship and profound study of symbolism, to provide them with a pedigree and a home. A brilliant and exciting book. - Hugh Trevor-Roper, The Sunday Times

Zestful, stylish, full of suggestive ways forward, Yatess bold reassessment of Rosicrucianism is provoking, exhilarating and indispensable. - Diarmaid MacCulloch, BBC History Magazine

About the Author
Dame Frances Yates (1899-1981). English scholar who brought about the revival of interest in the historical role of the occult sciences, demonstrating their link with the rise of modern science.

Customer Reviews

Don't let the title throw you!
This is one of the books featured in the annotated bibliography that I am writing. It is not some occult handbook; rather, it is a concise history of this movement during the 17th century, written by an eminent Renaissance scholar.

If you really want to know what was happening in Great Britain and Europe during this period, what brought about the Rosicrucian Manifesto and Confessio - and why - this is the book to read. Dame Frances Yates' clarity in setting down this underground movement, how these men communicated and disseminated their thoughts and beliefs (which were considered heretical to the church and treasonous to the politics of their day)is an enlightening revelation.

It is to these men, who fought for the freedom from Church strictures to study mathematics, philosophy and science openly, that we should give our thanks today. These are the great minds who held a utopian vision: Johann Valentine Andreae, Giordano Bruno, Elias Ashmole, John Dee, Sir Phillip Sidney, Thomas Vaughan, Francis Bacon, Robert Fludd, Michael Maier, Tommaso Campanella, and others (the only person missing is Sendivogius). These are the alchemists who were responsible for the later advancement into rational science.

Shows hermeticism's role in the formation of science
Wonderful book. Highly recommended. The book is a history of a very overlooked portion of the role that the so called "occult" has played in the formation of modern science and medicine. It traces with wonderful skill, the foundations of the Royal Society. It shows Bacon was FIRMLY entrenched in the lore of alchemy and hermeticism. Those early scientists were indeed the last of the great alchemists. She goes on to show the link between the "invisible college" and the rise of objective thought that culminated with the Renaissance. In the process she charts the greater part of Pre-Renaissance history! If you have an interest in the esoteric foundations of science, then this is a worthy expenditure of your time.

Revolutionary Rosicrucians
This book began a revolution in encouraging scholars and laypersons to take the role of Esoteric movements as a legitimate element in the study of Western history. Though there have been recent disputes with some conclusions drawn by Dame Yates in this work, it still remains a pioneering document of historical research. The recent collection of essays by Christopher Bamford, "The Roscicrucian Enlightment Revisited" goes toward validation of much of this work. A seminal book in esoteric studies, highly recommended.