Knorr À Rosenroth

Knorr à Rosenroth (Christian), a learned German orientalist, was born in 1636. He pursued his studies at various colleges, and then travelled for improvement into France, England, and Holland, but bestowed too much attention on chemistry and the cabalistic art, which vitiated the greater part of his works, althongh it obtained him the esteem and friendship of Lightfoot, More, and Van Helmont. By the count palatine of Sulzbach, he was, in 1688, nominated one of his privy council, and afterwards chancellor. His reputation is chiefly founded on his “Kabbala Denudata, seu Doctrina Hebræorum transcendentalis, et metaphysica, atque theologica,” &c. 3 vols. 4to; a farrago of wild reveries, fanciful chimeras, and mystical absurdities, with occasionally some learned notices of the philosophy of the Hebrews. ²