Arnaldus de Villa

Nova

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 was also thought to be an alchemist (his house in Montpellier,
France, had a carved door showing a roaring lion and dragon that bit his tail, also known as
Ouroboros, both recognized alchemical symbols). The fact that several renowned alchemists
recognized him as an adept reinforces the thesis that he was an alchemist. He was also, like
most wise men of his time, an astrologer.
 Arnaldus de Villa Nova

Born c.1240

unknown

Died c.1311

Genoa

Region Mediterranean

He was born in the Crown of Aragon, probably Villanueva de Jiloca (Aragon) or Valencia, and
he studied medicine and he also took some courses of theology. After living at the court of
Aragon and teaching for many years in the Montpellier School of Medicine, he went to Paris,
where he gained a considerable reputation; but he incurred the enmity of ecclesiastics.[1] In
1311 he was summoned to Avignon by Pope Clement V, but he died on the voyage off the
coast of Genoa.[2]

He is credited with translating a number of medical texts from Arabic, including works by Ibn
Sina Avicenna, Abu-l-Salt, and Galen.[3] 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.[1] 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.
 Biography

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, in the Kingdom of Valencia (now in Spain), in
Catalonia, in Languedoc, in 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 Valencian (Confessió de Barcelona, Raonament d'Avinyó). Whatever the reality,
Arnaldus had a great reputation as a doctor, theologian and alchemist.[4]

He studied medicine in Montpellier until 1260. He traveled through France, Catalonia, and
Italy, as part doctor, part ambassador. He 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.[4]

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. He was
saved through the intervention of Boniface VIII, whom Arnaldus had cured of a painful
illness.[5] He was once again imprisoned in Paris around 1304, under pope Benedict XI. The
Sorbonne ordered his philosophical works to be burned.

He was the master of the school of medicine 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.

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.[4] 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.

He died in a shipwreck near Genoa in 1311 while on a diplomatic mission. The inquisitor of
Tarragona condemned him, and fifteen of his propositions were censured.[4]

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).[1]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arnaldus de Villanova.

Brazen Head
 Latin translations of the 12th century

Litmus

Footnotes

1. Chisholm 1911.

2. 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.

3. D. Campbell, Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages, p. 5.

4. Arnauld de VILLENEUVE (Arnau de Vilanova ou Arnaldus de Villanova). Médecin, théologien,

diplomate, astrologue et alchimiste catalan (http://www.medarus.org/Medecins/MedecinsTextes/arn
aud_dv.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140703205752/http://www.medarus.org/M
edecins/MedecinsTextes/arnaud_dv.html) 3 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine

5. Robert E. Lerner, “The Pope and the Doctor,” The Yale Review 78, no. 1 (Autumn 1988): 62–79.

References

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

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

Who is Arnau de Vilanova (http://grupsderecerca.uab.cat/arnau/en/arnaudevilanova) , full

presentation of Arnau de Vilanova and his works provided by the project Arnau DB (http://g
rupsderecerca.uab.cat/arnau) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Arnaldus Villanovanus (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15429c.htm) Catholic

Encyclopedia

Juanita A. Daly, Arnald of Vilanova: Physician and Prophet (https://web.archive.org/web/20

190302135536/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a45c/9e490122a2f6efa2c22893b455127
8173af0.pdf)
Works attributed to Arnaldus
Excerpta medica - Mscr.Dresd.C.278 (http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn281380317) . [S.l.]
1500, Online-Ausgabe der Sächsischen Landesbibliothek - Staats- und
Universitätsbibliothek Dresden

Opus aureum (http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn277076854) . 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 (http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn277141982) .
[Leipzig] 1657, Online-Ausgabe der Sächsischen Landesbibliothek - Staats- und
Universitätsbibliothek Dresden

Hermetischer Rosenkrantz, Das ist: Vier schöne, außerlesene Chymische Tractätlein (htt
p://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn278891675) . [Hamburg] 1682, Online-Ausgabe der
Sächsischen Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden

Lewis E 18 Liber de vinis at OPenn (http://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0023/html/lewis_

e_018.html)
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