An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15959 entries, 13943 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 1, 2024

PLATEARIUS, Johannes

2 entries
  • 1790

Breviarium medicinae. Tr: Gerardus Cremonensis. Add: Serapion the Younger: In medicinis simplicibus. Tr: Simon a Cordo Januensis and Abraham Judaeus Tortuosiensis. Galenus: De virtute centaureae; Johannes Platearius: Practica brevis; Matthaeus Platearius: De simplici medicina "Circa instans".

Venice: Bonetus Locatellus, for Octavianus Scotus, 1497.

Serapion the Elder and Serapion the Younger were Syrian Christians who wrote in Arabic. Breviarum medicinae was an abridgement of the opinions of the Greek and Arabic physicians concerning diseases and their treatment. It also includes transcriptions from Alexander of Tralles, an author with whom few of the other Arabic writers seem to have been much acquainted.

Matthaeus Platearius, a physician from Salerno, is thought to have produced a twelfth-century Latin manuscript on medicinal herbs titled "Circa Instans" aka ("The Book of Simple Medicines"), later translated into French as "Le Livre des simples medecines." It was an alphabetic listing and textbook of simples that was based on Dioscorides "Vulgaris", which described the appearance, preparation, and uses of various drugs. Matthaeus Platearius and his brother Johannes were the sons of a female physician from the Salerno school who was married to Johannes Platearius I; it is possible that she was Trotula. ISTC No. is00466000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.



Subjects: BOTANY, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE , MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Italy, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Italy › Schola Medica Salernitana, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines
  • 8578

Anglo-Norman Medicine I: Roger Frugard's Chirurgia and the Practica Brevis of [Johannes] Platearius. II: Shorter treatises. Edited by Tony Hunt. 2 vols.

Cambridge, England: D. S. Brewer, 19941997.
Vol. 1: First published edition of two 13th century Anglo-Norman medical treatises translated from Latin. Matthaeus Platearius and his brother Johannes were the sons of a female physician from the Salerno school who was married to Johannes Platearius I; it is possible that she was Trotula. The second volume includes all vernacular medical texts contained in Trinity College, Cambridge, MS 0.1.20, presenting a treatise on visiting the sick and a verse translation of the first part of the celebrated gynaecological compilation known as `Trotula', with their Latin originals. To these are added  the Euperiston and the Trinity `Practica'. Hunt's Introduction illustrated characteristic features of the medieval medical compendium through the example of the Speculum medicorum, which was previously unstudied.


Subjects: COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › England (United Kingdom), MEDIEVAL MEDICINE , MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Italy › Schola Medica Salernitana