WHO WAS THE COUNT ST GERMAIN?
He claimed to have lived for 500 years and possessed a knowledge of all things
In 18th century France, the mysterious Count of St Germain appeared as if from nowhere, and from 1745-84 wooed the nobility with his skills as an adventurer, philosopher and, of course, alchemist. Who exactly this enigmatic man was remains something of a mystery, and in the centuries since his appearance he has become shrouded in legend and been the subject of numerous folk tales. Of St Germain’s early years little is known, perhaps due to the man himself wishing to keep his origins a secret – but he soon developed a mystic air. One of the first sightings of the count was when the author of the gothic thriller The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole, mentions him having been arrested for spying in 1745. The count’s knowledge of a variety of subjects meant he quickly inspired a certain level of awe. Voltaire purportedly met the count once and described him as “a man who knows everything and who never dies.” However, despite this enigmatic reputation he was a very real individual who worked as a diplomat for France.
Despite the count passing away in 1784, his mystical reputation ensured that in the successive centuries he remained a figure of interest for those with a taste for the occult. The esoteric Theosophical movement claimed the Count of St Germain as a legendary spiritual master and key figure to its religion. Many of its members, including CW Leadbeater and Annie Besant, claimed to have met him in the centuries after his death, with a variety of stories claiming that he was over 500 years old.
As his mystical reputation grew, the count (like Flamel before him) became a source on which literary fantasists could draw. Famous Russian author Alexander Pushkin used the count as an enigmatic mystical figure in his 1834 short story The Queen of Spades, drawing on the supernatural elements of his legend. The 1949 film adaptation would portray him as a figure of fear, akin to the devil himself.