The earliest printed book on wine / by Arnald of Villanova ; now for the first time rendered into English, and with an historical essay, by Henry E. Sigerist ; with facsimile of the original edition, 1478.

  • Arnaldus de Villa Nova
Date:
1943
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The earliest printed book on wine / by Arnald of Villanova ; now for the first time rendered into English, and with an historical essay, by Henry E. Sigerist ; with facsimile of the original edition, 1478. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/88 (page 7)
    ^ntvobuciioy i ARNALD OF VILLANOVA brilliant scholastic physician, a prolific writer, adept in alchemy, astrology and magic, a lay theo/ logian and reformer, adviser and ambassador of kings and popes, muddled at times, lying at times, Arnald of Villanova1 was one of the most colorful figures of the Middle Ages. Little is known about his early life;2 even his birth year and birth place are uncertain. There were so many nova villce, “new burgs,” that the name is not sufficient to identify the place. From reliable contemporary sources it appears, however, that Spain was his homeland, that he came from a Catalan family and was born in the diocese of Valencia, probably between the years 1235 and 1240. He was of humble origin and grew up in great poverty. In the preface of his treatise De vinis he mentions how he suffered in his youth all the anxieties of poverty.3 He received his early education in one of the schools that the Dominicans had for poor boys. All his life he wrote a miserable Latin. We know little about his medical training, some of which he may have taken at Naples and some at Valencia where he mingled with Arabic physicians. Valencia had been conquered by the House of Aragon but many Moorish scholars had remained after adopting the Christian faith in order to be left in 1 In manuscripts and prints the name is frequently spelled Arnaldus Villanovanus, sometimes it occurs as Arnaldus de Villa Nova, or de Nova Villa. The spelling Arnoldus is also found occasionally. 2 For the biography see: Menendez Pelayos, Historia de los heterodoxos espanoles, Madrid, 1880; Barthelemy Haureau, “Arnauld de Villeneuve,” in: Histoire litteraire de la France, Paris, 1881, vol. xxviii, pp. 26/ 126; Paul Diepgen, Arnald von Villanova als Politiker und Laientheologe, Berlin/Leipzig, 1909; Paul Diepgen, “Studien zu Arnald von Villanova,” Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin, 1910, vol. in, pp. 115/130,188/198,369^396; 1912, vol. v, pp. 88/120; 1913, vol. vi, pp. 380/400; Paul Diepgen, “Die Weltanschauung Arnalds von Villanova und seine Medizin,” Scientia, 1937, vol. 61, pp. 38/47» The thesis of E. Lalande, Arnauld de Villeneuve, sa vie et ses oeuvres, Paris, 1896, is quite uncritical and full of errors. 3 The preface is not included in the German transladon. [7]