Belgium
•
4 views
Rembert Dodoens
Mechelen, Belgium
Archival Overview
Flemish Renaissance physician and botanist whose 1554 Cruydeboeck became one of the most widely translated botanical compendiums in world history, establishing botanical classification based on plant properties.
Biographical Record
After earning his doctorate in medicine at the University of Leuven, Dodoens served as city physician in Mechelen and later court physician to Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II in Vienna. In 1582, he accepted the chair of medicine at the University of Leiden.
His landmark herbal Cruydeboeck (1554), featuring 715 beautiful woodcut illustrations, broke with ancient Galenic tradition by classifying plants according to their physical structures and medicinal uses. Translated into French, Latin, and English (by Henry Lyte), it was studied by herbalists as far as Tokugawa Japan.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
0 messages recordedLeave a Respectful Tribute
Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialLeiden, Netherlands