biology

Matthaeus Silvaticus

Matthaeus Silvaticus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Matthaeus Silvaticus rather than just read about it. In short: Matthaeus Silvaticus or Mattheus Sylvaticus (c. 1280 – c. 1342) was an Italian medieval medical writer and botanist. His Life and Encyclopedia Matthaeus Silvaticus was born in northern Italy, probably Mantua.

Key takeaways

Matthaeus Silvaticus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Matthaeus Silvaticus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Matthaeus Silvaticus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Matthaeus Silvaticus or Mattheus Sylvaticus (c. 1280 – c. 1342) was an Italian medieval medical writer and botanist.

His Life and Encyclopedia Matthaeus Silvaticus was born in northern Italy, probably Mantua. He was a student and teacher in botany and medicine at the School of Salerno in southern Italy. His only notability is for writing a 650-page encyclopedia about medicating agents (a pharmacopoeia) which he completed about the year 1317 under the Latin title Pandectarum Medicinae or Pandectae Medicinae (English: Encyclopedia of Medicines). Most of the medicating agents were botanicals ("herbal medicines"). The presentation is in alphabetical order. The bulk of his encyclopedia is compiled from earlier medicine books, including books by Dioscorides, Avicenna, Serapion the Younger, and Simon of Genoa (Simon Januensis). As an indication of its popularity in late medieval Europe, the Pandectarum Medicinae was printed in at least eleven editions in various countries between the invention of the printing press and 1500.

Arabic influence The medical school in Salerno was influenced by Arabic-to-Latin translations of Arabic medical literature. One indication of the Arabic influence is that 233 out of 487 plant names in Matthaeus's medicines encyclopedia were Latinizations of Arabic plant names. Many of those Latinized Arabic names had little circulation in Latin. Native Latin names existed for some of them, in which case Matthaeus also used the native Latin name as well. In some cases he prefers to give primary status to the Arabic name in preference to the classical Latin name. In other cases he gives primary status to the Latin name and just mentions what the Arabic name is.

Sources compiled from

The Pandectarum Medicinae is an encyclopedia with almost no original contribution by Matthaeus. It has value to historians as a document reflecting the state of pharmacology and medicine in Europe in the late medieval era. The method of presentation in Pandectarum Medicinae is that a medicinal substance is named with brief identifying information and then follows several lengthier summaries or quotations from well-known medical authorities about the substance's properties and uses. The medical authorities are either (A) the particular ancient Greek medicines writers that were widely read by the medieval Arabs (especially Dioscorides and Galen) or else (B) the Arabic medicines writers available in Latin translations (especially Serapion the Younger and Avicenna).

Simon of Genoa Part of Matthaeus's encyclopedia was taken from a shorter work by Simon of Genoa entitled Synonyma Medicinae, which was written a few decades earlier and which is a dictionary of medicines rather than an encyclopedia of medicines.

References

External links A biography of Mattheus Silvaticus together with a description of his Pandectarum Medicinae is at SummaGallicana.it (in Italian language) Biography in Italian by Corinna Bottiglieri: Biografía de Matteo Silvatico in Volume 92 of Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, year 2018 (published by Treccani). Editions of the Opus Pandectarum (aka Liber Pandectae) printed in Latin in the late 15th century are online at Digitale-Sammlungen.de (year 1498), Digitale-Sammlungen.de (year 1488), Gallica.BNF.fr (year 1480).

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Matthaeus Silvaticus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Matthaeus Silvaticus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Matthaeus Silvaticus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Matthaeus Silvaticus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Matthaeus Silvaticus

In research: Matthaeus Silvaticus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Matthaeus Silvaticus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Matthaeus Silvaticus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1280s births, 1340s deaths, 14th-century writers in Latin, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Matthaeus Silvaticus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Matthaeus Silvaticus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Matthaeus Silvaticus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Matthaeus Silvaticus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Matthaeus Silvaticus in simple terms?

Matthaeus Silvaticus or Mattheus Sylvaticus (c. 1280 – c. 1342) was an Italian medieval medical writer and botanist. His Life and Encyclopedia Matthaeus Silvaticus was born in northern Italy, probably Mantua.

Why does Matthaeus Silvaticus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Matthaeus Silvaticus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Matthaeus Silvaticus.