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Arnaldus de Villa Nova

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Also called Arnaldus De Villanueva, Arnaldus Villanovanus or Arnaud De Ville Neuve (c. 1235-1313), alchemist, astrologer and physician, appears to have been of Spanish origin, and to have studied chemistry, medicine, physics, and also Arabian philosophy. After having lived at the court of Aragon, he went to Paris, where he gained a considerable reputation; but he incurred the enmity of the ecclesiastics and was forced to flee, finally finding an asylum in Sicily. About 1313 he was summoned to Avignon by Pope Clement V., who was ill, but he died on the voyage. Many alchemical writings, including Thesaurus Thesaurorum or Rosarius Philosophorum, Novum Lumen, Flos Florum, and Speculum Alchimiae, are ascribed to him, but they are of very doubtful authenticity. Collected editions of them were published at Lyons in 1504 and 1532 (with a biography by Symphorianus Campegius), at Basel in 1585, at Frankfort in 1603, and at Lyons in 1686. He is also the reputed author of various medical works, including Breviarium Practicae. See J. B. Haureau in the Histoire litteraire de la France (1881), vol. 28; E. Lalande, Arnaud de Villeneuve, sa vie et ses oeuvres (Paris, 1896). A list of writings is given by J. Ferguson in his Bibliotheca Chemica (1906). See also U. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources hist., &c., Bio-bibliographie (Paris, 1903).