Despagnet [Espagnet], Jean

1. Dates

Born: 1564

Died: 1637 or after

Dateinfo: Death Uncertain

Lifespan: 73

2. Father

Occupation: Unknown

We know only that he was not related to the parlementary family of the same name in Aix.

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: French

Career: French

Death: French

4. Education

Schooling: No University

This means only no information.

5. Religion

Affiliation: He had to have been Catholic to hold the offices he had.

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Alchemy, Occult Philosophy

He acquired a great reputation as a hermetic philosopher and alchemist. His only extant alchemical works, the Arcanum Hermeticae philosophiae and the Enchiridion physicae restitutae, published in 1623, are classics of their kind.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Government

1590, he became a lawyer in Bordeaux.

1592, Conseiller au Grand Conseil in Paris.

1601, named President of the Parlement of Bordeaux.

Around 1609-12, he presided at the Chambre de l'Edit at Nerac after the mysterious death of his predecessor; he remained in office until 1615.

1620, honorary president (apparently of the Parlement of Bordeaux).

8. Patronage

Type: None

9. Technological Involvement

Type: None

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Fermat visited him at Bordeaux in 1629.

Sources

1. Dictionnaire de biographie Française, 12, 1491.
2. John Ferguson, Bibliotheca chemica, 1, 248-50.
3. A.E.Waite, The Secret Tradition in Alchemy, London, 1926, pp.39, 338, 341. QD13 .W145

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. Nouvelle biographie universelle, 15, (Paris 1854), pp.402-403.
2. John S. Maxwell, Un magistrat hermétiste, (1896).

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.