Guy de Chauliac (), also called Guido or Guigo de Cauliaco ( 1300 – 25 July 1368), was a French physician and surgeon who wrote a lengthy and influential treatise on surgery in Latin, titled Chirurgia Magna. It was translated into many other languages (including Middle English) and widely read by physicians in late medieval Europe. Life Guy de Chauliac was born in Chaulhac, Lozère, France, into a family of modest means. He began his study of medicine in Toulouse before going to study in Montpellier, the center for medical knowledge in the 14th century of France. He was in Paris between 1315 and 1320, and around 1325, he became a Master of Medicine and Surgery. After receiving his degree, he went to Bologna to study anatomy under Nicola Bertuccio, from whom he may have learned surgical techniques. It is unknown whether de Chauliac applied his surgical studies and knowledge. Charles H. Talbot writes, "It was seemingly from books that [Chauliac] learned his surgery.... He may have used the knife when embalming the bodies of dead popes, but he was careful to avoid it on living patients". Others, including Thevenet, claim that Chauliac moved to Mende and then Lyons to practice medicine after learning the art of surgery from Bertuccio. Chauliac's reputation as a physician grew quickly. He was invited to the Papal Court in Avignon, France, to serve as a personal physician to Pope Clement VI (1342–1352). He went on to become personal physician to Pope Innocent VI (1352–1362), and then to Pope Urban V (1362–1370). He died in Avignon in 1368. He completed his great treatise in 1353. Life during the Black Death era When the Black Death arrived in Avignon in 1348, physicians fled the city. However, Chauliac stayed on, treating plague patients and documenting symptoms meticulously. He claimed to have been himself infected and survived the disease. Through his observations, Chauliac distinguished between the two forms of the disease, the Bubonic Plague and the Pneumonic Plague. As a precautionary measure, he advised Pope Clement to keep a fire burning continuously in his chamber and to keep visitors out. He gave the following description to the papal court:The great death toll began in our case in the month of January [1348], and lasted for the space of seven months. It was of two kinds: the first lasted two months; with continuous fever and spitting of blood; and