Cornelis Bontekoe (1647 in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...

– 13 January 1685 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

), whose real name was Cornelis Dekker, was a Dutch physician known also as a popular essayist, particularly on his promotion of tea, and editor of the works of

Arnold Geulincx Arnold Geulincx (; 31 January 1624 – November 1669), also known by his pseudonym Philaretus, was a Flemish philosopher, metaphysician, and logician. He was one of the followers of René Descartes who tried to work out more detailed versions of ...

, a Belgian philosopher. He also applied what were generally Cartesian theories in medicine, but with innovations such as a purely hydraulic and muscular explanation of the mechanism of the heart.Thomas Fuchs and

Marjorie Glicksman Grene Marjorie Glicksman Grene (December 13, 1910 – March 16, 2009) was an American philosopher. She wrote on existentialism and the philosophy of science, especially the philosophy of biology. She taught at the University of California at Davis from ...

, ''The Mechanization of the Heart: Harvey and Descartes'' (2001), p. 154
Google Books

Life

In an itinerant and stormy life, Bontekoe, who took his pseudonym from the spotted cow on the sign of his

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

father Gerrit Dekker’s grocery shop in

, courted controversy and agitated for reform and more modern thinking in medicine. He studied at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

under

Franciscus Sylvius Franciscus Sylvius (, ; born Franz de le Boë; 15 March 1614 – 19 November 1672) was a Dutch physician and scientist (chemist, physiologist and anatomist) who was an early champion of Descartes', Van Helmont's and William Harvey's work ...

and Geulincx, graduating M.D. in 1667. In conflict with the medical men of Alkmaar, he moved his practice. He returned for a second period at Leiden in 1674, where Theodoor Craanen was his teacher. His vocal opposition to Aristotelian teaching saw him banned at Leiden, with Johannes Swartenhengst, in 1675. He was, however, readmitted in 1676 to the university, where his follower Heydentryk Overcamp graduated M.D. in 1677. Bontekoe's ''Tractaat'' advocating tea-drinking appeared in 1678 and made him his reputation. Via Amsterdam, he moved to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, where he wrote a work against the concept of a climacteric year, which he dedicated to

Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg Frederick William (; 16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "th ...

. The Elector rewarded him with positions as a court physician and as a professor at the University of Frankfurt an der Oder. Bontekoe moved to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. He had patients in Berlin-Cölln and died there.

References

*
Cornelis Bontekoe (1647 – 1685)
at the Spinoza website.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bontekoe, Cornelis 1640s births 1685 deaths 17th-century Dutch physicians Dutch essayists Leiden University alumni Academic staff of European University Viadrina People from Alkmaar