Johannes van Heeck, (Deventer 2 February 1579 – presumably Sant'Angelo Romano c.1620), (also known as Johann Heck, Joannes Eck, Johannes Heckius, Johannes Eckius and Giovanni Ecchio) was a Dutch physician, naturalist, alchemist and astrologer. Together with Prince Federico Cesi, Anastasio de Filiis and Francesco Stelluti, he was one of the four founding members of the Accademia dei Lincei, the first learned society dedicated to understanding of the natural world through scientific enquiry.
Family background
Johannes van Heeck was one of five children in a family of wealthy merchants. His father was Willem, son of Willem van Heeck, and his mother was Lutgardt, daughter of Gerrit. Between 1587 and 1591 his father, a Catholic, was one of Deventer's political leaders, elected senator and consul in 1589. For this reason, when Protestant forces under Maurice of Nassau took the city in 1591, Willem van Heeck was fined 150 guilders for being a leader of the Catholic party and a collaborator of the hated Philip II of Spain. Johannes received a humanist education, studying Latin, Greek, theology, astronomy and astrology, and making an exact observation of the comet that appeared in 1591, which he described in one of his later treatises as a bad omen for a life full of bitterness and pain. Under Calvinist rule, the position of his family became more precarious in Deventer and eventually his parents decided to send him to Italy to continue his education.
Early career Van Heeck traveled to Milan, Parma, Ferrara, Venice, Bologna and Rome. He stayed for a while in Spoleto as a guest of Count Gelosi, with whom he maintained a connection throughout his life, and on whose estate was the villa known as the "museum deauratum" where many of his manuscripts were composed. Here he wrote works of a moral literary character, such as his 1596 Epigrammata, as well as medical, magical and astrological topics. Among these was his Liber de Regimine Sanitatis Eorum Qui Studio Litterarum Incumbunt in which, inspired by De Vita Libri Tres ('The Threefold Life') of Marsilio Ficino, he examined the hygiene, diet and amorous habits of the literati. The second part of the work dealt with Ficino's ideas on magic. He discussed the influence of images on the spirit, and the occult virtues of certain plants, approaching his enquiry from the medical point of view rather than from that of the magician. He concluded the treatise with a list of secrets for healing common illnesses by using certain plants, and with a collection of "magic" recipes. Following De Regimine there are four undated manuscripts dealing with plants and medicine:
De Fructibus Tractatus ('Treatise on Fruits') Tractatus de Radicibus Herbarum Diversarum ('Treatise on the Roots of Various Herbs') Tractatus de Herbis ('Treatise on Herbs') and Tractatus de Herbis et Holeribus ('Treatise on Herbs and Vegetables') In these he described the characteristics of various fruits, herbs and vegetables, their regions of origin, the time of their flowering, ways of preparing them and their specific medicinal use. He wrote on the basis of first-hand observation, supported by ancient sources, notably Dioscorides. With financial backing from a supportive bishop, he then studied medicine at the University of Perugia, obtaining his doctor's degree in 1601. During this period, his writing focused on logic, theology and metaphysics. Among the more significant of his works while he studied at university were:
Homines et Alia Animalia Prodigiosa Variarum Ignotarum Regionum (Of Humans and Other Animals) De mundiali machina (1598), a summary of astronomical knowledge De Planetarum Radiationibus in Singulis Zodiaci Signis (On the Movement of the Planets Through the Signs of the Zodiac) another treatise on astronomy with numerous diagrams drawn by himself a treatise on apoplexy a treatise on angina pectoris entitled De Syncope (On Fainting) Cura Coelestis quae Inferorum Appellatur (Heavenly Care), written for doctors and for all who 'love philosophy' Super Plinii II Historias Naturales, a commentary on Pliny's 'Natural History', extended in scope beyond the original, with the ambitious subtitle 'Liber de Mirabilibus Creaturarum Dei' (Book of the Marvels of God's Creation'). In this work, van Heeck dealt with a number of contemporary concerns of natural science, such as geocentric theory and other Copernican views, against which he argued strongly. He practised as a doctor first in Maenza and then in Scandriglia in the province of Rieti, part of the domain of Duke Giovanni Antonio Orsini. In the course of his medical work, van Heeck became involved in a strange dispute. He treated his patients, who were mostly poor, with great zeal, using simple herbal medicines. For this reason, he came into conflict with the apothecary of Scandriglia, one Casolini Ranieri, who made his living selling medicines with exotic names, more magical than scientific. Ranieri conceived a firm hatred of the foreign doctor, whose work threatened to ruin his lucrative business. One night Ranieri positioned himself on the route where van Heeck habitually passed and attacked him while he was alone. Van Heeck fell from his horse but fended off his attacker with a sword. Still bleeding from his injuries, he was brought before the magistrate. Despite his plea of self-defence, he was imprisoned. The apothecary later died of his wounds, and van Heeck would have been left to rot in prison if he had not been released through the intervention of Prince Federico Cesi, who sent Francesco Stelluti to get him out of prison and then invited him to his house in Rome. The period when Cesi, van Heeck and Stelluti lived together after van Heeck's release from prison was one of an intense exchange of ideas and the shaping of plans, which led to the idea of forming a mutual-instruction society.
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