One moral of this article is about the importance of studying primary sources, in this case Nicolas Flamel's will (early 15th century).
According to BBC's story, a historian did that properly only two years ago, and in fact neither Flamel nor his wife Pernelle were alchemists.
Their posthumous fame as such may have been a consequence of their wealth (likely from real estate dealings, rather than transmutation).
I also Learned Today about yet another Byzantine connection:
«"The earliest reference to 'the stone of the philosophers' is in the 7th Century, in a Byzantine text," in the eastern Mediterranean, says Matteo Martelli, a professor in history of science at the University of Bologna in Italy and expert on ancient alchemical texts. "'The philosophers' were what alchemists called themselves."»
This paragraph is hyperlinked to a specific place in a facsimile of a book and the significant item is (apparently) number 9 on the left-hand page (which itself mentions a philosophers' mount, though).
The Byzantine text in question seems to be the "compendium of alchemical writings that was probably put together in Constantinople in the 7th or 8th century AD", mentioned in the Wikipedia page about Zosimos of Panopolis¹.
BBC article:
'The legend is so strong': The truth about Nicolas Flamel and the philosophers' stone
<https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20261008-the-true-story-of-alchemist-nicholas-flamel-and-the-philosophers-stone>
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¹ <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zosimos_of_Panopolis>
#Alchemy
#Byzantines
#History
#MiddleAges
#PhilosophersStone
#PrimarySources