Name Denis Zachaire | Died 1556, Cologne, Germany | |
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Denis Zachaire (1510–1556) is the pseudonym of a 16th-century alchemist who spent his life and family fortune in a futile search for the Philosopher's Stone and the elusive Elixir of Life.
Pursuit of alchemy
Born in 1510 to a noble and ancient family of Guienne, Zachaire was sent to school at a young age in Bordeaux under the care of a tutor hired by the family. The tutor was obsessed with alchymie and the Magnum Opus, and Zachaire quickly found himself caught up in the hysteria, pouring vast amounts of his parents' money into the mystic crucible. Labouring tirelessly in unhealthy smoke-filled chambers, Zachaire and his tutor spent 200 crowns in less than a stroke and his parents reduced his allowance. After returning home to mortgage his inheritance, Zachaire took up with a "Philosopher" and later with a monk, both of whom help him spend whatever gold he had left.