Jean Ruel (1474 – 24 September 1537), also known as Jean Ruelle or Ioannes Ruellius in its Latinised form, was a French physician and botanist noted for the 1536 publication in Paris of ''De Natura Stirpium'', a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

treatise on botany. Ruel was born in

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital ...

. He was self-taught in Greek and Latin, and studied medicine, graduating in 1508, or, according to other sources in 1502. In 1509 he became physician to Francis I, devoted himself at the same time to a study of botany and pharmacology. He was a professor at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, and a large part of his academic career was given to an analysis of

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 ...

' ''De Materia Medica'', of which he published a Latin translation in 1516. Ruel's three-volume ''De Natura Stirpium'', which was published without illustrations, was intended partly as a gloss to the ancient writers. In it he described in great detail not only the habit and habitat, but also the smell and taste of each plant, producing a list in French of a large number of plant names. Although some of his works were compilations or translations of previous authors, they represent the first attempt to popularise botany. His 1530 book ''Hippiatrika'' or ''Veterinariae medicinae'', commissioned by Francis I, is a Latin collation of all that was written in Greek of Veterinary Medicine. Ruel also produced anatomical fugitive sheets of a man and woman in 1539. These sheets were constructed of hinged layers which could be lifted so that internal human anatomy was revealed. Ruell translated a large number of works into Latin, such as the last two volumes of

Joannes Actuarius Johannes Zacharias Actuarius (; – c. 1328 ), son of Zacharias (), was a Byzantine physician in Constantinople. He is given the title of '' Actuarius'', a dignity frequently conferred at that court upon physicians. Biography Very little is know ...

' ''De Methodo Medendi'', which he published under the title ''De Medicamentorum Compositione'' in 1539. After the death of Ruel's wife,

Étienne de Poncher Étienne de Poncher (1446–1524) was a French prelate and diplomat. After studying law he was early provided with a prebend, and became councillor at the parlement of Paris in 1485 and president of the Chambre des Enquêtes in 1498. Elected bish ...

the Bishop of Paris, appointed Ruel as canon at

Notre Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Medieval architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissemen ...

on 12 December 1526, enabling him to pursue his studies. Ruel died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and was buried in Notre-Dame.

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 ...

, the noted Marseilles botanist named the genus ''

Ruellia ''Ruellia'' is a genus of flowering plants commonly known as ruellias or wild petunias. They are not closely related to petunias (''Petunia'') although both genera belong to the same euasterids I, euasterid clade. The genus was named in honor of ...

'' in his honour. In 1753, botanist

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

published in his book

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

''Ruellia'', a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s commonly known as ''ruellias'' or ''wild petunias'', in the

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae () is a Family (biology), family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are Tropics, tropical Herbaceous plant, herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epip ...

family and the name honours Jean Ruel. Then in 1889, botanist C.B.Clarke published '' Ruelliopsis'', a genus of

s from South Africa belonging to the family

and whose name also honours Jean Ruel.

Works

* ''Roßartzney : zwey nützliche, sehr gute Bücher von mancherley Gebrechen der Roß unnd anderer arbeitsamen Thieren''. Ruel, Jean rsg. Gerlach, Nürmberg 157
Digital edition
by the

University and State Library Düsseldorf The University and State Library Düsseldorf (, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of the three State Libraries of North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

References

External links

Renaissance Herbals

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruel, Jean 16th-century French botanists French scholars Herbalists 16th-century French physicians Academic staff of the University of Paris People from Soissons 16th-century French writers 16th-century French male writers 1474 births 1537 deaths French male writers