.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{box-sizing:border-box;width:100%;padding:5px;border:none;font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .hidden-title{font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .hidden-content{text-align:left}You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (March 2016) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Thaddée de Florence]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template ((Translated|fr|Thaddée de Florence)) to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
Taddeo Alderotti
Engraving of Alderotti by Allegrini, 1770
Bornbetween 1206 and 1215
Died1295
Occupation(s)Physician, Professor of Medicine

Taddeo Alderotti (Latin: Thaddaeus Alderottus, French : Thaddée de Florence), born in Florence between 1206 and 1215, died in 1295, was an Italian doctor and professor of medicine at the University of Bologna, who made important contributions to the renaissance of learned medicine in Europe during the High Middle Ages. He was among the first to organize a medical lecture at the university.

One of his works describes a method for concentrating ethanol involving repeated fractional distillation through a water-cooled still, by which an ethanol purity of 90% could be obtained.[1]

Dante seems to reference him in the Paradiso (XII, 82-85), indicating he pursued learning not for spiritual reasons but worldly ambition, contrasting him with St. Dominic.[2]

Life

Taddeo Alderotti was born in Florence, 1210, and received his primary education there.[3]

In the mid-1260s, Alderotti went to Bologna, a city known for the study and practice of medicine. Through the middle of the fourteenth century, the universities of Bologna, Montpellier, and Paris had a virtual monopoly on medical education in Western Europe.[4] As a professor of medicine, Alderotti quickly gained a reputation as an excellent teacher and commanded large crowds of students. His courses relied on the works of Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna, which had been given a position of authority since Constantine the African brought these over from north Africa in the 11th century and translated them.

The students Alderotti taught during his tenure as professor would become some of the best doctors and professors of the next generation. They included, among others, the logician Gentile da Cingoli; the doctor to the emperor, Bartolomeo da Varignana; Dino del Garbo, commentator of Avicenna; Turisanus (Pietro Torregiano de' Torregiani), commentator of Galen; and the anatomist Mondino de' Liuzzi.

A doctor of high repute, Taddeo had a large number of patients, including some far outside Bologna and residing as far away as Modena, Ferrara, Rome, and Milan. In his old age, he gave up his lectures and he moved his medical practice to Venice.[5]

Born to a modest Florentine family, Taddeo was by the time of his death in 1295 a rich man. His last will and testament indicates that his medical practice, his lecture, and his investments had paid off handsomely.

Works

See also

References

  1. ^ Holmyard, Eric John (1957). Alchemy. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-486-26298-7. pp. 51–52.
  2. ^ Prioreschi, Plinio (2003). A History of Medicine Vol. 5. Horatius Press. p. 348. ISBN 1-888456-00-0.
  3. ^ Thomas F. Glick, Steven Livesey, and Faith Wallis, Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia (Routledge, 2014)
  4. ^ Danielle Jacquart, "La scolastique médicale," in Histoire de la pensée médicale en Occident, vol. 1: Antiquité et Moyen Âge, edited by Mirko D. Grmek (Seuil, 1995)
  5. ^ Plinio Prioreschi, Medieval Medicine (Horatius Press, 2003)

Further reading