Rembert Dodoens | |
|---|---|
 Engraving byTheodor de Bry, inBibliotheca chalcographica (1669) | |
| Born | Rembert Van Joenckema 29 June 1517 Mechelen, Flanders (now Belgium) |
| Died | 10 March 1585(1585-03-10) (aged 67) Leiden, South Holland, The Netherlands |
| Resting place | Pieterskerk, Leiden |
| Other names | Rembertus Dodonaeus |
| Alma mater | University of Leuven |
| Known for | Cruydboeck, a "Herbal" |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 5 |
| Parent(s) | Denis van Joenckema and Ursula Roelants |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Medicine, botany |
| Institutions | Mechelin, Vienna,Leiden University |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Dodoens |
Rembert Dodoens (bornRembert van Joenckema, 29 June 1517 – 10 March 1585) was aFlemishphysician andbotanist, also known under hisLatinized nameRembertus Dodonaeus. He has been called the father of botany.[a]The standardauthor abbreviationDodoens is used to indicate this person as the author whenciting abotanical name.[2]
Dodoens was born Rembert van Joenckema inMechelen, then the capital of theSpanish Netherlands in 1517. His parents were Denis van Joenckema (d. 1533) and Ursula Roelants. The van Joenckema family and name areFrisian in origin. Its members were active in politics and jurisprudence inFriesland and some had moved in 1516 to Mechelen.[3] His father was one of the municipal physicians in Mechelen and a private physician toMargaret of Austria, Governor of the Netherlands, in her final illness. Margaret of Austria'scourt was based in Mechelen.[4] Rembert later changed his last name to Dodoens (literally "Son of Dodo", a form of his father's name, Denis or Doede).
Dodoens was educated at the municipal college in Mechelen before beginning his studies inmedicine,cosmography andgeography at the age of 13 at theUniversity of Leuven (Louvain), under Arnold Noot, Leonard Willemaer, Jean Heems, and Paul Roelswhere. He graduated with a licentiate in medicine in 1535, and as was the custom of the time, began extensive travels (Wanderjahren) in Europe till 1546, including Italy, Germany, France, and a stay inBasel 1542–1546. In 1539 he married Kathelijne De Bruyn (1517–1572), who came from a medical family in Mechelen. With her he had four children, Ursula (b. 1544), Denijs (b. 1548), Antonia, and Rembert Dodoens.[5] After his wife's death at the age of 55 in 1572, he married Maria Saerinen by whom he had a daughter, Johanna.[6]
In 1548, Dodoens followed in his father's footsteps by becoming one of the three municipalphysicians in Mechelen together with Joachim Roelandts and Jacob De Moor.[3][7] In 1557, Dodoens turned down an offer of a chair at the University of Leuven. He also turned down an offer to become court physician of kingPhilip II of Spain. In 1575–1578, he was the court physician of the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian II and his successorAustrian emperorRudolph II inVienna. In 1582, he was appointedprofessor of medicine at theUniversity of Leiden.[8] He died in Leiden in 1585, and was buried atPieterskerk, Leiden.[8][9][3]
In the early sixteenth century the general belief was that the plant world had been completely described byDioscorides in hisDe Materia Medica. During Dodoens' lifetime, botanical knowledge was undergoing enormous expansion, partly fueled by the expansion of the known plant world by New World exploration, theavailability of printing and the use ofwood-block illustration. This period is thought of as a botanicalRenaissance. Europe became fascinated with natural history from the 1530s, and gardening and cultivation of plants became a passion and prestigious pursuit from monarchs to universities. The first botanical gardens appeared as well as the first illustrated botanical encyclopaedias, together with thousands of watercolours and woodcuts. The experience of farmers, gardeners, foresters, apothecaries and physicians was being supplemented by the rise of the plant expert. Collecting became a discipline, specifically theKunst- und Wunderkammern (cabinets of curiosities) outside of Italy and the study of naturalia became widespread through many social strata. The great botanists of the sixteenth century were all, like Dodoens, originally trained as physicians, who pursued a knowledge of plants not just for medicinal properties, but in their own right. Chairs in botany, within medical faculties were being established in European universities throughout the sixteenth century in reaction to this trend, and the scientific approach of observation, documentation and experimentation was being applied to the study of plants.[10]
Otto Brunfels published hisHerbarium in 1530, followed by those ofJerome Bock (1539) andLeonhard Fuchs (1542), men thatKurt Sprengel would later call the "German fathers of botany". These men all influenced Dodoens, who was their successor.[10]
Dodoens' initial works were published in the fields ofcosmography andphysiology. HisDe frugum historia (1552), a treatise oncereals,vegetables, andfodders[11] marked the beginning of a distinguished career in botany.
HisherbalCruydeboeck (herb book) with 715 images (1554, 1563)[12] was influenced by earlier German botanists, particularly that ofLeonhart Fuchs. Of the drawings in theCruydeboeck, 515 were borrowed from Leonhart Fuchs'New-Kreuterbüchlein (1543) while 200 new drawings were drawn byPieter van der Borcht the Elder and the woodblocks cut byArnold Nicolai.[13]
Rather than the traditional method of arranging the plants in alphabetical order, theCruydeboeck divided theplant kingdom into six groups (Deel), based on their properties and affinities. It treated in detail especially the medicinal herbs, which made this work, in the eyes of many, apharmacopoeia. This work and its various editions and translations became one of the most important botanical works of the late 16th century, part of its popularity being his use of thevernacular rather than the commonly used Latin.[3][8]
TheCruydeboeck was translated first intoFrench in 1557 byCharles de L'Ecluse (Histoire des Plantes),[14] and into English in 1578 byHenry Lyte (via L'Ecluse) (A new herbal, or historie of plants), and later into Latin in 1583 (Stirpium historiae pemptades sex).[15] The English version became a standard work in that language. At the time, it was the most translated book after theBible. It became a work of worldwide renown, used as areference book for two centuries.[b][16]
TheCruydeboeck's Latin version published at thePlantin Press in Antwerp in 1583 under the titleStirpium historiae pemptades sex sive libri XXXs was a considerable revision. It contained new families, enlarged the number of groups from 6 to 26 and included many new illustrations, both original and borrowed. It was used byJohn Gerard as the source for his widely usedHerball (1597).[8][17]Thomas Johnson, in his preface to his 1633 edition ofHerball, explains the controversial use of Dodoens' work by Gerard.[c][17] The Latin version was also translated back into Dutch and published in 1608 in Leiden by the Plantin Press ofFrans van Ravelingen under the titleCrvydt-Boeck van Robertus Dodonaeus, volgens sijne laatste verbetering... etc. This edition included additional information on American plants prepared by Joost van Ravelingen, the brother of the publisher and a botanist and physician like Dodoens himself. The Dutch editions of 1618 and 1644 were reprints of this 1608 edition.[18] The 1644 edition had 1492 pages and 1367 woodcuts.[13]
The plant genusDodonaea was named after Dodoens, byCarl Linnaeus. The following species are also named after him:Epilobium dodonaei,Comocladia dodonaea,Phellandrium dodonaei,Smyrnium dodonaei,Hypericum dodonaei andPelargonium dodonaei.
Media related toRembert Dodoens at Wikimedia Commons
