Arnaldus de Villanova

Abstract

Arnaldus de Villanova (Arnoldus de Villa Nova, Arnau de Villanova, Arnaldo de Villanova, Arnald von Villanova, Arnaud de Villeneuve), born in Aragon, died on September 6, 1311, in a shipwreck near Genoa, was a philosophically educated medical doctor, a prominent physician and outstanding lay theologian. He taught medicine at the University of Montpellier and was private physician of various sovereigns, like Peter III of Aragon, James II of Aragon, and several popes, inter alia. He authored approximately 100 medical works and made translations from Arabic, which were edited in the sixteenth century, as well as numerous alchemistical writings erroneously attributed to him. He based his medical theories mainly on Galen and Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), while his medical practice was firmly established on detailed observation and concrete experience. His theology was first shaped by Dominicans (Thomas Aquinas), but later was increasingly influenced by Franciscans (Peter John Olivi). His theses about the oncoming arrival of the Antichrist provoked severe controversies at the University of Paris. His eschatologically motivated and apocalyptically designed spirituality targeted a rapid and likewise, broad reform of clergy and order and a strengthening of the laity within the church.