Johannes Trithemius
Encyclopedia
Johannes Trithemius born Johann Heidenberg, was a German
abbot, lexicographer, historian, cryptographer, polymath and occultist who had an influence on later occultism. The name by which he is more commonly known is derived from his native town of Trittenheim
on the Mosel
in Germany
.
abbey of Sponheim
near the Bad Kreuznach
. He decided to stay and was elected abbot
in 1483, at the age of twenty-one. He set out to transform the abbey from a neglected and undisciplined place into a centre of learning. In his time, the abbey library
increased from around fifty items to more than two thousand. However, his efforts did not meet with praise, and his reputation as a magician
did not further his acceptance. Increasing differences with the convent
led to his resignation
in 1506, when he decided to take up the offer of the Bishop of Würzburg, Lorenz von Bibra
(bishop from 1495 to 1519), to become the abbot of St. James's Abbey, Würzburg
, the Schottenkloster
in Würzburg. He remained there until the end of his life. Trithemius was buried at the Schottenkirche St. Jakob with a tombstone by the famous Tilman Riemenschneider
. In 1825 the tombstone was moved to the Neumünster church, next to the cathedral. In 1945 it was damaged in the firebombing and subsequently restored by the workshop of Theodor Spiegel.
Among his pupils were Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
(1486–1535) and Paracelsus
(1493–1541).
Trithemius' most famous work is Steganographia (written c.1499; published Frankfurt
, 1606, placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
in 1609) removed in 1900 This book is in three volumes, and appears to be about magic
- specifically, about using spirits to communicate over long distances. Since the publication of the decryption key
to the first two volumes in 1606, they have been known to be actually concerned with cryptography
and steganography
. Until recently, the third volume was widely still believed to be about magic, but the "magical" formulae have now been shown to be covertexts for yet more cryptography content. The work has lent its name to the modern field of steganography.
; Annales Hirsaugiensis (1514); and Polygraphiae (1518).
were encrypted using the Trithemius cipher
, a simple substitution that Trithemius describes in his book Polygraphiae. The Cipher Manuscripts was used to found the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
, an initiatory
secret society
that heavily influenced Victorian
and modern European occultism.
Compilations
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
abbot, lexicographer, historian, cryptographer, polymath and occultist who had an influence on later occultism. The name by which he is more commonly known is derived from his native town of Trittenheim
Trittenheim
Trittenheim on the Middle Moselle is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
on the Mosel
Mosel
Mosel may mean the following:* Moselle , a European river, named Mosel in German* Mosel , a German appellation, formerly known as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer** Mosel wine, wine produced in the region...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Life
He studied at the University of Heidelberg. Travelling from university to his home town in 1482, he was surprised by a snowstorm and took refuge in the BenedictineBenedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
abbey of Sponheim
Sponheim
Sponheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany.-History:Sponheim was the capital of the County of Sponheim. There was a Benedictine abbey here which was founded in 1101 by Stephan II, Count of Sponheim not far from the countly residence at...
near the Bad Kreuznach
Bad Kreuznach
Bad Kreuznach is the capital of the district of Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located on the Nahe river, a tributary of the Rhine...
. He decided to stay and was elected abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
in 1483, at the age of twenty-one. He set out to transform the abbey from a neglected and undisciplined place into a centre of learning. In his time, the abbey library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
increased from around fifty items to more than two thousand. However, his efforts did not meet with praise, and his reputation as a magician
Magic and religion
Magical thinking in various forms is a cultural universal and an important aspect of religion.In many cases it becomes difficult or impossible to draw any meaningful line between beliefs and practices that are magical versus those that are religious, but in general the term religion is reserved for...
did not further his acceptance. Increasing differences with the convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
led to his resignation
Resignation
A resignation is the formal act of giving up or quitting one's office or position. It can also refer to the act of admitting defeat in a game like chess, indicated by the resigning player declaring "I resign", turning his king on its side, extending his hand, or stopping the chess clock...
in 1506, when he decided to take up the offer of the Bishop of Würzburg, Lorenz von Bibra
Lorenz von Bibra
Lorenz von Bibra, Duke in Franconia was Prince-Bishop of the Bishopric of Würzburg from 1495 to 1519. His life paralleled Maximilian I , who served as Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 to 1519, to which Lorenz did serve as an advisor....
