Hieronymus Braunschweig

Hieronymus Brunschwig
the title page of Brunschwig's famous work, Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus.
Born	c. 1450 Strasbourg
Died	c. 1512 Strasbourg
Residence	Strasbourg
Nationality	German
Known for	Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus

Hieronymus Brunschwig or Hieronymus Brunschwygk (c. 1450 – c. 1512), was a German surgeon („wund artzot“), alchemist and botanist. He was notable for his methods of treatment of gunshot wounds and for his early work on distillation techniques. His most influential book was the Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus (also called Kleines Destillierbuch).

Brunschwig was born c. 1450 in the free imperial city of Strasbourg, which in his time was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Some notes in his Buch der cirurgia may suggest, that he studied in Bologna, Padua and Paris and that he participated in the Burgundian Wars, but all this is utterly unfounded. He settled at Strasbourg at the end of the fifteenth century. He died in Strasbourg, c. 1512.

The Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus (1500) was the earliest printed book dealing with the techniques of distillation from herbal and animal substances. It consisted of three parts:

As the last of the fifteenth-century herbals, the Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus is widely regarded to be an important link between the Middle Ages and modern times. Due to its in-depth description and many illustrations of distillation apparati and techniques, the book was considered to be an authoritative text well into the 16th century.

Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock, both called „fathers of botany“ („Väter der Botanik“) in honour of their truthful description of indigenous plants, respected Brunschwig as their predecessor.Leonhard Fuchs, the third of the „fathers of botany“, did not mention Brunschwig at all.