Lorenz Fries, also called Lorenz Phryes, Latinized Laurentius Frisius or Phrisius (born ; died 1531/32 in MetzWilfried Kettler: Untersuchungen zur frühneuhochdeutschen Lexikographie in der Schweiz und im Elsass. Strukturen, Typen, Quellen und Wirkungen von Wörterbüchern am Beginn der Neuzeit. Peter Lang, Bern/Berlin/Brüssel/Frankfurt am Main u. a. 2008, ISBN 978-3-03911-430-6, pp. 384.Werner E. Gerabek: Fries […], Lorenz. In: Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. 2005, pp. 441.) was a German physician, astrologer and cartographer, who worked mainly in Alsace. His most famous work is the “Spiegel der Arznei” (Mirror of Medicine) (twelve editions 1518–1557), one of the earliest works on medicine in the German language. His cartographic work continued that of Martin Waldseemüller in assimilating recent discoveries in the New World and Asia into the classical Ptolemaic framework.
Life and work
The date and place of birth of Lorenz Fries cannot be determined with certainty. Possible birth dates discussed include: “around 1485”, 10 August 1489 or “after 1490”Baas 1907. - Öhlschlegel 1985, 21-22. - Sudhoff 1904. Possible places of birth were given as: Mulhouse or Colmar, Metz, Swabia (Markgröningen).Sudhoff 1904. - Baas 1907. - Bittel 1943. - Friedrich 1980, 11-12. Sudhoff (1904) and Öhlschlägel (1985) have suggested that Fries studied in Padua, Piacenza, Montpellier and Vienna, where he probably completed his studies. There is no direct evidence for this.
Fries’ name first appeared in 1513 on a Nuremberg broadsheet describing a monstrous birth near Rome.Wundergeburt zu Rom vom 7. März 1513. Einblattdruck. Johann Weissenburger, Nürnberg 1513 (digitized copy).Eugen Holländer (1867–1932): Wunder, Wundergeburt und Wundergestalt in Einblattdrucken des XV. bis XVIII. Jahrhunderts. Kulturhistorische Studie. Stuttgart 1921, pp. 312. – Jean Michel Friedrich (1980), pp. 255–257 (u. a. Abbildung des Blattes). At the end of 1518 he lived in the Augustinian monastery in Colmar.Brief des Magistrats von Straßburg an den von Colmar (18. April 1525). – Charles Schmidt (1890), pp. 528. He practiced medicine in Colmar until about 1519-1519.Werner E. Gerabek: Fries […]. In: Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. 2005, pp. 441. On the title page of the first edition of the “Spiegel der Arznei” in 1518 he called himself “from Colmar / Doctor of Philopsophy and Medicine”. He dedicated this work to Johann Dingler, the Schlettstadt (Sélestat) guild master of the fishermen.
In March 1519, Fries moved to Strasbourg. In July of the same year, he accepted a call to Freiburg im Üechtland, where he held the office of city physician for 8 months and where he met Agrippa von Nettesheim. In the middle of 1520, he returned to Strasbourg and married Barbara Thun, the daughter of the deceased Strasbourg master glazier Ambrosius Thun. Fries thus became a citizen of Strasbourg. He also became a member of the guild "Zur Steltz" (goldsmiths and printers). While in Strasbourg, he re-worked a number of the maps of Martin Waldseemüller, and prepared a revised edition of Ptolemy's Geography. In May 1525, Fries gave up his Strasbourg citizenship and left the city, moving to Metz. This was probably because Strasbourg was increasingly a Protestant city, and Fries remained an adherent of the Roman Church.
