Trithemius

"Johannes Trithemius (1 February 1462 – 13 December 1516), born Johann Heidenberg, was a German Benedictine abbot and a polymath who was active in the German Renaissance as a lexicographer, chronicler, cryptographer, and occultist. He had considerable influence on the development of early modern and modern occultism. His students included Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus. . . Notably, the German polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, and occult writer Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535) and the Swiss physician, alchemist, and astrologer Paracelsus (1493–1541) were among his pupils. . . Trithemius' most famous work, Steganographia (written c. 1499; published Frankfurt, 1606) . . . appears to be about magic—specifically, about using spirits to communicate over long distances. Since the publication of the decryption key to the first two volumes in 1606, they have been known to be actually concerned with cryptography and steganography. Until recently, the third volume was widely still believed to be solely about magic, but the 'magical' formulae have now been shown to be covertexts for yet more cryptographic content." [Johannes Trithemius, Wikipedia]

Trithemius was the author of Polygraphia. [HPL Dunwich (online text)]

John Merritt seems to have mistakenly thought that Trithemius was the author of De Lapide Philosophico. [HPL Case (online text)]t

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