Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a German Renaissance polymath who wrote extensively on various topics such as magic, alchemy, astrology, medicine, theology, law, and philosophy. He was a controversial figure who challenged the authority of the church and the established sciences of his time. He was also a soldier and a courtier who served several princes and emperors in Europe. He was influenced by the works of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Hermes Trismegistus, Albertus Magnus, and Johannes Reuchlin. He is best known for his magnum opus, the Three Books of Occult Philosophy, which was published in 1533 and became a seminal text for many occultists and esotericists. He also wrote De occulta philosophia libri tres (Three Books on the Philosophy of the Occult), De vanitate scientiarum et artium (On the Vanity of the Sciences and Arts), Declamatio de nobilitate et praecellentia foeminei sexus (Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex), and De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum (On the Uncertainty and Vanity of the Sciences). He died of a fever in Grenoble in 1535 at the age of 48.