Johannes Baptista Montanus

Giovanni Battista da Monte
Born
Giovanni Battista Monte

1498
Died6 May 1551(1551-05-06) (aged 52–53)
NationalityItalian
Known forClinical medicine
Scientific career
FieldsMedicine
InstitutionsUniversity of Ferrara
University of Padua
Academic advisorsNiccolò Leoniceno
Marco Musuro
Pietro Pomponazzi
Doctoral studentsJohn Caius
Johannes Crato von Krafftheim
Other notable studentsBassiano Landi

Johannes Baptista Montanus (/mɒnˈtnəs/; 1498 – 6 May 1551) is the Latinized name of Giovanni Battista Monte, or Gian Battista da Monte, one of the leading Renaissance humanist physicians of Italy. Montanus promoted the revival of Greek medical texts and practice, producing revisions of Galen as well as of Islamic medical texts by Rhazes and Avicenna. He was himself a medical writer and was regarded as a second Galen.

Biography

Montanus was born in Verona, and became a friend of the pioneering anatomist Andreas Vesalius.[1] He introduced autopsies as a means of acquiring anatomical data, and established the first permanent anatomical theatre, where Vesalius, Gabriele Falloppio, Hieronymus Fabricius and others carried out studies.

Montanus became a professor of practical medicine at the University of Ferrara and at the University of Padua in 1539. His greatest innovation was to introduce clinical medicine into the curriculum as a way to integrate medical theory and practice.[2] His students included John Caius, one of the most eminent physicians of the 16th century and a court physician of Edward VI,[3] and Valentinus Lublinus.[4] Lublinus was one of several former students who drew attention to their teacher's method by publishing his lectures and notes after his death. The new field of clinical medicine then began to attract students from northern Europe.[5]

In 1545, he helped establish the first botanical garden in Padua.[6]

He died in Padua.

Selected works

  • De excrementis.
  • De uterinis affectibus. 1556.
  • In nonum librum Rhasis ad R[egem] Almansorem lectiones restitutae a Ioanne Cratone. Basel 1562.
  • Medicina universa (Comprehensive Medicine), three volumes compiled from his lectures and notes. Frankfurt 1587.

References

  1. ^ Burgersdijk & Niermans Auction catalogue, number 318, lot 1445, online[permanent dead link] and archived.
  2. ^ Paul F. Grendler, The Universities of the Italian Renaissance (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), pp. 341–342 online.
  3. ^ Elizabeth Lane Furdell, The Royal Doctors, 1485–1714: Medical Personnel at the Tudor and Stuart Courts (Boydell & Brewer, 2001), pp. 45–46 online.
  4. ^ Des Propstes heilkundlicher Schatz Archived 2007-06-07 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Paul F. Grendler, The Universities of the Italian Renaissance (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), p. 342.
  6. ^ "Botanischer Garten". Archived from the original on 2006-08-25. Retrieved 2008-11-06.