(bishop from 1495 to 1519), to become the abbot of St. James's Abbey, Würzburg
St. James's Abbey, Würzburg
St. James's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Würzburg. It was founded as a Scotch monastery by Embrico, Bishop of Würzburg, about 1134.-History:...
, the Schottenkloster
Hiberno-Scottish mission
The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a mission led by Irish and Scottish monks which spread Christianity and established monasteries in Great Britain and continental Europe during the Middle Ages...
in Würzburg. He remained there until the end of his life. Trithemius was buried at the Schottenkirche St. Jakob with a tombstone by the famous Tilman Riemenschneider
Tilman Riemenschneider
Tilman Riemenschneider was a German sculptor and woodcarver active in Würzburg from 1483. He was one of the most prolific and versatile sculptors of the transition period between late Gothic and Renaissance, a master in stone and limewood.- Biography :Tilman Riemenschneider was born between 1459...
. In 1825 the tombstone was moved to the Neumünster church, next to the cathedral. In 1945 it was damaged in the firebombing and subsequently restored by the workshop of Theodor Spiegel.
Among his pupils were Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist.-Life:Agrippa was born in Cologne in 1486...
(1486–1535) and Paracelsus
Paracelsus
Paracelsus was a German-Swiss Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist....
(1493–1541).
Steganographia
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, 1606, placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
Index Librorum Prohibitorum
The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church. A first version was promulgated by Pope Paul IV in 1559, and a revised and somewhat relaxed form was authorized at the Council of Trent...
in 1609) removed in 1900 This book is in three volumes, and appears to be about magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
- specifically, about using spirits to communicate over long distances. Since the publication of the decryption key
Key (cryptography)
In cryptography, a key is a piece of information that determines the functional output of a cryptographic algorithm or cipher. Without a key, the algorithm would produce no useful result. In encryption, a key specifies the particular transformation of plaintext into ciphertext, or vice versa...
to the first two volumes in 1606, they have been known to be actually concerned with cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
and steganography
Steganography
Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one, apart from the sender and intended recipient, suspects the existence of the message, a form of security through obscurity...
. Until recently, the third volume was widely still believed to be about magic, but the "magical" formulae have now been shown to be covertexts for yet more cryptography content. The work has lent its name to the modern field of steganography.
Other works
Other works include De Laude Scriptorum (In Praise of Scribes) (written 1492, printed 1494), De septum secundeis (The Seven Secondary Intelligences, 1508), a history of the world based on astrologyAstrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
; Annales Hirsaugiensis (1514); and Polygraphiae (1518).
- Annales Hirsaugiensis. The full title is Annales hirsaugiensis...complectens historiam Franciae et Germaniae, gesta imperatorum, regum, principum, episcoporum, abbatum, et illustrium virorum, LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "The Annals of Hirsau...including the history of France and Germany, the exploits of the emperors, kings, princes, bishops, abbots, and illustrious men". Hirsau was a monastery near WürttembergWürttembergWürttemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, whose abbot commissioned the work in 1495, but it took Trithemius until 1514 to finish the two volume, 1400 page work. It was first printed in 1690. Some consider this work to be one of the first humanistHumanism in GermanyRenaissance Humanism came much later to Germany and Northern Europe in general than to Italy, and when it did, it encountered some resistance from the scholastic theology which reigned at the universities.-Origins:...
historyHistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
books.
