The Master's Apprentice - Oliver Potzsch Page 0,191

him with his calculations for the day of his birth. He’d been born on a day when Jupiter and the sun had stood in the same degree of the same zodiac. While that was a little unusual, it wasn’t anything extraordinary; many people were born beneath the same constellation because it occurred several times a year. So what was the secret of his birth?

So far he had found several writings by an astronomer named Heinrich von Langenstein, from Vienna, and also a book by Roger Bacon in which the well-known English Franciscan described the construction of a camera obscura for observation of the sun. But none of the books had told him why his date of birth was particularly blessed by the stars. Johann hadn’t found any more on Gilles de Rais, either, nor had he found the name Tonio del Moravia in any of the documents.

Johann slowly walked along the rows of books and studied the titles. After a few moments of deliberation, he chose a book he thought sounded promising. It was written by a certain Johannes Müller and, among other topics, discussed the question whether the sun was indeed rotating around the Earth, or whether perhaps the Earth was rotating around the sun. It was a fascinating thought, which Father Bernhard back in Knittlingen had told him about and which was increasingly discussed in scholarly circles these days. Johann carried the book to a desk and started to read. It was very interesting, but it didn’t help him in his quest. He was about to put it back on the shelf when he noticed another manuscript on the desk. It had been hidden under some loose pages of parchment, as if someone was in the middle of making a copy. Johann’s eyes scanned the title and author.

De Occulta Philosophia by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim.

Johann frowned. He had heard of this Agrippa. A clever man who’d apparently studied at the University of Cologne and about whose sharp mind Johann had encountered a few tales. They said he completed his baccalaureus at just fourteen years old, was fluent in eight languages, and despite his young age was already more learned than most doctors in the empire. These days he was lecturing in Cologne whenever he wasn’t traveling the country at the invitations of the rich and powerful. Agrippa hadn’t made a lot of friends among the clergy with his witty speeches.

Much to his surprise, Johann felt a twinge of jealousy. This Agrippa might actually see eye to eye with him. An equal in a world where true knowledge still struggled in the face of old-fashioned scholasticism and bigotry.

With growing curiosity Johann studied the pages of the manuscript, which had been written in a neat, very small hand. After a few lines he was so engrossed in the work that he forgot everything around him. It was like a miracle! This writ systematically combined all known areas of magic, from chiromancy and astrology to alchemy. Everything that Johann had been taught by Tonio and everything he’d taught himself thereafter was written right here in Latin. How had this Agrippa gained his immense knowledge? A man required decades to learn all this. Johann glanced over the pages and his heart beat faster. This was the best book he’d ever read! It was brilliantly written and blessed with an insight that elevated magic to the same level as faith and science. The astrological observations, too, went further than anything Johann had known until then. He leafed through the manuscript wildly and found to his horror that he was holding only about fifty measly pages.

The book finished before it had properly begun—and the author grandly promised a work of three volumes.

Where on earth?

Johann raced along the other desks and past the rows of shelves. Eventually he picked up the manuscript, opened the door, and waved the pages under the surprised librarian’s nose.

“Where is the rest?” he asked curtly.

“The rest of what?” The little man put on his monocle and studied the pages. Then his face lit up. “Oh, that! Interesting, isn’t it? A merchant on his way back from England dropped it off yesterday. Apparently Agrippa was in London at the behest of the emperor, and that’s where the merchant met him and bought these pages from him. I was going to copy them today. A highly—”

“Where is the rest?” repeated Johann.

The man sighed. “There is no rest. This is all the merchant brought me. He said Agrippa was still working on