Abstract

An important figure in the history of German thought, Valentin Weigel, a contemporary of Michel de Montaigne, was for long time unjustly underestimated. In the last years, however, there has been a reawakening of interest in him, proved by the new start of the historical-critical edition sponsored by the Academy of the Sciences of Mayence in 1996 as well as by a number of recent studies, among which the notable monograph by Andrew Weeks, Valentin Weigel : German Religious Dissenter, Speculative Theorist, and Advocate of Tolerance. In his works as a theologian, a philosopher, and an alchemist, Weigel anticipated the advent of a tolerant culture of individual knowledge and conscience. His sources are to be found in the traditions of medieval mysticism, Renaissance philosophy, and Reformation-era radical theologians. He looked with sympathy at Thomas Müntzer and at the Anabaptists, which led to his exclusion from mainstream Lutheranism. Weigel argued for the inner autonomy of the lay individual in search of knowledge and salvation.