Berthold Schwarz

Who is Berthold Schwarz?

Berthold Schwarz, also known as Berthold the Black and der Schwartzer, was a legendary German alchemist of the late 14th century, credited with the invention of gunpowder by 15th- through 19th-century European literature.

The purported period of Schwarz' activity thus falls between the first reports of gunpowder in Europe and the development of effective applications in artillery.

It is unclear whether Schwarz is a historical person. It has been suggested that he was a historical alchemist who had developed gunpowder in Germany, but other scholars consider him purely legendary.

Schwarz is possibly identical with Bertold von Lützelstetten, a scholar who is recorded as "magister artium Bertoldus" at the University of Paris during 1329-1336.

Other sources identify him with one Konstantin Angeleisen or Anklitzen who was persecuted for being an alchemist and had to flee to Prague, where he was executed in 1388. It is also possible that Schwarz is not a historical person at all, but a symbolic inventor figure taking his name from that of Schwarzpulver "black powder", the German term for gunpowder.