Otto Brunfels

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Otto Brunfels

Otto Brunfels (or Otho Brunfels , also Brunsfels or Braunfels ) (* 1488 in Mainz , † November 23, 1534 in Bern , Switzerland ) was a German theologian , humanist , doctor and botanist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Brunfels ". Together with Hieronymus Bock and Leonhart Fuchs, he is one of the " fathers of botany ".

Life

Brunfels first studied theology and philosophy at the University of Mainz , where he obtained a master's degree in 1508/1509 , entered the Carthusian monastery in Mainz and later moved to the Carthusian monastery at Königshofen near Strasbourg , where he was ordained priest in 1514. From Strasbourg he made contact with the legal scholar Nikolaus Gerbel and got to know him personally in 1519. This pointed out to him the healing power of plants and thus determined the further path of Brunfels as a botanist.

Influenced by the Upper Rhine Reformation, Brunfels fled the monastery, converted to Protestantism (he was supported by Franz von Sickingen and Ulrich von Hutten , among others ) and, at the instigation of the Frankfurt Dean Johannes Indagine, became pastor in Steinau an der Strasse in 1521 . He then worked as a pastor in Neuenburg am Rhein . He then headed a school of the Carmelite Order in Strasbourg for eight years and acquired Strasbourg citizenship at Easter 1524.

The list of main heretics issued by the University of Leuven in 1550 on the orders of the emperor contains Brunfels' name in the first place.

Contrafayt Kreüterbuch

Brunfels defended Ulrich von Hutten against Erasmus von Rotterdam in one of his papers and published posthumous writings by Johannes Hus . Brunfels' Catalogi virorum illustrium from 1527 is considered to be the first history book of the Evangelical Church.

After the death of his friend Ulrich von Hutten (1523) he leaned more towards the principles of an old Protestant congregation and thus came into conflict with Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli . He then studied medicine at the University of Basel, where he obtained his doctorate in 1530, and in 1532 he was appointed city doctor to Bern, where he remained until the end of his life.

In addition to his numerous theological works, Brunfels published writings on pedagogy , the Arabic language , drug theory and botany , and he also had a manuscript printed on the application of astrology to medicine. Michael Herr from Speyer had heard a lecture from Georg Tannstetter in Vienna in 1526 . He gave his transcript to Brunfels, who had it printed in Strasbourg in 1531 under the title Artificium de applicatione Astrologiae ad Medicinam . A letter from Brunfels (dated March 1, 1531, Strasbourg) is prefixed as an introduction. In this Brunfels shows a strong astrological conviction: Astrology is the teacher of medicine, and those doctors who work without astrology want to base everything on chance.

Botany owes much to him for its new founding in the West, since he did not, as was customary until then, only based on the botanical writings of ancient times, but observed the plants himself and described them from his own experience. In his herb books Herbarum vivae eicones (1530 and 1536, three parts) and Contrafayt herb book (1532–1537, two parts), he had the native plants he found cut in wood and put the German names under the images. Brunfel's herbal books were illustrated by Hans Weiditz from 1530 onwards . In 1930 Walther Rytz discovered plant watercolors at the Bern Botanical Institute, which he was able to attribute to Weiditz. They were made in 1529 and served as templates for the woodcuts in Brunfels' herbal books.

Dedication names

Charles Plumier named the genus Brunfelsia of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) in his honor . Carl von Linné later took over this name. The plant genus Brunfelsiopsis Urb. from the nightshade family (Solanaceae) was named in his honor.

Fonts (selection)

  • Othonis Brvnfelsii Pro Vlricho Hutteno defuncto ad Erasmi Roter. Spongiam Responsio . (1523)
  • Processus consistorialis Martyrii Io. Huss . (1524); German: Geistl. Blood trade Iohannis Hussz zu Constenz (1524 or 1525)
  • Catalogi virorum illustrium veteris et novi testamenti . (1527)
  • Catechesis puerorum in fide, in literis et in moribus . (1529, educational guide)
  • Herbarum vivae eicones . 3 volumes, Strasbourg (Hans Schott) 1530–1536.
I 1530 (digitized version) II 1532 (digitized version) III 1536 (digitized version)
  • Catalogus illustrium medicorum seu de primis medicinae scriptoribus . (1530)
  • Novi Herbarii. Tomus II. Apodixis Germanica. Johannes Schott, sl 1531 Digitized and full text in the German text archive
  • Iatron medicamentorum simplicium . (1533)
  • Contrafayt Kreüterbuch . (with lifelike illustrations by Hans Weiditz ), 2 parts, Basel (1532–1537): first German adaptation of his Herbarum vivae eicones
1532 (digitized) 1537 (digitized)
  • ONOMAΣTIKON medicinae: ... ex optimis, probatissimis, & vetustissimis autoribus, cum Graecis, tum Latinis, opus recens, nuper multa lectione Othonis Brunfelsij ... congesta ... dediderunt; Praescriptis Operi Tabulis nominum anatomie & egritudinum totius corporis humani . Johann Schott, Strasbourg 1534 (digitized version)
  • Together with Hans Eles. Reformation of the apothecaries… W. Riel, Strasbourg 1536 (digitized version )
  • Epitome medices, summam totius medicinae complectens . (1540)
  • In Dioscoridis historiam plantarum certissima adaptatio . (1543)
  • Of all kinds of pharmacy confections, latters, oils, pills, potions, troches, sugar slices, ointments and plasters, etc: how, when and for what one should use them / a brief report by D. Otthonis Brunnfelsij. Gülfferich, Franckfurt aM 1552 (digitized version )

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke : Otto Brunfels , in: Wolfgang U. Eckart and Christoph Gradmann (eds.): Ärztelexikon. From antiquity to the present , 3rd edition 2006 Springer Verlag Heidelberg, Berlin, New York pp. 68 + 69. doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-540-29585-3 .
  2. ^ Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer : Humanism between court and university. Georg Tannstetter (Collimitius) and his scientific environment in Vienna in the early 16th century . Vienna 1996, p. 147f.
  3. ↑ Walther Rytz: The watercolors of plants by Hans Weiditz from 1529. The originals for the woodcuts in Brunfels'schen herb book. Haupt, Bern 1936.
  4. ^ Charles Plumier: Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera . Paris 1703, p. 12.
  5. ^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica . Leiden 1737, p. 92.
  6. ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 83.
  7. ↑ a b Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymic plant names - extended edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
  8. ↑ Peter Dilg . The "Reformation of the Apotecken" (1536) by the Bern city doctor Otto Brunfels. In: Gesnerus. Swiss Journal of the History of Medicine and Sciences . Volume 36 (1979), pp. 181-205 (digitized version )

Web links

Wikisource: Otto Brunfels  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Otto Brunfels  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Brunfels, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brunsfels, Otto; Braunfels, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH 1488
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainz
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1534
Place of death Bern