Nicolas Flamel left his property to his Paris parish church, a 1612 book made him an alchemist, and treasure hunters ransacked his house for gold

Nicolas Flamel, born near Pontoise around 1330 to 1340, worked in Paris as a public scribe near the church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, drafting contracts and letters. He married Perenelle, who brought the wealth of two earlier husbands. The couple owned several properties and paid for church works, almshouses and free hospitals. Perenelle died in 1397. In 1407 Flamel built the house at 51 rue de Montmorency, the oldest stone house in Paris. In 1410 he designed his own tombstone. His will of 22 November 1416 shows a generous man without great wealth; he left property to Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, where he was buried after his death on 22 March 1418. In 1612 a Paris publisher issued the Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques, which said Flamel had made the philosopher's stone and gold. In 1761 Étienne Villain questioned the story and named the publisher, Arnauld de la Chevalerie, as its likely source. Historians find no sign that Flamel practised alchemy. After his death the Montmorency house was ransacked again and again by people looking for the stone. The church was destroyed in the Revolution, leaving only the Tour Saint-Jacques. His tombstone turned up in a grocer's shop on rue Saint-Jacques, used as a cutting board, and the City of Paris bought it in 1839. It is in the Musée de Cluny. As of 2008 the ground floor of his house was a restaurant.