Jacobus Theodorus (Jacob Diether), called Tabernaemontanus (1525 – August 1590) was a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and an early

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and

herbalist Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...

, one of the "fathers of German botany" whose illustrated ''Neuw Kreuterbuch'' (Frankfurt, 1588) was the result of a lifetime's botanizing and medical practice. It provided unacknowledged material for

John Gerard John Gerard (also John Gerarde, c. 1545–1612) was an English herbalist with a large garden in Holborn, now part of London. His 1,484-page illustrated ''Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes'', first published in 1597, became a popular gard ...

's better-known ''Herball'' (London, 1597) and was reprinted in Germany throughout the 17th century. His Latinised name is a compressed form of the Latinized name ''Tabernae Montanae'' of his home town of

Bergzabern Bad Bergzabern () is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, on the German Wine Route in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated near the border with France, on the south-eastern edge of the Palatinate forest, approximately ...

in the Palatinate. Tabernaemontanus began as a student of two of the pioneers of Renaissance botany, first of

Otto Brunfels Otto Brunfels (also known as Brunsfels or Braunfels) (believed to be born in 1488 – 23 November 1534) was a German theologian and botanist. Carl von Linné listed him among the "Fathers of Botany". Life After studying theology and philosophy ...

and later of

Hieronymus Bock Hieronymus Bock ( Latinised Hieronymus Tragus; c. 1498 – 21 February 1554) was a German botanist, physician, and Lutheran minister who began the transition from medieval botany to the modern scientific worldview by arranging plants by their re ...

. The career of Tabernaemontanus was supported in the usual manner of his time: by a series of places as court physician to German nobles. In 1549 he was the private physician to

Philip II, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken Philip II, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken (25 July 1509 – 19 June 1554) was a German nobleman. He was born in Saarbrücken, the eldest son of John Louis and his second wife, Catherine of Moers. In 1537, he married Catherine of Leiningen-H ...

and later (from 1561 on) to Marquard von Hattstein,

bishop of Speyer The Bishop of Speyer is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer, which is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Bamberg.city physician City physician (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, and the sanitary ...

() to the

free imperial city In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had about 82,000 inhabitants . A pre-Roman foundation, Worms is one of the oldest cities in northern Europe. It wa ...

. Johannes Posthius and William Turner (Bad Bergzabern) were friends of Tabernaemontanus. In 1562, Tabernaemontanus enrolled as a student at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

University. In the same city he spent the last decades of his life as physician to his liege lord, the

Prince-Elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the prince ...

. He died in Heidelberg, having been three times married and the father of eighteen children. He is commemorated in the pan-tropical genus of flowering shrubs and small trees ''

Tabernaemontana ''Tabernaemontana'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. It has a pan-tropical distribution, found in Asia, Africa, Australia, North America, South America, and a wide assortment of oceanic islands. These plants are evergreen ...

''; the French botanist

Charles Plumier Charles Plumier (; 20 April 1646 – 20 November 1704) was a French botanist after whom the frangipani genus ''Plumeria'' is named. Plumier is considered one of the most important of the botanical explorers of his time. He made three botanizing ...

erected the genus, as a compliment to Tabernaemontanus, and it was adopted by Linnaeus.

Works

TabernaemontanusNeuwVollkommentlichKreuterbuch

* ''Neuw Wasserschatz'' (1581) * ''Neuw Kreuterbuch'' part 1 (Frankfurt, 1588), part 2 & 3 (Frankfurt, 1591) the first edition of the masterwork on which his posthumous reputation is based
Digital editionvol. 21687 ed.
of the European Library of Information and Culture. * ''Eicones plantarum seu stirpium''"Images of plants or species". (Frankfurt, 1590) the illustrations of ''Neuw Kreuterbuch'', 2255 woodcuts of plants, without the text. * ''Iacobi Theodori Tabernaemontani New vollkommen Kräuter-Buch : darinnen uber 3000 Kräuter, mit schönen und kunstlichen Figuren, auch deren Unterscheid und Wirckung, sampt ihren Namen in mancherley Spraachen beschrieben, deßgleichen auch, wie dieselbige in allerhand Kranckheiten, beyde der Menschen und des Viehs, sollen angewendet und gebraucht werden, angezeigt wird''. Theodorus, Jacobus. Basel : König / Werenfels, 1664
Digital edition
of the

University and State Library Düsseldorf The University and State Library Düsseldorf (german: Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of th ...

. * ''Jacobi Theodori Tabernæmontani Neü vollkommen Kräuter-Buch : Darinnen Uber 3000. Kräuter/ mit schönen und kunstlichen Figuren/ auch deren Underscheid und Würckung/ sam̄t ihren Namen in mancherley Sprachen beschrieben ; Deßgleichen auch/ wie dieselbige in allerhand Kranckheiten/ beyde der Menschen und des Viehs/ sollen angewendet und gebraucht werden/ angezeigt wird''. Basel ; Offenbach am Mäyn : König, 1731
Digital edition
of the

Sources

* Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke / Ulrike Bofinger (2003): Apotheker, Arzt und Fachschriftsteller: Jakob Theodor, genannt Tabernaemontanus (1522-1590) aus Bergzabern. ''Rosarium literarum'', Beiträge zur Pharmazie- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte. * Hans Gerhard Christoph (1998): Sonderpublikation Saarland-Museum / Saarbrücken, 475. Geburtstag des Botanikers Prof. Jacob Theodor namens Tabernaemontanus. 1. August - 1. November 1998 exhibition. * Karl Mägdefrau (1998): Geschichte der Botanik 2. edition

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabernaemontanus, Jacobus Theodorus Herbalists German botanical writers 16th-century German physicians 1525 births 1590 deaths 16th-century German writers 16th-century German male writers