Carlos Gilly: Adam Haslmayr

Adam Haslmayr (1560–1631?) is very closely linked to the early history of the Rosicrucian movement. He was the first to develop a position in favor of the Rosicrucians in his ›Antwort an die lobwürdige Brüderschafft der Theosophen vom RosenCreutz‹ (Answer to the Praiseworthy Brother of the Theosophs of the RoseCross). This answer was published in 1612, two years before the publication of the ›Fama Fraternitatis‹, and because of it he was sent to the galleys for four and a half years. It was the rediscovery of the one extant copy of the book which triggered the decision to publish this incunabulum of Rosicrucian literature. This resulted in the present monograph, which contains facsimile reprints of the ›Answer‹ as well as of the catalogue of Haslmayr’s writings printed by J. Morsius in 1626 under the title ›Nuncius Olympicus‹. Based on mainly unknown handwritten documents from numerous libraries, the monograph describes the life and work of Adam Haslmayr from Tyrol, an unusual musician, school teacher, Paracelsist and theosophist. We are given a picture of the efforts made by Haslmayr and his two closest friends, Carl Widemann, a Paracelsist from Augsburg and a collector of manuscripts, as well as Prince August of Anhalt, a patron of literature written by Paracelsus and Weigel, to reveal the secret surrounding the Rosicrucian Manifestos which originated at that time.