Hortus Sanitatis

The Hortus Sanitatis (also written Ortus;

As appendix a treatise on uroscopy and several detailed registers.

Set in two columns, each chapter is headed by a picture. The following text gives a general description of the related simple drug and under the title of »oparetiones« a list of its effects on the human body.

The plants of the section "De Herbis" were determined by B. and H. Baumann (2010, pp. 205-222) according to current binominal nomenclature.

Sources

The author has composed the Hortus sanitatis out of well-known medieval encyclopaedias, such as the Liber pandectarum medicinae omnia medicine simplicia continens of Matthaeus Silvaticus (14th c.) and the Speculum natural of Vincent of Beauvais (13th century).^[5][6][7]

The text of uroscopy at the end of the Hortus sanitatis was borrowed from a text that circulated in numerous manuscripts under the names of »Zacharias de Feltris« or »Bartholomew of Montagna«.^[8][9]

A Latin manuscript, dated 1477, which already contains the textual core of Hortus sanitatis, was initially regarded as a possible template for the printing, but is now held for an independent copy of a Latin »circa-instans-manuscript«.^[10][11]

Publication history

Incunabule

• Mainz. Jacob Meydenbach (June 23) 1491 ^[12]
• Strasbourg. Anonymous 1496
• Strasbourg. Anonymous 1497-1498 ^[13] (with woodcuts from the workshop of Johann Grüninger, which were also used to illustrate the Kleines Destillierbuch of Hieronymus Brunschwig (1500).^[14][15]
• Strasbourg. Anonymous 1499 (Johann Prüß der Ältere?)
• Paris. Antoine Vérard 1500 Ortus sanitatis translate de latin en françois ^[16]

16th century

• Strasbourg after 1500 ^[17] (with woodcuts from the workshop of Hans Grüninger).
• Venice (Bernhardinus Benalius and John de Cereto de Tridino) 1511 (4th reprint: Venice 1611); Reprint (in two volumes) Würzburg 1978.
• Strasbourg 1517 ^[18]
• Paris 1539 Phillipe le Noir Le jardin de santé ^[19]

Sections two to five of the Hortus sanitatis (section one – herbs – lacking). Latin

• Strasbourg. Matthias Apiarius 1536 ^[20]

Sections two to five of the Hortus sanitatis (section one – herbs – lacking). German

• Straßburg 1529. Hans Grüninger^[21]
• Straßburg 1529. Balthasar Beck. Gart der gesuntheit. zu latin …^[22]
• Straßburg 1536. Mathias Apiarius. Gart der gesuntheit zů latein …^[23]
• Frankfurt 1556. Hermann Gülfferich. Gart der Gesundtheyt Zu Latein …^[24]

An English version of extracts from the Hortus, the Noble lyfe & natures of man, of bestes, serpentys, fowles & fisshes, was produced in 1491 by Laurence Andrew (fl. 1510–1537). A facsimile edition of this was published in London in 1954 by B. Quaritch.^[25]

Illustrations

The woodcut illustrations are stylised but often easily recognizable,^[1] and many were re-used in other works.^[26] In addition to the representations of simples, pictures show their use by humans, and scenes in which figures are surrounded by the subjects in their natural environment, such as standing by a river with fish and mermaids.^[1]

Illustrations. Mainz 1491

Source:^[27]

• 
  Book I, chapter 43. ..... Arbor vel lignum vite paradisi
• 
  Book I, chapter 84. Butirum – Butter
• 
  Book I, chapter 153. Caseus – Cheese
• 
  Book I, chapter 192. Fenum – Hay
• 
  Book I, chapter 221. Hauser vel hausor
• 
  Book I, chapter 269. ..... Lac – Milk
• 
  Book I, chapter 275. Manna
• 
  Book Buch I, chapter 276. Mandragora vir
• 
  Book I, chapter 277. Mandragora femine
• 
  Book I, chapter 292. ..... Mel – Honey
• 
  Book I, chapter 298. ..... Mirra
• 
  Book I, chapter 307. Narcissus
• 
  Book I, chapter 382. Panis – Bread
• 
  Book I, chapter 463. ..... Sapo – Soap
• 
  Book I, chapter 484. ..... Thus – Frankincense
• 
  Book I, chapter 510. Vinum – Vine
• 
  Book I, chapter 529. Adam and Eve under the Arbor paradisi
• 
  Titlepage of the chapter ... »De animalibus«
• 
  Book II, chapter 1. ..... Homo – Human
• 
  Book II, chapter 5. ..... Asinus – Donkey
• 
  Book II, chapter 119. Pediculus – Head louse
• 
  Book II, chapter 154. Vipera
• 
  Book II, chapter 155. Unicornus – Unicorn
• 
  Titlepage of the chapter ... »De avibus«
• 
  Book III, chapter 91. ..... Ova –

