Cornelis Roelans van Mechelen (1450-1525) (also Cornelius Roelans Mechelingensis de Mechlinea, Cornelius de Mechelingensis, or Roelants van Mechelen) was a

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

paediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their yout ...

of the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. He was born in Mechlen in 1450. At the age of 16 he entered the University of Leuven, and while there, he must have made good use of his time in studying the books and manuscripts of the early writers. Later, he returned to Mechlin, where he practiced until he died, in 1525. In 1494, he married Caecilie von Duffel, they had two children. He wrote the text of the third incunabulum in pediatrics: De aegritudinibus infantium (1483), the first two being ''Ein Regiment der Jungerkinder'' 1473 by Bartholomäus Metlinger and ''Versehung des Leibs'' 1429 by Heinrich von Louffenburg. His book is a rare one, but fortunately it is now available through the efforts of

Karl Sudhoff Karl Sudhoff (26 November 1853, Frankfurt am Main – 8 October 1938, Salzwedel) was a German historian of medicine, who founded the first institute for the history of medicine in the world. Sudhoff taught for years at the University of Leipzig, ...

, who, in his "Erstlinge der Pädiatrische Literatur," has reproduced the text in facsimile and accompanied it by an illuminating essay. The original may be seen in the library of the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, and a copy can be found in the

Hunterian Museum The Hunterian is a complex of museums located in and operated by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest museum in Scotland. It covers the Hunterian Museum, the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House, the Zoology M ...

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and a few leaves at

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of ...

. John Ruhräh, M.D. (1928) ‘Cornelius Roelans 1450-1525’, ''JAMA network open'', 35(4), pp. 659-662. Available at: https://doi:10.1001/archpedi.1928.01920220104011.

References

Literature

* K. Sudhoff, ''Erstlinge der pädiatrischen Literatur; drei Wiegendrucke über Heilung und Pflege des Kindes in Faksimile etc.'' 1925, p. XXXIII-LII, Taf. XX-XXIV; * A. Peiper, ''Chronik der Kinderheilkunde'', 1958, p. 91-93; * E. Huizenga, ''Eene nuttelike practijke van cirurgien'', Geneeskunde en astrologie in het Mnl. hs. Wenen, in: ÖNB 2818, 1997, p. 85 f.; 1450 births 1525 deaths Physicians from the Habsburg Netherlands Scientists from the Habsburg Netherlands Physicians from Mechelen Old University of Leuven alumni {{Belgium-bio-stub