Otto Brunfels (also known as Brunsfels or Braunfels) (believed to be born in 1488 – 23 November 1534) was a German

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Carl von Linné Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organi ...

listed him among the "Fathers of Botany".

Life

After studying

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

, Brunfels entered a

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians (), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its own rule, called th ...

monastery in Mainz and later resettled to another Carthusian monastery at Königshofen near

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

. In Strasbourg he got in contact with a learned lawyer Nikolaus Gerbel (they met in person in 1519). Gerbel drew Brunfels' attention to the healing powers of plants and thus gave the impetus to the further botanical investigations. Brunfels Helleborus

After the conversion to Protestantism (supported by

Franz von Sickingen Franz von Sickingen (; 2 March 14817 May 1523) was a knight of the Holy Roman Empire who, with Ulrich von Hutten, led the so-called " Knights' War," and was one of the most notable figures of the early period of the Protestant Reformation. Sic ...

and Ulrich von Hutten), upon the insistence of the Dean of Frankfurt Johann Indagine, Brunfels became a minister at Steinau an der Straße (1521) and later, in Neuenburg am Rhein. After that he served for eight years as the head of a

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

school in

. In the list of most important heretics published by the order of the Emperor by the University of Leuven (1550), Brunfels was listed first. In one of his works he defended Ulrich von Hutten against

Erasmus of Rotterdam Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and theologian, educationalist, satirist, and p ...

and published the manuscripts from the

Jan Hus Jan Hus (; ; 1369 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as ''Iohannes Hus'' or ''Johannes Huss'', was a Czechs, Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and t ...

heritage. Brunfels' ''Catalogi virorum illustrium'' 1527 is considered to be the first book on the history of

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Church. After his friend Ulrich von Hutten had died (1523), Brunfels' religious views brought him into a controversy with

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

and

Huldrych Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a Swiss Christian theologian, musician, and leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swis ...

. Later on he began to study

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

, ( MD 1532). In 1532 Brunfels became a

city physician City physician (German language, German: ; , , from Latin ) was a historical title in the Late Middle Ages for a physician appointed by the city council. The city physician was responsible for the health of the population, particularly the poor, ...

() in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, where he stayed till the end of his life. Besides of his numerous theological works, Brunfels published treatises on

pedagogics Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

Arabic language Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, pharmaceutics,

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

and

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. He is often called a ''father of botany'', because, in his botanical writings, he relied not so much on the ancient authors as on his own observations and described plants according to the latter. In his ''Herbarum vivae eicones'' (1530 and 1536, in three parts) and ''Contrafayt Kräuterbuch'' (1532–1537, in two parts), the German plants he himself found during his botanical studies are represented with woodcuts (by Hans Weiditz) under their German

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

names. However, Duane Isely attributes much of Brunfels' popularity to Weiditz, whose woodcuts set a new standard technically, and were done from life, rather being copied from previous works. Brunfels also introduced information about German plants not found in

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides (, ; 40–90 AD), "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of (in the original , , both meaning "On Materia medica, Medical Material") , a 5-volume Greek encyclopedic phar ...

, and described them independently of their medical values, although the descriptions are often poorly written.Ferdinand Wilhelm Emil Roth.
Otto Brunfels 1489–1534. Ein deutscher Botaniker
'' In: ''Botanische Zeitung'', 58 (1900), S. 191–232. A plant genus '' Brunfelsia'' (Solanaceae) is named after him.

Works

* ''Othonis Brvnfelsii Pro Vlricho Hutteno defuncto ad Erasmi Roter. Spongiam Responsio'' (1523) * ''Processus consistorialis Martyrii Io. Huss'' (1524); German edition: ''Geistl. Bluthandel Iohannis Hussz zu Constenz'' (1524 or 1525) * ''Pandectarum Veteris et Novi Testamenti'' (1527) * ''Catalogi virorum illustrium veteris et novi testamenti'' (1527) * ''Catechesis puerorum in fide, in literis et in moribus'' (1529)
''Herbarum vivae eicones''
3 Bde. (1530–36) * ''Catalogus illustrium medicorum seu de primis medicinae scriptoribus'' (1530) * ''Iatron medicamentorum simplicium'' (1533)
''Contrafayt Kreüterbuch (mit naturgetreuen Abb. v. Hans Weiditz)''
2 Vols., (1532–1537) * ''Onomastikon medicinae, continens omnia nomina herbarum, fruticum etc.'' (1534) * ''Epitome medices, summam totius medicinae complectens'' (1540) * ''In Dioscoridis historiam plantarum certissima adaptatio'' (1543) *
Von allerhandt apotheckischen Confectionen, Lattwergen, Oel, Pillulen, Träncken, Trociscen, Zucker scheiblein, Salben unnd Pflastern etc. : wie, wenn und warzu man jeses brauchen soll
'' Gülfferich, Frankfurt am Main (1552)

Sources

* * * Jahn, Ilse, ed. ''Geschichte der Biologie.'' Spektrum 2000 * Mägdefrau, Karl. ''Geschichte der Botanik.'' Fischer, Stuttgart 1973, S. 20–36. * ''Meyers Konversationslexikon'' 1888–1889

Notes

External links

*
University of Oklahoma Libraries: images of works by and portraits of Brunfels
* ''Kräuterbuch'

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* ''Herbarum vivae eicones''

– ttp://bildsuche.digitale-sammlungen.de/index.html?c=viewer&bandnummer=bsb00084026&pimage=7&v=2p&nav=&l=de III, 1536
A selection of high-resolution scans of pages with botanical illustrations
from Brunfels' 1530 ''Herbarium'' – from the

Linda Hall Library The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, on the grounds of a urban arboretum. It claims to be the "largest independently funded public library of sc ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunfels, Otto 1488 births 1534 deaths Carthusians Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni 16th-century German Protestant theologians German Lutheran theologians 16th-century German Lutheran clergy 16th-century German botanists German entomologists German Protestant Reformers German male non-fiction writers 16th-century German male writers