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Agrippa, Henry Cornelius, the mediæval doctor and magician,
was born at Cologne in 1486, and was educated at the university of
that city. He was denounced in 1509 by the monks, who called him
an “impious cabalist”; in 1531 he published his treatise De
Occulta Philosophia, written by the advice and with the
assistance of the Abbot Trithemius of Wurzburg, the preceptor of
Paracelsus. In 1510 he came to London on a diplomatic mission, and
was the guest of Dean Colet at Stepney. He afterwards fought at
the battle of Ravenna. In 1511 he attended the schismatic council
of Pisa as a theologian. In 1515 he lectured at the university of
Pavia. We afterwards find him at Metz, Geneva, and Freiburg, where
he practised as a physician. In 1529 he was appointed
historiographer to Charles V. He died at Grenoble in 1535. A man
of such vast and varied learning could hardly in those days have
avoided being accused of diabolical practices and heretical
opinions; the only wonder is that he was not burned alive for his
scientific attainments, which were looked upon as dangerous in the
highest degree. (Pauline in the Latin prefatory note.)
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