Brunfels, Otto

1. Dates

Born: Mainz, Germany ca. 1489

Died: Bern, Switzerland 23? Nov 1534

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan: 45

2. Father

Occupation: Artisan

He was a cooper.

No firm information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: German

Career: German

Death: German

4. Education

Schooling: Mainz, M.A.

Secondary: received his early education in Mainz.

University: 1508/9, M.A from U Mainz.

Late 1532, M.D. from Univ. of Basel (this I won't list).

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic, then Lutheran ("Lutheraner mit wiedertäuferischem Einschlag")

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Botany (Primary)

Subordinate: Medicine, Pharmacology

He translated older works and wrote on herbal pharmacology.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Church Living, Schoolmaster,

Secondary: Governmental Position, Medical Practice

1508 or 1509, entered Carthusian monsatery in Strasbourg.

1521, left the monastery (and Catholicism); through Ulrich von Hutten, "one of Luther's principal defenders," obtained a curacy in Steinau; religious persecution soon forced him to flee.

July 1522 - March 1524, preacher (Prediger) at the Stadtkirche of Neuenberg; stayed in the Franciscan monastery there ("konnte ... Unterkunft finden").

1524, returned to Strasbourg and opened his own school (DSB).

Took a teaching position at the Carmelite school at Strasburg, held it until beginning of 1532 (Grimm).

Between 1530 and 1532, moved to Basel (DSB).

3 Oct 1533, appointed town physician in Bern for 6 years.

8. Patronage

Types: Aristrocrat, City Magistrate

He was aided by Ulrich von Hutten.

The Neuenburg position was legally in the gift of Austria, but the town council had the right to nominate the officeholder.

While in Neuenberg B. wrote "Lectiones sive annotationes aliquot hebraica" on the Old Testament and dedicated it to a distinguished man in Heitersheim: "Joanni Warmundio patroni et pretori integerrimo atque nobilissimo presidi in Heytersheim amico optimo Otho Brunfelsius."

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Pharmacology, Medical Practice

He compiled practical pharmacological texts to be used by physicians and apothecaries, including the city ordinance for apothecaries in Bern.

Apparently also medical practice.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Informal:while in Strasbourg, associated with the local humanists, one of whom, Johann Schott, printed many of his books.

He collaborated with Jerome Bock and Leonhard Fuchs.

Extensive correspondence.

Sources

1. Heinrich Grimm, in Neue Deutsche Biographie, 2, 678.
2. Erich Sanwald, Otto Brunfels 1488 - 1534: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Humanismus und der Reformation: I. Hälfte 1488 - 1524, (Bottrop, Germany, 1932). -- Stacks BR 350 . B8 S2 -- mostly about his religious activities

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. Stannard says biographical information is meager and ultimately derived from the preface of Brunfels' Annotationes in Quatuor Evangelia -- this work is not in the library.
2. Karl Hartfelder, "Otto Brunfels als Verteidiger Huttens," Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins, n.s. 8 (1893), 565-78.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.