Until the winter of 1528, he stayed in Trier, where he worked as a doctor. On February 28, 1528, Paracelsus, who had fled from Basel, wrote to Bonifacius Amerbach: "Phrusius de Colmaria optime valet, sumque optimus familiae et totam civitatem". ("Fries von Colmar is in the best of health, and I have been well received by his family and the whole city.")Theophrast von Hohenheim. Sämtliche Werke. Herausgegeben von Karl Sudhoff. Barth, München 1922, I. Abteilung, 6. Band, pp. 33–35. In July 1528, Fries wrote a "Prognostication" for the year 1529 in Diedenhofen (Thionville). In Metz he created a French-language "Prognostication" for the year 1529 in October 1528 and on November 14, 1528, a birth horoscope for his friend Nicolas de Heu (1494–1547), the mayor of Metz. In the 1532 edition of "Spiegel der Arznei" printed by Balthasar Beck in Strasbourg, a foreword by Lorenz Fries was printed, which he had written on July 23, 1530, in Metz. In it he noted in passing: "... Let me, God, live for a short time ..." Another foreword in the same edition was written on May 14, 1532, by Otto Brunfels. It said: “... therefore the author of this book, the highly renowned doctor Laurentius Fries, was commissioned to correct this before his death...” From these statements it was concluded that Fries died between July 1530 and May 1532.Jean Michel Friedrich: Laurent Fries, médecin, astrologue et géographe à Colmar, Strasbourg et Metz. Straßburg 1980, pp. 9–27.Rudolf Öhlschlegel: Studien zu Lorenz Fries und seinem Spiegel der Arznei. Tübingen 1985, pp. 21–49.
There was a "long-standing friendship" between Fries and the Strasbourg printer and publisher Johannes Grüninger, who published the majority of his works.Zitat von Fries aus dem Vorwort in Uslegung der Mercarthen (1527).
Writings
Wundergeburt zu Rom vom 7. March 1513. (Miraculous Birth in Rome on March 7, 1513). Einblattdruck (single sheet print). Johann Weissenburger, Nürnberg 1513Wundergeburt zu Rom vom 7. März 1513. Einblattdruck. Johann Weissenburger, Nürnberg 1513 (digitized copy) Spiegel der Artzny […] (Mirror of Medicine). Printed in twelve editions by various publishers from 1518 to 1557 and edited from 1529 by the humanist Otto Brunfels. Traktat der Wildbäder Natur. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 24. July 1519;Traktat der Wildbäder Natur. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 24. July 1519 (digitized copy) Bartholomäus Grüninger, Strasbourg 1538.Traktat der Wildbäder Natur. Bartholomäus Grüninger, Strasbourg 1538 (digitized copy) Synonyma und gerecht ußlegung der wörter so man in der artzny, allen Krütern, Wurtzlen, Bluomen, Somen, Gesteinen, Safften und anderen Dingen zuo schreiben ist […]. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 29. November 1519;Synonyma und gerecht ußlegung […]. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 29. Nov. 1519 (digitized copy bsb)(digitized copy Heidelberg) Barth. Grüninger, Strasbourg 1535.Synonyma und gerecht ußlegung […]. Barth. Grüninger, Strasbourg 1535 (digitized copy) synonym index of simple medicines in Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Arabic and German based on the Mainz Gart der Gesundheit from 1485 and the Kleines Destillierbuch. Kurze Schirmred der Kunst der Astrologiae (Brief defence of the art of astrology). Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 28. November 1520Kurze Schirmred der Kunst der Astrologiae. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 28. November 1520 (digitized copy) Claudii Ptolemaei / Alexandrini Mathematicor. principis. Opus Geographie. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 12. March 1522,Claudii Ptolemaei / Alexandrini Mathematicor. principis. Opus Geographie. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 12. March 1522 (digitized copy) 30. März 1525. Auslegung und Gebrauch des Astrolabs (Interpretation and Use of the Astrolabe). Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 23. June 1522. – Expositio et usus astrolabii. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 7. September 1522. Prognostikationen: 1523, 1524, 1525 (Judenpractica), 1526, 1529,Prognostication 1529 (digitized copy) 1530, 1531 Ars memorativa. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 7. März 1523. – Ein kurzzer Bericht wie man die Gedechtnisz […] stercken mag. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 12. März 1523.Ein kurzer Bericht wie man das Gedächtnis stärken mag. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 12. March 1523 (digitized copy) Wie man alte Schäden mit dem Holz Guaiaco heilen soll. Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 7. January 1525; Johann Prüss, Strasbourg 1530 und 1539. Niederländische Übersetzung: Een grondelike bestendighe heylsame cure der grousamigher Pocken. Symon Cock, Antwerpen 1548 und Peter Warnerson, Kampen 1566. The 1525 and 1530 editions are anonymous. Only the 1539 edition names Fries as the author. Karl Sudhoff (1904, p. 771) assumed that Fries wrote all these syphilis writings – the physician, librarian and medical historian Ernest Wickersheimer (1880–1965) doubted Fries' authorship of all editions.Ernest Wickersheimer. Le Guaiac à Strasbourg au XVIe Siècle. In: Analecta Medico-Historica. I. Materia Medica in the XVIth Century. Proceedings of the Symposium of the International Academy of the History of Medicine held at the University of Basel, 7. September 1964. Hrsg. von M. Florkin. Oxford 1966, pp. 55–66. Auslegung der Meerkarten (von Martin Waldseemüller). Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 2. März 1525, 3. Juni 1527,Auslegung der Meerkarten (von Martin Waldseemüller). Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 2. March 1525, 3. June 1527 (digitized copy) Carta Marina Navigatoria 22. April 1530.22. April 1530 (digitized copy) Around 1525, Fries was probably the first to coin the German term “Karte”. Carta Marina Navigatoria Portugalien Navigationes : atque tocius cogniti orbis terrae marisque formae naturam situm et terminos noviter recognitos et ab antiquorum traditione differentes hec generaliter monstrat, 1525 Joh. Grüninger, Strasbourg 1530 (digitized copy) Zusammen mit Johannes Nidepontanus (Metz): Sudor anglicus. Joh. Knobloch d. J., Strasbourg 1529. Fries reported, among other things, about an epidemic in Freiburg im Üechtland in 1519, which he interpreted as an outbreak of the Sudor anglicus. Defensio medicorum Principis Avicennae ad Germaniae medicos. Johann Knobloch. d. J., Strasbourg 24. August 1530Defensio medicorum Principis Avicennae ad Germaniae medicos. Johann Knobloch. d. J., Strasbourg 24. August 1530 (digitized copy) Epitome opusculi de curandis pusculis. Henricus Petrus, Basel 1532Epitome opusculi de curandis pusculis. Henricus Petrus, Basel 1532 (digitized copy) Liber De Morbo Gallico : In Qvo Diuersi celeberrimi in tali materia scribentes, medicine contine[n]tur auctores videlicet. Nicolavs Leonicenus Vicentinus. Vlrichvs De Hvtten Germanus. Petrvs Andreas Mattheolo Senensis. Lavrentivs Phrisius. Ioannis Almenar Hispanus... Cremer, Venedig 1535 (digitized copy)
Spiegel der Arznei Fries' main work, the Mirror of Medicine, was printed in twelve editions by three publishers from 1518 to 1557 and edited from 1529 by the humanist Otto Brunfels. The first print appeared on September 1, 1518.
The editions
Three editions published by Johannes Grüninger, Strasbourg: 1. September 1518;Spiegel der Arznei. Gedruckt bei Johannes Grüninger in Straßburg. 1. Auflage, 1. September 1518 (digitized copy) 1. September 1519; 17. March 15293. Ausgabe, J. Grüninger, Straßburg 17. März 1529 (digitized copy) In 1529 the publisher Balthasar Beck had the Spiegel der Arzney edited by Otto Brunfels in Strasbourg. Three editions of this version were printed: August 18, 1529,Spiegel der Arznei, Beck, Strasbourg August 18, 1529 (digital copy) March 14, 1532Spiegel der Arznei, Beck, Strasbourg 1532 (digital copy) and 1546.Spiegel der Arznei, Beck, Strasbourg 1546 (digital copy) In 1542, Johann Dryander prepared a new edition of Fries's Spiegel, added a short anatomy section and published it under the title Der ganzen Arznei gemeiner Inhalt with the publisher Christian Egenolph in Frankfurt.Johann Dryander 1542 (digital version) In 1547, Dryander added a section on surgery. For this, he used the German translation of the Kleine Wundarznei by Lanfranc of Milan, which had been prepared in 1528 by Otto Brunfels and printed by Christian Egenolph. Two further editions of the Mirror appeared in this form: 1547 and 1557.With the appendix of the Little Wound Medicine Lanfrank's. 1547 and 1557 (digital version)
The library of the Zürcher Medizinhistorischen Instituts (Zurich Institute of the History of Medicine) has two double folios in which the Spiegel der Arznei and the Kreuterbuch by Eucharius Rösslin have been bound together since the 16th century: 1st double folio: Spiegel der Arznei 1532 and Kreuterbuch 1533. 2nd double folio: Spiegel der Arznei 1546 and Kreuterbuch 1550.
The sources