ABSTRACT
In the sixteenth century, central European alchemists played on the full range of meanings attributed to secrecy as they offered their skills and knowledge to patrons. As Zieglerins case suggests, alchemy could offer practitioners a powerful way to address the pressing anxieties of a world in which many believed that the End Times were at hand. Anna Zieglerins interrogation focused on a number of different charges: her practice of alchemy, medicine and magic; her relationship with Count Carl and a healer named Mutter Eyle; Zieglerins own alleged adultery with multiple men; and her use of love magic to interfere with the duke's marriage to duchess Hedwig. According to Zieglerin, Carl inherited his alchemical secrets from his father, who was none other than the physician and lay theologian Paracelsus. And it was precisely alchemys ability to participate in Europe's sacred, commercial and intellectual economies of secrets that ensured that it would retain extraordinary value throughout the early modern period.
