and alchemist. He studied medicine in Montpellier until 1260. He traveled through France, Catalonia, and Italy, as part doctor, part ambassador. He was the personal doctor of the King of Aragon from 1281. At the death of Peter III of Aragon in 1285, he left Barcelona for Montpellier. Influenced by Joachim of Fiore, he claimed that in 1378 the world would end and the Antichrist would come (De adventu Antichristi, 1288). He was condemned by the University of Paris in 1299, accused of heresy, and imprisoned for his ideas of church reform. He was saved through the intervention of Boniface VIII, whom Arnaldus had cured of a painful illness. He was once again imprisoned in Paris around 1304, under pope Benedict XI. The Sorbonne ordered his philosophical works to be burned. He was the master of the school of medicine between 1291 and 1299. His fame as a doctor was immense: among his patients were three popes and three kings. He was the first physician that used alcohol as an antiseptic. He became an ambassador for James II, king of Aragon and Sicily. He sought refuge from the Inquisition at the court of Frederick III in Sicily, and was later called to Avignon as a doctor for pope Clement V. He is certainly behind the papal bull of 8 September 1309, which required of medical students knowledge of some fifteen Greco-Arabic treatises, including ones by Galen and Avicenna. He died in a shipwreck near Genoa in 1311 while on a diplomatic mission. The inquisitor of Tarragona condemned him, and fifteen of his propositions were censured. A list of writings is given by J. Ferguson in his Bibliotheca Chemica (1906). See also U. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources hist., &c., Bio-bibliographie (Paris, 1903). See also Brazen Head Latin translations of the 12th century Litmus Footnotes References J. B. Haureau in the Histoire litteraire de la France (1881), vol. 28; E. Lalande, Arnaud de Villeneuve, sa vie et ses oeuvres (Paris, 1896). Further reading External links Who is Arnau de Vilanova, full presentation of Arnau de Vilanova and his works provided by the project Arnau DB at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Arnaldus Villanovanus Catholic Encyclopedia Juanita A. Daly, Arnald of Vilanova: Physician and Prophet Works attributed to Arnaldus Excerpta medica - Mscr.Dresd.C.278. [S.l.] 1500, Online-Ausgabe der Sächsischen Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden Opus aureum. Frankfurt a. Mayn 1604, Online-Ausgabe der Sächsischen