Jacques Gohory

Background

Jacques Gohory was born on March 20, 1520, in Paris, France. He was the eldest of six children born to Pierre de Gohory, an advocate to the Parlement of Paris, and his wife Catherine de Rivière.

Education

Jacques studied at Sainte-Barbe College.

Career

Gohory family had strong links with the Parlement and Court of Paris, and Jacques, like his father and two of his younger brothers, became an advocate to the Paris Parlament. As a young man Gohory served on various ambassadorial missions, including periods in Flanders, England, and Rome. He retained his title of advocate to the Parlament until his death.

Gohory’s wide-ranging interests place him in the mainstream of French Renaissance culture which surrounded the courts of the later Valois monarchy. Indeed, as references in his works make clear, he was a close friend of members of the Plèiade and of Jean Antoine de Baïf’s circle. From 1572 Gohory maintained a private academy which he called the Lycium Philosophal San Marcellin, at his home in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel. This academy was a rival to Baïf’s royally chartered Academy of Poetry and Music founded two years earlier. Both academies were devoted to the encyclopedic cultivation of the arts in the Italian Neoplatonic tradition, but whereas Baïf’s emphasized poetry and music, Gohory’s laid stress on alchemy, botany, and the magical arts. The Lycium had a botanical garden and a chemical laboratory. Games and music were played in the alleys of the garden. The site of Gohory’s Lycium was close to that of the later Jardin du Roi, founded in 1626, but there was no formal connection between the two institutions.

In his writings Gohory refers to his discussions on Paracelsus’ teachings with such distinguished medical figures as Jean Fernel, Ambroise Paré, Jean Chapelain, Honoré Chastellan, and Leonardo Botal. His Lycium became a center for the preparation of chemical medicines. His Compendium of the philosophy and medicine of Paracelsus contains a brief life of Paracelsus, a summary of his principal doctrines, a catalogue of his works, and a commentary on his De vita longa. Gohory was critical of contemporary commentators on Paracelsus, particularly Gerard Dorn, who published an immediate rebuttal in 1568. He linked Paracelsus with the medieval magical and alchemical tradition through Artephius, Roger Bacon, Peter of Abano, Albert the Great, Arnald of Villanova, Raymon Lull, and John of Rupescissa. Although he recognized Paracelsus’ debt to the later Neoplatonic magical tradition, in particular by pointing to the relationship of Paracelsus’ De vita longa to Marsiglio Ficino’s De triplici vita, he was critical of both Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola for their religious scruples which, he alleged, prevented them from becoming truly great magi.

Gohory’s short monograph on tobacco, L’instruction sur I’herbe petum, is one of the earliest on the subject and contains recipes for chemical preparations derived from the plant. It is also notable for its information about the author and his Lycium.

Gohory’s numerous literary works include translations of Machiavelli’s The Prince and of an anonymous account of the conquest of Peru.

Achievements

• Jacques Gohory was a prominent lawyer and writer. He is best remembered as an early disseminator of Paracelsian ideas in France and the first translator of Machiavelli’s works in French.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Jacobi Gohorii: de Usu Et Mysteriis Notarum Liber 1550
  • Liure de la fontaine perilleuse, auec la charte d'amours, autrement intitule 1572

Connections

Father:

Pierre de Gohory

Mother:

Catherine de Rivière

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography