Thaddeus of Florence

Taddeo Alderotti
Engraving of Alderotti by Allegrini, 1770
Born	between 1206 and 1215 Florence, Italy
Died	1295 Bologna
Occupation	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.

As an alchemist, he is credited with developing fractional distillation.

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.

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

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. 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 neglected for much of the Middle Ages in the aftermath of the fall of the Roman Empire.

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 papal doctor Bartolomeo da Varignana; Dino del Garbo, commentator of Avicenna; Turisanus (Pietro Torregiano de' Torregiani), commentator of Galen; and the anatomist Mondino de' Liuzzi.