Johann Georg Faust

Johann Georg Faust (ˈfaʊst; c. 1480 or 1466 – c. 1541), also known in English as John Faustus ˈfɔːstəs, was a German itinerant alchemist, astrologer, and magician of the German Renaissance. Doctor Faust became the subject of folk legend in the decades after his death, transmitted in chapbooks beginning in the 1580s, and was notably adapted by Christopher Marlowe as a tragic hero in his play The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus (1604). The Faustbuch tradition survived throughout the early modern period, and the legend was again adapted in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's closet drama Faust (1808), Hector Berlioz's musical composition La damnation de Faust (premiered 1846), and Franz Liszt's Faust Symphony of 1857. Because of his early treatment as a figure in legend and literature, it is difficult to establish historical facts about his life with any certainty. In the 17th century, it was even doubted that there ever had been a historical Faust, and the legendary character was identified with a printer of Mainz called Johann Fust. Johann Georg Neumann in 1683 addressed the question in his Disquisitio historica de Fausto praestigiatore, establishing Faust's historical existence based on contemporary references. In the light of records of an activity spanning more than 30 years, the two suggested birth years (1466 vs. 1480/1), the two recorded first names (Georg vs. Johann) and the two recorded places of origin (Knittlingen vs. Heidelberg/Helmstett), it has been suggested that there were two itinerant magicians calling themselves Faustus, one Georg, active ca. 1505 to 1515, and another Johann, active in the 1530s. Possible places of origin of the historical Johann Faust are Knittlingen (Manlius 1562), Helmstadt near Heidelberg, or Roda. Knittlingen today has an archive and a museum dedicated to Faust. Baron (1978) and Ruickbie (2009) argue for Helmstadt as his place of birth. Faust's year of birth is given either as 1480/1 or as 1466. Baron (1992) and Ruickbie prefer the latter.