Anna Maria Zieglerin (c. 1550–7 February 1575) was a German alchemist who was found guilty of the murder of a courier, attempted poisoning and intent to burglarize.
[2] Her parents were of minor nobility, so she spent her childhood in the Dresden Court of Augustus, Elector of Saxony and had princes and other nobles as godparents.
[5] Anna later married a nobleman from Rothenburg, when she was sixteen, but the marriage was short-lived, ending after nine weeks when Zieglerin’s husband died in a riding accident.
In its pure form, it was thought to be a red stone or powder that could change something from one thing to another, cure diseases and make anyone who consumed it, live forever (the elixir of life).
A letter Zieglerin wrote in September 1573 shows what Zieglerin was working on : 'Your princely grace,' she wrote, 'I am sending you this small lump; the greatest little stone [i.e., the philosophers' stone] I have set again in the wine so that it does not entirely dissolve into the air ... in a short time I want to show Your Princely Grace something greater ... Tonight with the help of God in heaven we want to begin the two pounds of quicksilver.”[11] Along with letters that Zieglerin wrote, her work can be seen in a twenty-page booklet "Concerning the Noble and Precious Art of Alcamia," which she sent to Duke Julius in 1573.
Zieglerin’s process of using the lion's blood to make the Philosopher’s Stone involved the death of a small bird.
According to Tara Nummedal, Zieglerin used her holy alchemy as "a powerful spiritual instrument that she could wield to intervene in one of the most pressing spiritual issues of the day, the coming apocalypse… a belief that alchemy could probe the porous boundary between the natural and the supernatural.
"[15] Zieglerin’s oil was also thought to be able to produce fruit during the winter months which could provide food all year, create gemstones, such as diamonds, sapphires and rubies and could cure certain illnesses, such as leprosy.
However, she believed her Lion’s Blood would accelerate the gestation process and could create mature fetuses after four to six weeks in the womb.
Zieglerin wrote: "If you want to beget a child, then take nine drops of the above-mentioned oil for three days, one after the other, evenings and mornings.
[18] In order to give herself credibility as an alchemist when she entered the court of Duke Julius, she created the fictional Count Carl von Oettingen, son of Paracelsus.
[20] Zieglerin fully believed her story of the Count[citation needed] and continued to tell the tale of the mysterious man in her trial.
The three were put on trial in 1574 for multiple crimes, including the murder of a courier, attempted poisoning of Duchess Hedwig and copying keys to the Duke’s chambers with the intent to steal some papers.
[22] Two of the most well-known women alchemists of the sixteenth-century were Isabella Cortese and Anna Maria Zieglerin.
[25] According to Tara Nummedal, “If, however, we shift our focus beyond printed alchemical texts and toward the archival sources characteristic of the new social history, suddenly we do find women alchemists.
Letters, contracts and criminal trial dossiers reveal that both noble and common women engaged in the patronage, theory and practice of alchemy.”[26] Being a woman presented Zieglerin with challenges and perspectives that were different than her male colleagues.