Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
From Grimoire
Gifted student of the occult, Cornelius Agrippa drafted, at a very young age, a masterwork of occult knowledge: De occulta philosophia libri tres -- the three books of occult philosophy. Showing mastery of natural, celestial and ceremonial magic through only his own studies, he gained the attentions of Johannes Trithemius, a master occultist and cryptologist, and allegedly studied with him for a short time.
In fact, that short time was less of an apprenticeship than a meeting of peers; Trithemius had done much to restore the Liber Juratus, but it was still painfully incomplete, and Trithemius had exhausted all of his angles of attack. Seeing in Agrippa a brilliant young mind, he bestowed the Liber to Cornelius, charging him with discovering the last secrets of the grimoire -- a task which Agrippa accepted with gusto.
While serving as a doctor to many of the European courts, Agrippa enjoyed much success, although his occult services got him into as much trouble as favor, and on numerous occasions he found himself fleeing one country or another due to a swing of power in the courts. His duties at court, unfortunately, limited the time he could research the knowledge Trithemius had granted him, and although his research into some of the lesser secrets of the grimoire at last bore fruit, he began to realize that the deepest secrets of the Liber Juratus might forever remain beyond his grasp.
Undaunted, Agrippa began to take students on in order to seek an heir to the mystery of the Liber Juratus, and before long he had found a likely candidate. Johann Weyer showed exemplary intelligence, insight and drive, and Agrippa took to his serious education with gusto, at long last able to share the secrets of the tome's dark magics with another. He at last published his occult masterpiece, inspired by his discussions with Johann -- the volumes he had once shared with Trimethius had matured with the years of research and study he had devoted to the Liber Juratus, and he found a publisher despite the machinations of the Inquisition.
Partly because of the Inquisition's involvement, rumors abounded regarding the curious grimoire Agrippa had used as the source of his books on occult philosophy. A number of political troubles found Agrippa first exiled from Belgium and then imprisoned in France before being freed, and though he had hoped to find safe shelter in the home of his friends, the Ferrands, he was betrayed: the Liber Juratus was stolen from him -- by the owner of the very home he slept in, the governor of Grenoble, Guy Vachon, though he would never know this. The loss of the grimoire, combined with the rigors of his escape and imprisonment, sent his health into a downward spiral; he would die in Grenoble, but not before leaving his apprentice Johann with a most difficult charge: to recover the Liber Juratus before its thief could use it to attain the power within its pages.