Johann Georg Faust's Biography(Books)(Photos)

Faust, Georg (probably Knittlingen nr. Bretten, c.1480-1540
or 1541, Staufen, Breisgau), an obscure figure, half

him in person by his clerical and scholarly enemies. While
the exact year of his death is uncertain, we can assume he

scholar, half quack, about whose exploits the myth of the
Faust legend gathered. He visited various universities, was

died before 1548, in which year the theologian Johann Gast
in his sermones conviviales states that Faust had suffered a

believed to have been at Heidelberg, and at Erfurt in 1513
or 1520, at Wittenberg in 1527, and at Ingolstadt in the

dreadful death, and would keep turning his face to the earth
in spite of the body being turned on its back several

following year. He seems to have made himself everywhere
unpopular, and was more than once expelled. Faust's later

times.

life was spent in more favourable circumstances in the lower
Rhenish region and Westphalia. The legends of his magic

In his 1548 account, Gast mentions a personal meeting with
Faust in Basel during which Faust provided the cook with

production of wine (later connected with Auerbachs Keller),
and of his evocation of Homeric figures became current

poultry of a strange kind. According to Gast, Faust
travelled with a dog and a horse, and there were rumours

during his lifetime.

that the dog would sometimes transform into a servant.

Another posthumous account is that of Johannes Manlius,
drawing on notes by Melanchthon, in his Locorum communium

Because of his early treatment as a figure in legend and
literature, it is very difficult to establish historical

collectanea dating to 1562. According to Manlius, Johannes
Faustus was a personal acquaintance of Melanchthon's and had

facts about his life with any certainty. In the 17th
century, it was even doubted that there ever had been a

studied in Krakow. Manlius' account is already suffused with
legendary elements, and cannot be taken at face value as a

historical Faust, and the legendary character was identified
with a printer of Mainz called Fust. Johann Georg Neumann in

historical source. Manlius recounts that Faust had boasted
that the victories of the German emperor in Italy were due

1683 addressed the question in his Disquisitio historica de
Fausto praestigiatore, establishing Faust's historical

to his magical intervention. In Venice, he allegedly
attempted to fly, but was thrown to the ground by the devil.

existence based on contemporary references.

Johannes Wier in de prestigiis daemonum (1568) recounts that
Faustus had been arrested in Batenburg because he had

Possible places of origin of the historical Johann Faust are
Knittlingen (Manlius 1562), Helmstadt near Heidelberg, or

recommended that the local chaplain called Dorstenius should
use arsenic to get rid of his stubble. Dorstenius smeared

Roda. Knittlingen today has an archive and a museum
dedicated to Faust. According to the researches of Frank

his face with the poison, upon which he lost not only his
beard but also much of his skin, an anecdote Wier says he

Baron and Dr Leo Ruickbie, the evidence most points to
Helmstadt as his place of birth, or family name.

heard from the victim himself. Philipp Camerarius in 1602
still claims to have heard tales of Faust directly from

Faust's year of birth is given either as 1480/1 or as 1466.

people who had met him in person, but from the publication
of the 1587 Faustbuch, it becomes impossible to separate

Baron (1992) and Ruickbie prefer the latter. The city
archive of Ingolstadt has a letter dated 27 June 1528 which

historical anecdotes from rumour and legend.

mentions a Doctor Jorg Faustus von Haidlberg. Other sources
have Georgius Faustus Helmstet(ensis). Baron searching for

In the light of records of an activity spanning more than 30
years, it has been suggested that there were two itinerant

students from Helmstet in the archives of Heidelberg
University found records of a Georgius Helmstetter inscribed

magicians calling themselves Faustus, one Georg, active ca.
1505 to 1515, and another Johann, active in the 1530s. This

from 1483 to 1487. This student exceptionally refused to
reveal his surname. He was promoted to baccalaureus on 12

cannot be disproved, but neither is there a compelling
reason to accept it. Even assuming the earlier date of

July 1484 and to magister artium on 1 March 1487.

birth, Faust would have died at the above-average but not
impossible age of 74 or 75.

For the year 1506, there is a record of Faust appearing as
performer of magical tricks and horoscopes in Gelnhausen.

