City Physicus

A city physicus or city physicus (from the Latin physicus , learned "body" doctor in contrast to the practice-oriented chirurgicus ) or city ​​doctor was a doctor appointed by the city ​​council since the late Middle Ages and, in addition to his private practice, performed roughly the tasks of today's health department .

He was responsible for sovereign measures that concerned the health care of the population and the hygienic conditions in the city. His duties also included overseeing the pharmacies and monitoring people involved in medical tasks, such as midwives and bathers . He also had forensic tasks such as the assessment of injury of living persons, the outer morgue and conducting autopsies in unnatural and unexplained manner of death . During the epidemic , many Stadtphysici published small, printed guides .

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries , the creation of calendars with astrological weather forecasts was often carried out by city doctors.

A number of city physicians also acted as personal physicians for noble or clerical dignitaries.

In less densely populated regions, the office was given in combination as a city ​​and district physician who, in addition to the city in its surrounding area, had to care for and supervise a certain medical district.

For the deputy of the city physician, z. B. in Hamburg, the designation Subphysicus .

Well-known city physicians and city doctors

• Johann Agricola (1590–1668), city physician in Frankenhausen , Altenburg and Breslau (today Wrocław, Poland)
• Balthasar Uloth (1608–1642), city physician in Darmstadt and Babenhausen
• Johann Peter Albrecht (1647–1724), city physician in Hildesheim
• Eberhard Barnstorff (1672–1712), city physician in Anklam and Greifswald
• Johann Lorenz Bausch (1605–1665), city physician in Altorf
• Georg Henning Behrens (1662–1712), city physician in Nordhausen
• Johannes Christoph Ludwig Beringer (1709–1746), city and district physician in Heidelberg , personal physician to the Prince-Bishop of Speyer
• Joachim Friedrich Bolten (1718–1796), City Physician in Hamburg
• Ugo Borgognoni (around 1270–1259), city surgeon and court doctor in Bologna
• Karl Ernst Büchner (1786–1861), City Physician in Darmstadt
• Johann Philipp Burggrav (1673–1746), city physician in Darmstadt
• Peter Carpser (1699–1759), city doctor in Hamburg
• Georg Christian Maternus de Cilano (1696–1773), city physician in Altona
• Johann Christian August Clarus (1774–1854), City Physician in Leipzig
• Friedrich Ludwig Christian Cropp (1718–1796), Subphysicus in Hamburg
• Johannes Ewich (1525–1588), city physician in Bremen
• Bernhard Feldmann (1704–1776), City Physician in Neuruppin
• Conrad Gessner (1516–1565), senior town doctor in Zurich
• Siegmund Hahn (1664–1742) and his son Johann Siegmund Hahn (1696–1773), Stadtphysici in Schweidnitz
• Ernst Ludwig Heim (1747–1834), city physician in Spandau
• Christoph von Hellwig (1663–1721), Stadtphysicus zu Erfurt , editor of the " Hundred Years Calendar "
• Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim , called Paracelsus (1493–1541), Stadtphysicus in Basel
• Dietrich Georg von Kieser (1779–1862), urban and rural physicist in Northeim
• Wilhelm Daniel Joseph Koch (1771–1849), City Physician in Trarbach
• Johann Jakob Kollmann (1714–1778), City Physician in Deggendorf
• Paulus Kyr (around 1510 –1588), Transylvanian city doctor in Kronstadt .
• Wilhelm Johann Theodor Mauch (1788–1863), Physicus of the city and office of Rendsburg
• Johannes May (1592–1671), city physician in Römhild and Coburg
• Peter Memmius (1531–1587) Stadtphysicus in Lübeck
• Raymund Minderer (1565 / 70–1621), city physician in Augsburg
• Konrad Müntzmeister (14th / 15th century), city doctor in Strasbourg; see Giving # Family Tree Trial of Giving
• Felix Platter (1536–1614), City Physician in Basel
• Cornelius Pleier (1595–1646 / 49), city physician in Coburg and Kitzingen
• Caspar Ratzenberger (1533–1603) city doctor in Naumburg / Saale
• Friedrich August Röber (1765–1827), City Physician in Dresden
• Johann Remmelin (1583–1632), city physician in Ulm , Schorndorf and Augsburg
• Martin Ruland the Elder J. (1569–1611), City Physician in Regensburg
• Philipp Jakob Sachs von Löwenheim (1627–1672), city physician in Breslau
• Benjamin Scharff (1651–1702), city physician in Sondershausen , Weißensee and personal physician to the Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
• Wilhelm Schefferlein (–1594), City Physician in Bad Neustadt an der Saale , Director of the Würzburg Juliusspital
• Isak Schlockow (1837–1890), city physician in Breslau
• Thomas Schöpf (1520–1577), city physician in Colmar and Bern
• Johannes Scultetus (1595–1645), city physician in Ulm
• Nathanael Sendel (1686–1757) City Physician in Elbing (today Elbląg, Poland)
• Peter de Spina I (1526–1569), city physician in Aachen
• Christoph Stathmion (around 1508 / 1509–1585), city physician in Coburg
• Heinrich Steinhöwel (1410 / 1411–1479), city doctor of Ulm, early humanist translator and writer
• Johann Stocker (1453–1513), city doctor of Ulm
• Johann Storch (1681–1751), City Physician in Eisenach
• Johann Friedrich Struensee (1737–1772), city physician in Altona, later Minister in Copenhagen
• Joachim Strupp (1530–1606) city physician in Frankfurt am Main
• Johannes Thal (1542–1583), city physician in Nordhausen
• Carl Türk (1838–1890), City Physician in Lübeck
• Friedrich von Wendt (1738-1818), city physician of Pless
• Arnold Wienholt (1749–1804), city physician in Bremen
• Johannes Wittich (1537–1596), city physician in Arnstadt and personal physician to the Counts of Schwarzburg

See also

• List of city physics in Wroclaw
• List of Lübeck city physics
• Community doctor
• Medical officer

further reading

• Manfred Straube : “From the artzent stat”: A chapter from the so-called Refomatio Sigismundi and the city medical system in the first half of the 15th century in the southwest of the empire, primarily in Basel. In: NTM Volume 2, 1965, 5, pp. 87-103.
• Manfred Stürzbecher : The physici in German-speaking countries from the Middle-Ages to the Enlightenment. In: A. Russell (Ed.): The Town and the State Physician in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment. Wolfenbüttel 1981, pp. 123-129.
• Hans-Peter Hils: Cuonrat Muentzmeister, arzat. To the life of a medieval city doctor. In: Medical History Journal. Volume 20, 1986, pp. 92-103.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bernhard D. Haage, Wolfgang Wegner: Surgeon, surgery. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , pp. 251-254; here: p. 251.
2. ^ Manfred Vasold: City doctors. In: Encyclopedia of Medical History. 2005, p. 1352 f.