Unraveling the Secret of Basilio's Code and its Intellectual Consequences

​Center for Early Modern History
Presents
"Unraveling the Secret of Basilio's Code and its Intellectual Consequences"

a lecture by
Luis Anchondo
Visiting Assistant Professor, Spanish & Portuguese Studies

Friday, February 6, 2015
12:15pm
1210 Heller Hall

This talk disentangles the mystery of the secret code of Basil in the Spanish translation of a German edition of Aesop's Fables. Basil's code found in the prologue instructs fledgling Christians how to best profit spiritually by studying the content and meaning of pagan literature. In time, however, Basil's code became the principal source for and the ultimate symbol of the German secret society of the Rose Cross whose members were important precursors of a new scientific method of inquiry in pre-modern Europe. This lecture explores how an early medieval text that inculcates Christian morality through the interpretation of pagan literature was later transformed into a convincing scientific methodology in sixteenth century Germany.