The Moravian Athens

At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, the town and château became the region’s centre of learning, even earning the name Moravian Athens. Ladislav Velen of Žerotín, who took over the town after the Boskovice family died out in 1589, surrounded himself with artists, natural scientists, astronomers, alchemists and physicians. Following the example of Rudolf II’s Prague collections, a Kunstkammer was established in the château: a collection of curiosities and strange mechanical automata. An astrologer and alchemist using the pseudonym Phoenyx drew up horoscopes. Žerotín’s personal physician was Christoph Blum; the French eye specialist Jakob Denart also worked here and was recorded as a skilled practitioner of cataract couching. The château was magnificently rebuilt at that time. Despite many later disasters, it remains a unique example of the Mannerist style and the philosophical dwelling of its age. The collections also included an early Renaissance tapestry woven in Brussels, depicting a scene from Jean de Meung’s French chivalric-alchemical Romance of the Rose; it is now in the museum. The science of Hermes was cultivated enthusiastically and generously supported by Ladislav Velen. A prominent figure at Žerotín’s court was the physician and alchemist M. E. Bonacina, whose education and breadth of knowledge far surpassed those of Raab and Klinger, two other alchemists then active in Moravská Třebová. Marcus Eugenius Bonacina was born in Milan in 1570 and initially studied law in Padua. He later turned to medicine, pursuing it with great diligence and enthusiasm, and soon held doctorates in two disciplines. He also practised alchemy and quickly gained a reputation at home and abroad, bringing invitations to the courts of various noblemen. Thus he came to Slavkov near Brno, where he met František Reutz, personal physician to Vilém of Žerotín. On Reutz’s recommendation he became Ladislav Velen’s physician and alchemist in Moravská Třebová. In 1616 Bonacina dedicated to Žerotín his Latin alchemical treatise De auro potabili, on preparing so-called drinkable gold. Ladislav Velen was evidently very pleased with him and showered him with gifts. In 1618, “on the Friday after St George’s Day”, he gave him a house near the so-called Dog Mill, exempt from taxes and charges. In the same letter, Žerotín also exempted from charges a garden he had given him earlier. The following year Bonacina received the Dog Mill itself. He lived like a great lord, displayed his intellectual superiority, and was a perceptive diagnostician and successful healer. He also tried unsuccessfully to dig for gold nearby. He died on 20 March 1620, three weeks before his patron had to flee to Poland. Other sources say he lived beyond the Battle of White Mountain and testified against Ladislav Velen to retain his fortune, estate and house. It is therefore unsurprising that a legend says the devil took him. His burial place is unknown; all that is known is that he left a son, Weikard.