Influences
The Cipher ManuscriptsCipher Manuscripts
The Cipher Manuscripts are a collection of 60 folios containing the structural outline of a series of magical initiation rituals corresponding to the spiritual elements of Earth, Air, Water and Fire...
were encrypted using the Trithemius cipher
Trithemius cipher
The Trithemius cipher is a polyalphabetic cipher invented by the German author and monk Johannes Trithemius in the 15th century. The cipher was published in his book Polygraphia, which is credited with being the first published work on cryptology. It uses a letter square with the 26 letters of the...
, a simple substitution that Trithemius describes in his book Polygraphiae. The Cipher Manuscripts was used to found the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
, an initiatory
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...
secret society
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
that heavily influenced Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
and modern European occultism.
Works
- Annales Hirsaugienses, 1509–1514
- Antipalus maleficiorum, 1508;
- Catalogus illustrium virorum Germaniae, 1491–1495
- Chronicon Hirsaugiense, 1495–1503
- Chronicon Sponheimense, ca. 1495-1509 - Chronik des Klosters Sponheim, 1024-1509; Eigenverlag Carl Velten, Bad Kreuznach 1969 (German)
- Chronicon successionis ducum Bavariae et comitum Palatinorum, ca. 1500-1506
- Compendium sive breviarium primi voluminis chronicarum sive annalium de origine regum et gentis Francorum, ca. 1514
- De cura pastorali, 1496
- De duodecim excidiis oberservantiae regularis, 1496
- De institutione vitae sacerdotalis, 1486
- De laude scriptorum manualium, 1492 - Zum Lob der Schreiber; Freunde Mainfränkischer Kunst and Geschichte e. V., Würzburg 1973, (Latin/German)
- De laudibus sanctissimae matris Annae, 1494
- De origine gentis Francorum compendium, 1514 - An abridged history of the Franks / Johannes Trithemius; AQ-Verlag, Dudweiler 1987; ISBN 978-3-922441-52-6 (Latin/English)
- De origine, progressu et laudibus ordinis fratrum Carmelitarum, 1492
- De proprietate monachorum, before 1494
- De regimine claustralium, 1486
- De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, 1494
- De septem secundeis id est intelligentiis sive spiritibus orbes post deum moventibus, ca. 1508
- De triplici regione claustralium et spirituali exercitio monachorum, 1497
- De vanitate et miseria humanae vitae, before 1494
- De visitatione monachorum, about 1490
- De viris illustribus ordinis sancti Benedicti, 1492
- Exhortationes ad monachos, 1486
- In laudem et commendatione Ruperti quondam abbatis Tuitiensis, 1492
- Liber de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis 1494
- Liber octo quaestionum, 1515
- Liber penthicus seu lugubris de statu et ruina ordinis monastici, 1493
- Nepiachus, 1507
- Polygraphiae, 1508
- Steganographia, ca. 1500
Compilations
- Marquard Freher, Opera historica, Minerva, Frankfurt/Main, 1966
- Johannes Busaeus, Opera pia et spiritualia (1604 and 1605)
- Johannes Busaeus, Paralipomena opuscolorum (1605 and 1624)
See also
- Humanism in GermanyHumanism in GermanyRenaissance Humanism came much later to Germany and Northern Europe in general than to Italy, and when it did, it encountered some resistance from the scholastic theology which reigned at the universities.-Origins:...
- Minuscule 96Minuscule 96Minuscule 96 , ε 514 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on paper leaves. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 15th century. It has marginalia.- Description :...
– written by the hand of Trithemius - Tabula rectaTabula rectaIn cryptography, the tabula recta is a square table of alphabets, each row of which is made by shifting the previous one to the left...
External links
- Steganographia (Latin). Digital Edition, 1997
- Steganographia (Latin). Google Books, 1608 edition
- Steganographia (Latin). Google Books, 1621 edition
- Solved: The Ciphers in Book iii of Trithemius's Steganographia, PDF, 208 kB
- Hill Monastic Manuscript Library article on Trithemius (includes links to photographs of various Trithemius first editionFirst editionThe bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
s.)The complete and solved Steganography books