John XXII, Pope

Dastin, John. The text of John Dastin s Letter to Pope John XXII by C.H. Josten. Ambix 4, no. 1-2 (Dec 1949) 34-41. Translated by C.H. Josten. 

Walsh, James Joseph. Pope John XXII and the supposed Bull forbidding chemistry. Med Lib HistJ 3, no. 4 (Oct 1905) 248-263. 

Thus in 1317 Pope John XXII issued a decree against the alchemists ... 

When Pope John XXII issued his Bull of 1317 condemning alchemy, it was John Dastyn (or Dasteyn) who wrote to him defending the art. Dastyn was one of the leading exponents of the art of the period, and his letter to the Pope seems to have met with some success, as when the Pope died, he left a fortune reputed to be of alchemical origin. 

We see here the hardening of attitudes to Arabian chemistry and philosophy that would ultimately result in the indictment of the Knights Templar. Pope John XXII issued his Papal Bull Spondent pariter in 1317, after the trial of the Knights Templar. It condemned all magic. 

Once again, as under Diocletian a thousand years before, the study of alchemy was forbidden, as much in dread of the successful production of gold as in indignation over fakery. Pope John XXII declared such a ban in 1317, and honest alchemists, forced to work underground, became more obscure than ever, while chemical racketeering flourished as always. 

Reman Catholic Historically, the most notable dietary law ii Chnsiianiiv was die Homan Catholic ban on eating meat on Friday. Doling the reign ol Pope John XXII, this ban was lifted... 

After an initial condemnation by the Dominicans at the end of the thirteenth century, a papal Bull issued in 1317 by Pope John XXII at the conclusion of an ofEcial disputation denounced alchemy as a fraud, a judgement confirmed by the Inquisition in 1396 in its Contra Alchymistas. 

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