  Eggs
• 
  Titlepage of the chapter ... »De piscibus«
• 
  Book IV, chapter 3. ..... Allec – Fish soup
• 
  Book IV, chapter 56. ..... Mugil – Mullet
• 
  Titlepage of the chapter ... »De lapidibus«
• 
  Book V, chapter 6. Allectorius – Stone in the liver of a Capon
• 
  Book V, chapter 12. Arena – Sand
• 
  Book V, chapter 13. Argilla – Clay
• 
  Book V, chapter 16. Bolus – Armenian bole
• 
  Book V, chapter 18. Aurum – Gold
• 
  Book V, chapter 20. Argentum – Silver
• 
  Book V, chapter 21. Argentum vivum – Mercury
• 
  Book V, chapter 24. Bezaar – Bezoar
• 
  Book V, chapter 27. ..... Borax – Toadstone
• 
  Book V, chapter 30. ..... Calx – Calcium oxide
• 
  Book V, chapter 33. Celidonius – Stone in the stomac of swallows
• 
  Book V, chapter 35. Cerusa – White lead
• 
  Book V, chapter 46. Cuprum – Copper
• 
  Book V, chapter 101. Petroleum – Petroleum
• 
  Book V, chapter 124. ..... Sal – Salt
• 
  Coulered copy
• 
  Book V, chapter 130. Terra sigillata
• 
  Uroscopy
• 
  Physicians and patients

In culture

The University of Sydney comments that "The rich variety of the woodcuts makes this a very attractive book. The engraver was a skilled craftsman, but there is some botanical retrogression, since he did not always fully understand the plants he was copying from previous cuts."^[28]

A copy once owned by the apothecary George Pavius of Aberdeen is held by the University of Aberdeen.^{[citation needed][29]}

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Arber, Agnes (1912). "The Hortus sanitatis". Herbals. Their origin and evolution. A chapter in the History of Botany 1470-1670. Cambridge University Press. pp. 25–34.
• Baumann, Brigitte and Baumann, Helmut: Die Mainzer Kräuterbuch-Inkunabeln – „Herbarius Moguntinus“ (1484) – „Gart der Gesundheit“ (1485) – „Hortus Sanitatis (1491).“ Wissenschaftshistorische Untersuchungen der drei Prototypen botanisch-medizinischer Leiteratur des Spätmittelalters.. Anton Hiersemann, Stuttgart 2010, pp. 177–222: Hortus sanitatis, Mainz, 23. Juni 1491
  ISBN 978-3-7772-1020-9
• Fischer, Hermann. Mittelalterliche Pflanzenkunde. Verlag der Münchner Drucke, München 1929, pp. 94–109: Der große Hortus sanitatis (Mainz 1491)
• Raphael, Sandra (1986), "Herbal", in Goode, Patrick; Lancaster, Michael (eds.), The Oxford Companion to Gardens, Oxford University Press, pp. 249–252,
  ISBN 0-19-866123-1

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hortus Sanitatis.

• Hortus Sanitatis (1485)
• Hortus Sanitatis (1491)
• Ortus Sanitatis published 23 June 1491. A copy with coloured illustrations in Cambridge Digital Library
• Ortus sanitatis 4th edition; 3rd Strasbourg edition. Published 1499 by J. Prüss in Strasbourg. Digitised copy in Boston Public Library
• Hortus sanitatis. Book IV. De Piscibus