Arnaldus de Villa Nova

Physician and alchemist of Crown of Aragon

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French.  (October 2014) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

* View a machine-translated version of the French article.
* Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
* Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 6,178 articles in the main category, and specifying`|topic=` will aid in categorization.
* Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
* You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is `Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Arnaud de Villeneuve (médecin)]]; see its history for attribution.`
* You may also add the template `{{Translated|fr|Arnaud de Villeneuve (médecin)}}` to the talk page.
* For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

|

Arnaldus de Villa Nova

Born| c.1240

unknown

Died| c.1311

Genoa

Region| Mediterranean

Arnaldus de Villa Nova (also called Arnau de Vilanova in Catalan, his language, Arnaldus Villanovanus, Arnaud de Ville-Neuve or Arnaldo de Villanueva, c. 1240–1311) was a physician and a religious reformer.

He is credited with translating a number of medical texts from Arabic, including works by Ibn Sina Avicenna, Abu-l-Salt, and Galen.[1]

## Biography[edit]

Generic portrait of Arnald[us] de villa noua, woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493 Thesoro de los pobres (1584).

Arnaldus' place and date of birth are debated: some historians believe he was born in Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone, a village near Montpellier; others are doubtful, because there are also towns of the same name in Aragon such as Villanueva de Jiloca, in the Kingdom of Valencia (now in Spain), in Catalonia, in Languedoc, or in the Provence. Regardless, he is known in Catalonia, Valencia, and Balearic Islands by the name "Arnau de Vilanova," and it is certain that he wrote most of his works in Catalan (Confessió de Barcelona, Raonament d'Avinyó). Whatever the reality, Arnaldus had a great reputation as a doctor, theologian and alchemist.[2]

He studied medicine in Montpellier until 1260. He traveled through France, Catalonia, and Italy, as part doctor, part ambassador. He lived at the court of Aragon and was the personal doctor of the King of Aragon from 1281. At the death of Peter III of Aragon in 1285, he left Barcelona for Montpellier where he taught at the School of Medicine.[2][3]

He was the master of the school of medicine of Paris between 1291 and 1299. His fame as a doctor was immense: among his patients were three popes and three kings. He was the first physician that used alcohol as an antiseptic.

Influenced by Joachim of Fiore, he claimed that in 1378 the world would end and the Antichrist would come (De adventu Antichristi, 1288). He was condemned by the University of Paris in 1299, accused of heresy, and imprisoned for his ideas of church reform.[3] He was saved through the intervention of Boniface VIII, whom Arnaldus had cured of a painful illness.[4] He was once again imprisoned in Paris around 1304, under pope Benedict XI. The Sorbonne ordered his philosophical works to be burned.

He became an ambassador for James II, king of Aragon and Sicily. He sought refuge from the Inquisition at the court of Frederick III in Sicily, and was later called to Avignon as a doctor for pope Clement V.[2] He is certainly behind the papal bull of 8 September 1309, which required of medical students knowledge of some fifteen Greco-Arabic treatises, including ones by Galen and Avicenna.

In 1311 he was summoned to Avignon by Pope Clement V, but he died on the voyage off the coast of Genoa.[5] The inquisitor of Tarragona condemned him, and fifteen of his propositions were censured.[2] Arnaldus also bequeathed several of his books to the Carthusian monastery of Scala Dei to which he had already dedicated one of his books.[6]

## Writings[edit]

Arnaldus was also thought to be an alchemist: the door to his house in Montpellier, France, had carved depictions of a roaring lion and dragon biting its own tail (an Ouroboros), both alchemical symbols, and several renowned alchemists recognized him as an adept. He was also known as an astrologer.

Many alchemical writings, including Rosarius Philosophorum, Novum Lumen, or Flos Florum, are also ascribed to him, but they are not authentic. Collected editions of them were published at Lyon in 1504 and 1532 (with a biography by Symphorianus Campegius), at Basel in 1585, and at Lyon in 1686.[3] He is also the reputed author of important medical works, such as Speculum medicinae and Regimen sanitatis ad regem Aragonum, but many others, such as Breviarium Practicae, were falsely attributed to him. In addition, he wrote many theological works for the reformation of Christianity in Latin and in Catalan, some of them including apocalyptical prophecies.

A list of writings is given by J. Ferguson in his Bibliotheca Chemica (1906). See also U. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources hist., &c., Bio-bibliographie (Paris, 1903).[3]

## See also[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arnaldus de Villanova.

* Brazen Head
* Latin translations of the 12th century
* Litmus

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ^ D. Campbell, Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages, p. 5.
2. ^ a b c d Arnauld de VILLENEUVE (Arnau de Vilanova ou Arnaldus de Villanova). Médecin, théologien, diplomate, astrologue et alchimiste catalan Archived 3 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine
3. ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911.
4. ^ Robert E. Lerner, “The Pope and the Doctor,” The Yale Review 78, no. 1 (Autumn 1988): 62–79.
5. ^ Fernando Salmón (2010). Robert E. Bjork (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 135\. ISBN 978-0-19-866262-4.
6. ^ Arnaldus de Villanova (1981). Paniagua, Juan Antonio; García Ballester, Luis; Rogers McVaugh, Michael (eds.). Arnaldi de Villanova De esu carnium. Publicacions de la Universitat de Barcelona. p. 149\. ISBN 9788479355630. Retrieved 27 November 2023.

## References[edit]

Opere

* This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Arnaldus de Villa Nova". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 625.
* J. B. Haureau in the Histoire litteraire de la France (1881), vol. 28;
* E. Lalande, Arnaud de Villeneuve, sa vie et ses oeuvres (Paris, 1896).

