0"T' LAERT> "! - USP

282 THE MIDDLE AGES.
science and of medicine. One purpose alone did this •
literature serve—that namely of making science the foundation
and support of theological dogma. The works on
natural science of the 13th century bore an encyclopaedic
character. The most prominent authors were ALBERTUS
MAGNUS, Dominican monk and afterwards Bishop* of
Regensburg, the Minorite BARTHOLOM^US ANGLICUS,
the Frenchmen THOMAS. DE CANTIMPRE and VINCENT
DE BEAUVAIS, the Italians BRUNETTO LATINI, the teacher
of DANTE, and RiSTORiO D'AREZZO, and the German
KUNRAT VON MEGENBERG. The Natural Philosophy composed
by the monks of the Mainau Monastery belongs
to this period. Medical literature in the strict sense was
chiefly composed of writings explanatory of the works of
the ancients and of the Arabian authors known by their
Latin translations. Of this nature were the works of
the following: TADDEO ALDEROTTI called FLORENTINUS,
DINO and TOMMASO DI GARBO, BARTOLOMEO VARIGNANA,
TORRIGIANO, GlACOMO DELLA TORRE, GIOVANNI and j
MARSILIO DI S. SOFIA, GIACOMO DE DONDI, FRANCESCO
DI PIEDIMONTE and JACQUES DESPARS of Tournay. Short
extracts from the comprehensive therapeutic works of the
Arabs arranged for the instruction of students and the use
of doctors, and comparative tables, in a concise form, of the
drugs in most frequent use, answered the requirements
of the day. To this period belong the Clavis Sanationis
of SiMON of Genoa, the medical Pandects of MATTH^US
SYLVATICUS, the Aggregator Brixianus of GUGLIELMO
CORVI, the Medical Compendiums of GlLBERTUS ANGLICUS
and of the Scotchman GORDON and the writings of
JOHANNES DE TORNAMIRA, of the Portuguese VALESCUS
DE TARANTA, of NiCCOLO FALCUCCI, the Florentine, of
MICHELE SAVONAROLA, ANTONIO GUARNERI and others.
PETRUS DE ABANO, celebrated for his knowledge in natural
science, took up a more independent position and in his
Conciliator diferentiarum delivered a severe and, in some
places, most destructive criticism upon the prevalent
theories of medical science.