Henry Daniel (friar) facts for kids

Henry Daniel was a Dominican friar (a type of monk) who lived around the late 1300s. He wrote many important books about medicine and science that were read widely in his time. He helped bring important Latin medical words and ideas into Middle English, which was the English language spoken back then.

Henry Daniel's Writings

Henry Daniel wrote several important books in Middle English. These books helped share medical and scientific knowledge with more people than just trained doctors.

Understanding Illness with Urine

One of Daniel's main books was called the Liber Uricrisiarum. This book taught people how to figure out what was wrong with someone by looking at their urine. This method is called uroscopy. The book gathered knowledge from ancient Greek, Arabic, and Latin medical traditions. It included ideas from famous doctors like Theophilos Protospatharios, Isaac Israeli, and Giles of Corbeil.

Besides looking at urine, the Liber Uricrisiarum also talked about other science topics. These included astronomy (the study of stars and planets), anatomy (the study of the body), and embryology (the study of how babies develop). There were two main versions of this book. Many copies of the Liber Uricrisiarum still exist today, showing how popular it was.

A Book of Herbs and Remedies

Daniel's other big book was the Aaron Danielis. This was like an encyclopedia of plants and other things used as medicine. It was a "companion book" to the Liber Uricrisiarum, meaning it worked well with it.

The Aaron Danielis describes different plants, gums, metals, and fungi. It explains what they are like and how they can be used as medicine. It also defines many medical words that people might not have known. Two copies of this book are kept in the British Library today.

The Power of Rosemary

Henry Daniel also wrote a short book specifically about rosemary. This plant was very important in medicine back then. This short book was sometimes included in the Aaron Danielis. However, it was also copied and read on its own. More than 20 copies of this stand-alone rosemary book still exist.

Henry Daniel's Life

Henry Daniel never went to medical school. But he knew a lot about academic medical books written in Latin. He also knew about works by famous thinkers like Aristotle. This suggests he probably went to a university for at least some time.

Daniel said that when he was young, he traveled for seven years. He did this to learn all he could about different herbs. He also claimed to have a garden in Stepney with 252 different kinds of plants. This was a huge number of plants for anyone to have in their garden during his time! By the time he wrote his main books, the Liber Uricrisiarum and Aaron Danielis, he was an older friar living at a Dominican convent.