## Further reading[edit]

* McVaugh, Michael (1970). "Arnald of Villanova". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 1\. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 289–291. ISBN 0-684-10114-9.

## External links[edit]

* Who is Arnau de Vilanova, full presentation of Arnau de Vilanova and his works provided by the project Arnau DB at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
* Arnaldus Villanovanus Catholic Encyclopedia
* Juanita A. Daly, Arnald of Vilanova: Physician and Prophet

Works attributed to Arnaldus

* Excerpta medica - Mscr.Dresd.C.278. [S.l.] 1500, Online-Ausgabe der Sächsischen Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden
* Opus aureum. Frankfurt a. Mayn 1604, Online-Ausgabe der Sächsischen Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden
* Hermetis Trismegisti Phoenicum Aegyptiorum Sed et aliarum Gentium Monarchae Conditoris ... sive Tabula Smaragdina. [Leipzig] 1657, Online-Ausgabe der Sächsischen Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden
* Hermetischer Rosenkrantz, Das ist: Vier schöne, außerlesene Chymische Tractätlein. [Hamburg] 1682, Online-Ausgabe der Sächsischen Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden
* Lewis E 18 Liber de vinis at OPenn

* v
* t
* e

Alchemy (general)

Alchemists|

| Greco-Egyptian|

* Agathodaemon (legendary)
* Chymes
* pseudo-Cleopatra
* pseudo-Democritus
* Hermes Trismegistus (legendary)
* Mary the Jewess
* pseudo-Moses
* Ostanes (legendary)
* Paphnutia the Virgin
* Zosimos of Panopolis

|

Ancient Chinese|

* Fang (alchemist)
* Ge Hong
* Master Geng
* Wei Boyang

Byzantine|

* pseudo-Olympiodorus
* Stephanus of Alexandria
* Synesius

Arabic-Islamic|

* Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (Rhazes)
* Alphidius
* pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana (Balīnūs/Balīnās)
* Artephius
* pseudo-Avicenna
* Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs
* Ibn Umayl (Senior Zadith)
* Ibn Waḥshiyya
* al-ʿIrāqī
* Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Geber)
* pseudo-Khālid ibn Yazīd (Calid)
* al-Jildakī
* Maslama al-Qurṭubī
* al-Ṭughrāʾī
* al-Zahrāwī (Abulcasis)

Late medieval|

* pseudo-Albertus Magnus
* (pseudo-)Arnaldus de Villa Nova
* pseudo-Geber
* George Ripley
* Guido di Montanor
* Hugh of Evesham
* Johann of Laz
* John Dastin
* John of Rupescissa (Jean de Roquetaillade)
* Magister Salernus
* pseudo-Michael Scot
* Ortolanus
* Paul of Taranto
* Petrus Bonus
* pseudo-Ramon Llull
* (pseudo-)Roger Bacon
* Taddeo Alderotti
* Thomas Norton

Early modern|

* Andreas Libavius
* Basil Valentine
* pseudo-Bernard of Treviso
* George Starkey (Eirenaeus Philalethes)
* Gerhard Dorn
* Giovanni da Correggio
* Heinrich Khunrath
* Hennig Brand
* Isaac Newton
* Jakob Böhme
* Jan Baptist van Helmont
* Johann Rudolf Glauber
* John Dee
* Michael Maier
* Michael Sendivogius
* Paracelsus
* Pierre-Jean Fabre
* Robert Boyle
* Samuel Norton
* Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes)
* Wilhelm Homberg

Modern|

* Carl Jung
* Eugène Canseliet
* Frater Albertus
* Fulcanelli
* Mary Anne Atwood

Writings|

| Major Works|

* Atalanta fugiens
* Aurora consurgens
* Liber de compositione alchemiae (Morienus)
* Book of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth
* Book of Mercy
* Books of the Balances
* Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit
* Cantong Qi
* Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
* Clavis sapientiae (Miftāḥ al-ḥikma)
* De consideratione quintae essentiae
* Emerald Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina)
* Leyden papyrus X
* Liber Hermetis de alchemia (Liber dabessi)
* Liber ignium
* Liber lucis
* Mappae clavicula
* Mirror of Alchimy
* Mutus liber
* Nabataean Agriculture
* Ordinal of Alchemy
* Papyrus Graecus Holmiensis
* Physika kai mystika
* Rosary of the Philosophers
* Rutbat al-ḥakīm (Step of the Sage)
* Seventy Books
* Sirr al-khalīqa (Secret of Creation)
* Sirr al-asrār (pseudo-Aristotle)
* Sirr al-asrār (al-Rāzī)
* Splendor solis
* Summa perfectionis
* Suspicions about the Hidden Realities of the Air
* Turba philosophorum
* Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine

|

Compilations|

* Aureum vellus
* Bibliotheca chemica curiosa
* De alchemia
* Deutsches Theatrum Chemicum
* Fasciculus chemicus
* Musaeum Hermeticum
* Theatrum chemicum
* Theatrum chemicum Britannicum
* Tripus aureus

Various|

* Alembic
* Athanor
* Azoth
* Chrysopoeia
* Element
* Elixir of life
* Homunculus
* Iatrochemistry
* In art/entertainment
* Magnum opus
* Ouroboros
* Pill of Immortality
* Philosophers' stone
* Prima materia
* Rebis
* Takwin
* Yliaster
* Processes
* Substances
* Symbols (Unicode, Suns in alchemy)

* All articles

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST
* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Spain
* France
* BnF data
* Catalonia
* Germany
* Italy
* Israel
* Belgium
* 2
* United States
* Sweden
* Czech Republic
* Australia
* Croatia
* Netherlands
* Poland
* Portugal
* Vatican

Academics|

* CiNii
* zbMATH

People|

* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* SNAC
* IdRef

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template