title: [The physician and author. On the participation of physicians in late middle age publishing].
abstract: During the 15th century a very great percentage (if not the major part) of German men of letters were physicians. This article concentrates on three of them, all of whom were born in Southern Germany, three of them studied in Italy, wrote during the second third of the century, and became widely renowned as physicians as well as poets or writers of prose. Johannes Hartlieb is well-known as author of a 'Kräuterbuch', but his fame is based mainly on his 'Alexanderroman'. The article tries to show a connection between the two aspects of Hartlieb's work, which have not been related to each other until now: the 'Alexanderroman' is, at least in its central theme, a novel that could only be written by a physician; the traces of the author's profession are obvious. The second part of the article deals with Hermann Schedel. It reconstructs his studies in Padua and then concentrates on five of his manuscripts, which reveal the names and professions of his patients. One may compare Hermann's cousin, Hartmann Schedel to Hartlieb. His 'Weltchronik', which is mainly famous for its illustrations, is the work of a physician, as was Hartlieb's 'Alexander'. Hartmann inserted biographical informations about 40 celebrities among his 'colleagues'. If the 15th century may rightly be called the 'century of the layman', it is because it was the 'century of the physician'.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Geschichte der Medizin, Universität Würzburg.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schnell
mesh_terms: D001319:Authorship; D005858:Germany; D049668:History, 15th Century; D006801:Humans; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D010820:Physicians / Q000266:history*; D011643:Publishing / Q000266:history*
vernacular_title: Arzt und Literat. Zum Anteil der Arzte am spätmittelalterlichen Literaturbetrieb.