<p>The Order of Chartreuse was more than 500 years old when, in 1605, at a Chartreuse monastery in Vauvert, a small suburb of Paris, the monks received a gift from Francois Hannibal d' Estrees, Marshal of French King Henri IV's artillery: an already ancient manuscript from an "Elixir" soon to be nicknamed "Elixir of Long Life". This hand-written document was probably the work of a 16th century alchemist with a great knowledge of herbs and who possessed the skill to blend, infuse, macerate the 130 of them to form a perfect balanced tonic. By the early 17th century, only a few monks and even fewer apothecaries understood the use of herbs and plants in the treatment of illness</p>
