Note in tema di trattamento giuridico degli alchimisti nel diritto canonico medioevale

Alchemic pratices raised several moral and juridical problems, that have been tackled by Canon Law scholars since the Late Middle Ages. If in 1317 pope John XXII had intervened on this issue with the decretal Spondent quas non exhibent, condemning the Alchemists’ pretension of transmuting lesser metals into gold, in the first half of the 14th century an important debate on the liceity and on the juridical consequences of alchemy involved leading canon lawyers like Oldrado da Ponte, as well as other prominent ius commune jurists like Baldo degli Ubaldi, Andrea d’Isernia and Alberico da Rosciate. The reflection produced by these authors touched many important theoretical questions, like the epistemological statute of alchemy and the moral limits of human knowlegde. More tangible problems were discussed as well, like those concerning the commercial value to be attributed to alchemic gold and its possible benefit for local economies. The late medieval de bate about these issues will be reconstructed in detail, enlightening how the prin ciples outlined by jurists have been accepted and divulged in pastoral literature.