Money may not grow on trees, but to the medieval it could be made through dark sorcery. Henry IV of England banned alchemy, Pope John XII forbade the ‘lies’ of transmutation, and Dante found a special place in hell for the alchemist.

For those who are unaware, we are talking about the mythological turning of a common metal into one of more value.

If it did actually work, of course, then an alchemist could make themself incredibly wealthy very quickly. Read the rest of this entry →