Rembert Dodoens
Rembert Dodoens (
Mechelen June 29,
1517 -
Leyden March 10,
1585) was a
Flemish physician and
botanist, also known under his Latinized name
Rembertus Dodonaeus.
In 1530 he started his studies of
medicine,
cosmography and
geography at the
University of Louvain, where he graduated in
1535. He established himself as a
physician in Mechelen in 1538. He married Kathelijne De Bruyn(e) in
1539. He had a short stay in
Basel (
1542-
1546). He turned down a chair at the University of Louvain in
1557. He equally turned down an offer to become court physician of emperor
Philip II of Spain. He became the court physician of the
Austrian emperor
Rudolph II in
Vienna (
1575-
1578). He then became
professor in medicine at the
University of Leiden in
1582.
Dodoens'
herbal
Cruydeboeck with 715 images (
1554) was influenced by that of
Leonhart Fuchs. He divided the
plant kingdom in six groups. It treated in detail especially the medicinal herbs, which made this work, in the eyes of many, a
pharmacopoeia.
It was translated first into
French in
1557 by
Charles de L'Ecluse ('Histoire des Plantes') and later into Latin in
1583. In his times, it was the most translated book after the
Bible. It became a work of worldwide renown, used as a
reference book for two centuries.
Dodoens's last book,
Stirpium historiae pemptades sex (
1583) was the Latin translation of his Cruydeboeck. It was used as a source by
John Gerard for his
Herball.
Dodoens is commemorated in the plant genus
Dodonaea, which was named after him by
Carolus Linnaeus.
|
Title page of his Cruydt-Boeck |
* Herbarium (1533)
* Den Nieuwen Herbarius (1543)
* Cosmographica in astronomiam et geographiam isagoge (1548)
* De frugum historia (1552)
* Trium priorum de stirpium historia commentariorum imagines (1553)
* Posteriorum trium de stirpium historia commentariorum imagines (1554)
* Cruydeboeck (1554)
* Physiologices medicinae tabulae (1580)
* Medicinalium observationum exempla rara (1581)
* Stirpium historiae pemptades sex (1583)
* Praxis medica (1616) (posthumous)
* Ars medica, ofte ghenees-kunst (1624) (posthumous)
*
Project Dodoens: concise biography, complete bibliography (linking to scans) - in English
*
Project Dodoens: linking to comprehensive biography, complete bibliography (linking to scans), etc. - commentary in Dutch:*
Cruijdeboeck, ed. 1554 (1st edition), illustrated, hand-colored - Complete 877 pages' scans online:*
Cruydt-Boeck , ed. 1644 (last and most comprehensive edition, illustrated)
(Cruijdeboeck, 13th ed.; 5th and last Flemish ed., 3th ed. of the 1608 Cruydt-Boeck) - Complete 1588 pages' scans online:*
A new herbal, or historie of plants, ed. 1619 (5th, revised edition, no illustrations of plants):
the Cruijdeboeck in English translation by Henry Lyte,
based on the French Histoire des plantes ed. 1557, and the 2nd Flemish edition 1563 - Complete 627 pages' scans online::*
About the English translation (earlier edition than the above)*
Dodonæus in Japan - (pdf) - in English
*
Image of Dodoens*
Extensive link collection of old herbals on the internet - commentary in Dutch