Ascribed works

Over the following 30 years, there are numerous similar
records spread over southern Germany. Faust appeared as

There are several grimoires or alchemical treatises ascribed
to Faust, some of which appeared during his lifetime and may

physician, doctor of philosophy, alchemist, magician and
astrologer, and was often accused as a fraud. The church

be considered his work, or plagiarisms thereof:

denounced him as a blasphemer in league with the devil.

* 1501 doctor Faustens dreyfacher Hollenzwang (Passau
1407[sic], Rome 1501, reprint Scheible 1849, arw

Johannes Trithemius in a letter to Johannes Virdung dated 20
August 1507 warns the latter of a certain Georgius

"Moonchild-Edition" 2, Munich 1976, 1977)
* 1501 geister-Commando (Tabellae Rabellinae Geister

Commando id est Magiae Albae et Nigrae Citatio Generalis),
Rome (reprint Scheible 1849, arw, "Moonchild-Edition" 3,

astrologus, magus secundus etc. According to Trithemius, in
Selnhausen and Wurzburg Sabellicus boasted blasphemously of

Munich 1977)
* 1501 d.faustus vierfacher Hollen-Zwang (Rome 1501,

his powers, even claiming that he could easily reproduce all
the miracles of Christ. In 1507, Trithemius alleges, he

reprint Scheible 1849, arw "Moonchild-Edition" 4, Munich
1976, 1977)

received a teaching position in Sickingen, which he abused
by indulging in sodomy with his male students, evading

* 1520 fausts dreifacher Hollenzwang (D.Faustus Magus
Maximus Kundlingensis Original Dreyfacher Hollenzwang id est

Die Agyptische Schwarzkunst), "Egyptian Nigromancy, magical
seals for the invocation of seven spirits. (reprint ARW

Conrad Mutianus Rufus in 1513 recounts a meeting with a
chiromanticus called Georgius Faustus, Helmitheus

"Moonchild-Edition" 3, Munich 1976, 1977)
* 1524 johannis Fausti Manual Hollenzwang (Wittenberg

Heidelbergensis (likely for hemitheus, "demigod of
Heidelberg"), overhearing his vain and foolish boasts in an

1524 reprint Scheible 1849, arw "Moonchild-Edition" 6,
Munich 1976, 1977)

Erfurt inn.

* 1527 praxis Magia Faustiana, (Passau, reprint Scheible
1849, arw "Moonchild-Edition" 4, Munich 1976, 1977;)

On 23 February 1520, Faust was in Bamberg, doing a horoscope
for the bishop and the town, for which he received the sum

* 1540, fausti Hollenzwang oder Mirakul-Kunst und
Wunder-Buch (Wittenberg 1540, reprint Scheible 1849, arw

of 10 gulden (Baron p. 42).

"Moonchild-Edition" 4, Munich 1976, 1977)
* Doctor Fausts gro?er und gewaltiger Hollenzwang

In 1528, Faust visited Ingolstadt, from whence he was
banished shortly after. In 1532 he seems to have tried to

(Prague, reprint ARW "Moonchild-Edition" 7, Munich 1977)
* 1669? dr. Johann Faustens Miracul-Kunst- und

enter Nurnberg, according to an unflattering note made by
the junior mayor of the city to "deny free passage to the

great nigromancer and sodomite Doctor Faustus" (Doctor
Faustus, dem gro?en Sodomiten und Nigromantico in furt glait

ablainen ) Later records give a more positive verdict, thus
the Tubingen professor Joachim Camerarius in 1536 recognises

reprint Scheible 1849, arw, "Moonchild-Edition" 3, Munich
1976, 1977)

Faust as a respectable astrologer, and physician Philipp
Begardi of Worms in 1539 praises his medical knowledge. The

* 1692 doctor Faust's gro?er und gewaltiger Meergeist,
worinn Lucifer und drey Meergeister um Schatze aus den

last direct attestation of Faust dates to 25 June 1535, when
his presence was recorded in Munster during the Anabaptist

Gewassern zu holen, beschworen werden (Amsterdam, reprint
ARW "Moonchild-Edition" 1, Munich 1977)

rebellion.

These works were reprinted in Das Kloster by J. Scheible

Faust's death is dated to 1540 or 1541. He allegedly died in
an explosion of an alchemical experiment in the "Hotel zum

Lowen" in Staufen im Breisgau. His body is reported to have
been found in a "grievously mutilated" state which was

Weltanschauungsfragen, in the (ironically-titled)
"Moonchild-Edition", and again as facsimile by Poseidon