Ricardus Anglicus (Medic)

Ricardus Anglicus ( sheet around 1180) was an English physician and author of medical writings.

Earlier he was also identified with Richard von Wendover , but a match with this after Faye Getz is unlikely.

The name Ricardus Anglicus is ambiguous in the Middle Ages, as it only stands for Richard from England in Latin . There was also an English lawyer and clergyman Richard de Morins (* around 1161-1242), who was also called "Ricardus Anglicus", and Bishop Richard Poore († 1237) was (incorrectly) called that.

Life

Ricardus Anglicus, who was also a clergyman, wrote a compendium of medicine called Micrologus at the University of Montpellier on behalf of Lancelinus de l 'Isle-Adam, who was a deacon of Beauvais from 1178 to 1190. From this it follows that it cannot have originated after 1190, which means that an identification with Richard of Wendover is excluded. Another evidence is the testimony of Gilles de Corbeil († 1224), also a professor in Montpellier and author of rhyming writings on urine and pulse, who speaks well of a doctor Richardus senior in Montpellier (but does not call him Anglicus).

The Micrologus is not completely preserved, but separate texts under the name Ricardus Anglicus seem to be assigned to it as parts. There are other medical texts that were distributed under the name Ricardus Anglicus, but their assignment to the author of the Micrologus is doubtful.

The Micrologus belongs to an early stage of medieval writings on medicine, which gives more practical instructions compiled from the literature (aimed at practical, less learned and well-off medical professionals) than expounding theories like the later scholastic medicine under the influence of Avicenna . He recommends herbal medicines for therapy. The large number of preserved manuscripts of the Micrologus speaks for its popularity.

The author of the Micrologus had traveled widely, he mentions stays in Bologna (possibly also Poland), Montpellier and Spoleto. He may also have been at the Pope's court. Gilbertus Anglicus (also an English author of medical writings) admired him greatly and called him the most learned and experienced of all doctors . Since Gilbertus Anglicus also wrote about Gilles de Corbeil, he may have expressed his opinion and did not know him personally.

Works

Manuscripts:

• Micrologus Magistri Ricardi Anglici (a kind of medical encyclopedia and compilation of Greek and Arabic authors, not fully preserved, the Anatomia and Practica are parts of it)
• Practica
• Anatomia
• De Signis prognosticis or Signa Medicinalia (fever, pulse and other medical symptoms are treated, therefore also parts separately as De Pulsibus, De Signis Febrium, De Crisi)
• De modo conficiendi et medendi
• De Phlebotomia
• De Urinis
• Repressive drugs
• Tabulæ cum commentario Joannis de Sancto Paulo
• Liber Ricardi
• Practica sive Medicamenti Ricardi

Newer editions:

• Julius Florian (Ed.): The "Anatomia" of Magister Richardus ("Anatomia"). Jungfer Publishing House, Breslau 1875.

literature

• Karl Sudhoff : Viennese Cod. Lat. 1634 and the "Anatomia Ricardi Anglici" . In: Archive for the History of Medicine , 8th year (1914/15), p. 71
  • and Karl Sudhoff: Richard the Englishman. In: Janus 28, 1924, pp. 397-403.
• Herbert Hellriegel, Erich Frers: The "Practica" from the Micrologus Richards of the English . Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of Leipzig 1934. (Two dissertations under Karl Sudhoff)
• Hermann Heinrich Beusing: Life and work of Richardus Anglicus including a first print of his font "Signa". Medical dissertation Leipzig, 1922.
• Faye Getz: Richard of Wendover (d. 1252) , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , 2004 (the article also deals with Ricardus Anglicus in the second part, there as Richardus Anglicus (fl. 1180))

Web links

• La Medicina en la Historia Medieval Cristiana (Spanish)
• 13th and 14th Century Medicine (English)