El Código Secreto del Esopete Ystoriado en el Contexto de la Exégesis Literaria y su Evolución Hacia un Método Científico Tardomedieval

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation is to decipher the secret code of Basil that I discovered in the prologue of the Spanish edition of Aesop's Fables called Esopete ystoriado (1482), and to bring to light the importance of its resolution for the history of literature as well as for the history of science. This code states that the fables are more profitable if understood in accordance with the doctrine of Basil. After years of investigation, I came to the conclusion that Basil's doctrine can refer either to Saint Basil the Great's fourth-century treatise Oratio ad adolescentes de legendis antiquorum seu gentilium libris in which he instructs young catechumens how best to profit from an inquiry into the content and meaning of pagan literature, or to Basil Valentine's chemistry text The Triumphant Chariot of Antimony which established in Germany the precepts for the scientific method of the Age of the Enlightenment and therefore of modern Europe. In the meantime I found a strong relationship between both texts; in fact, Basil Valentine's book is based on Saint Basil's treatise, information that has been hidden for more than six centuries by a lineage of secret societies. My research focuses on how a treatise about literary interpretation written by one of the ancient fathers of the Catholic Church became the model for one of the most important scientific books in pre-modern Europe, discovering with my inquiry the important role that the Benedictine Order as well as the secret society of the Rose Cross played in that achievement. This investigation also led me to the realization that the chemist Basil Valentine was in fact the German Abbot Johann Trithemius (1462-1516), and that the Esopete ystoriado was translated from Latin to Castilian by Gonzalo García de Santa María (1447-1521), concluding that it is impossible to separate the history of literature from the history of science.