Nicolas Flamel
Nicolas Flamel (c. 1330 – 22 March 1418) was a French scrivener and manuscript-seller, and became posthumously known as an alchemist.
Biography
Born in Pontoise in 1330, Flamel later traveled to Paris to work as a scrivener where he ammassed a considerable fortune for himself. This caused many rumors as to how he had managed to obtain such as vast fortune relativity quickly.[1]
In his youth, Flamel had a strange dream in which an angel showed him an extraordinary book, known as the Book of Abraham Eleazar, which later allowed him to discover the secrets of alchemy. Flamel went on a pilgrimage to Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle, where he met Maestro Canches, a Jewish Kabbalist who would give him certain keys for interpreting the book, allowing him to use alchemy to acquire his fortune.[1]
Performing his alchemical experiments in a secret laboratory beneath the Notre-Dame,[1] Flamel discovered the formulae of the philosopher's stone[2] and created the Elixer of Life.[1] Prior to his death, Flamel split the Book of Abraham Eleazar into two tomes, titled True Magic and Divine Science.[2] While it is said that the philosopher's stone made Flamel immortal, he died on 22 March 1418. He is buried alongside his wife in the present-day Cluny Museum in Paris.[1]