His name was Ismael Meianotte, and he was the son of a Portuguese Jew condemned to death by the Inquisition. The Catholic priest who took in the orphan named him Vicente de la Fey. It was under this name that the young man stole a jewelry box, among which were fifteen large emeralds from the palace of the Viceroy of Mexico. Later, this man would go by many names, the most famous of which is Saint Germain. Adherents of Saint Germain believe that he was a man endowed with supernatural powers, the owner of the highest secrets and the elixir of immortality. Numerous detractors present him as a successful scoundrel, a third-rate alchemist, an impostor and a charlatan. Who was this man accepted by the sovereigns of France, Germany and Russia?