Arnaldus de Villa Nova

  Arnaldus de Villa Nova or Arnaldus de Villanueva, Arnaldus Villanovanus, Arnaud de Ville-Neuve or Arnau de Vilanova, (ca. 1235 Valencia–1311), alchemist, astrologer and physician, appears to have been of Catalan origin, and to have studied chemistry, medicine, physics, and also Arabic philosophy. After having lived at the court of Aragon, he went to Paris, where he gained a considerable reputation; but he incurred the enmity of the ecclesiastics and was forced to flee, finally finding an asylum in Sicily. About 1313 he was summoned to Avignon by Pope Clement V, who was ill, but he died on the voyage.

He is credited with translating a number of medical texts from Arabic, including works by Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Qusta ibn Luqa (Costa ben Luca), and Galen.^[1] Many alchemical writings, including Thesaurus Thesaurorum or Rosarius Philosophorum, Novum Lumen, and Flos Florum, are also ascribed to him, but they are of very doubtful authenticity. Collected editions of them were published at Lyon in 1504 and 1532 (with a biography by Symphorianus Campegius), at Basel in 1585, at Frankfurt in 1603, and at Lyon in 1686. He is also the reputed author of various medical works, including Breviarium Practicae. Among his rumoured achievements was the discovery of carbon monoxide and pure alcohol.

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Liber de Vinis

The first wine book to be mass printed was de Villanova's Liber de Vinis. Written from a predominantly medical view point, de Villanova's work covers a range of wine topics from the best circumstance for people to taste wine "...in the morning after they have rinsed their mouths and eaten three or four bites of bread dipped in water" and never on a full or empty stomach, as well as remedies for wines that may have gone flat or those with bad smells. Wine is also recommended as treatment of various medical illnesses such dementia and sinus troubles.^[2]

See also

• Brazen Head
• Latin translations of the 12th century

References

See J. B. Haureau in the Histoire litteraire de la France (1881), vol. 28; E. Lalande, Arnaud de Villeneuve, sa vie et ses oeuvres (Paris, 1896). A list of writings is given by J. Ferguson in his Bibliotheca Chemica (1906). See also U. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources hist., &c., Bio-bibliographie (Paris, 1903).

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Further reading

• McVaugh, Michael (1970). "Arnald of Villanova". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 289-291. ISBN 0684101149.