Jean Canappe (sometimes written Jean Canape) (1495- after 1558) was a French physician who was attached to

Francis I of France Francis I (; ; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis&nbs ...

in 1542. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Philiatros and was known because he contributed to the transmission of medical and surgical knowledge in French with

Pierre Tolet Pierre Tolet or Petrus Toletus (circa 1502 - circa 1580) was a French physician who, together with Jean Canappe contributed to the transmission of medical and surgical knowledge in French. Biography Originally from the diocese of Béziers, he stu ...

Biography

Jean Canappe was born in 1495. He was principal at the

Collège de la Trinité In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

in Lyon from 1528 to 1530 and obtained his medical degree at the

University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier () is a public university, public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous opera ...

in 1530 in one of the two classes which constituted the "cercle des anticques amys" of Rabelais":

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinisation of names, Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French Astrology, astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed Oracle, seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéti ...

Jacobus Sylvius Jacques Dubois ( Latinised as Jacobus Sylvius; 1478 – 14 January 1555) was a French anatomist. Dubois was the first to describe venous valves, although their function was later discovered by William Harvey. He was the brother of Franciscus Sy ...

and

Guillaume Rondelet Guillaume Rondelet (27 September 150730 July 1566), also known as Rondeletus/Rondeletius, was Regius professor of medicine at the University of Montpellier in southern France and Chancellor of the University between 1556 and his death in 1566. He ...

for 1529 and Jean Canappe, Charles des Marais and Antoine Champier for 1530. He worked with

Symphorien Champier Symphorien Champier (1471–1539) was a doctor and writer from Lyon. Born in Saint-Symphorien, France, Champier was a relation of the Chevalier de Bayard through his wife, Marguerite Terrail. Life A doctor of medicine at Montpellier, Champier w ...

at the College of Medicine in Lyon and became a friend of Ambroise Paré for whom he translated several books by Galen.. Public reader of the surgeons-barbers in Lyon in 1538 he was the "abbreviator" of Guy de Chauliac himself considered as the father of medical surgery, a profession then reserved to barbers.

Works

Canappe undertook to give lessons in surgery in French and to translate into French anatomical and medical books in Latin and Greek because surgery was not taught in French at that time. In this way he provided written and oral instructions to the barbers of his time, who also practised surgery. These men, who had not received a brilliant education, could not draw surgical knowledge from works written in Latin and there were few surgical books in French at the time. Latin remained the language of knowledge, but translations of the great ancient authors (Galen, Hippocrates) then appeared to accompany the development of medical knowledge and the publication of works. Against some doctors who thought that the translation of ancient Latin works into French would distort medicine, these humanist doctors argued that translation into the vernacular would, on the contrary, allow new progress in health and public health: barber-surgeons could add to their manual skills, an ancient surgical knowledge confronted with their actual practice. Canape increased the number of translated books and thus helped to train surgeons.

Ambroise Paré Ambroise Paré (; – 20 December 1590) was a French barber surgeon who served in that role for kings Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. He is considered one of the fathers of surgery and modern forensic pathology and a pione ...

was one of them. Canappe translated several of Galen's books from Greek into French, such as: * ''Le livre des Simples'' (''The Book of the Plants'') (1545) * ''L'anatomie du corps humain'' (''The Anatomy of the Human Body'' (1541–1583) * ''Le livre de Galien traitant du mouvement et des muscles'' (''Galen's book on movement and muscles'') (1545) as well as Latin medical books in French: * ' ; * ' ; * ''Commentaires et annotations sur le prologue et chapitre singulier'' de Guy de Chauliac (1542). He also wrote: * '. Jean Canappe's disciple was

who was also linked with Rabelais. In January 1539,

Étienne Dolet Étienne Dolet (; 3 August 15093 August 1546) was a French scholar, translation, translator and printer (publisher), printer. He was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime, which was buffeted by the opposing forces of the Renaissance and ...

wrote him the following letter:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canappe, Jean French surgeons 16th-century French physicians