all the details of the scheme, he proceeded immediately to Etienne l'Alemant, sieur de Vouzai, intendant of the Cardinal de Lorraine, and disclosed to him the particulars of the conspiracy in the presence of Milet, the secretary to the Duke de Guise. Avenelles was a Protestant, and this betrayal of the secrets of his party has been very generally censured as an act of gross treachery. De Thou, on the other hand, defends him as a man of worth and learning, who was influenced not by sordid motives, but by the conscientious conviction that all plots and conspiracies against a legally constituted government are morally wrong. It cannot be denied, however, that disinterested as his motives may have been, he did not refuse the reward of his disclosures, viz. the sum of twelve thousand francs, and a judicial post in one of the cities of Lorraine. The time of his death is not recorded. (De Thou, Histoire Universelle, edit. 1740, ii. 763-775; Satyre Menippée, edit. 1709, ii. 268, &c.) J. W. J. AVENPACE. [AVEMPACE.] AVENTINUS, JOHANNES, the author of the "Annales Bojorum," was born at Abensberg, in Bavaria, in 1466. His real family name was Thürmaier or Thürnmaier; accordingly he is called in an epigram by his friend Leonard von Eckh, “Thurniomarus," and also "Johannes Aventinus Duromarus;" but Aventinus called himself after the Latinized name of his native place Abensberg, although he well knew that the Romans called that town "Abusina" and not " Aventinium." His father kept an inn, but must have been possessed of good property, as he gave his son a liberal education. He sent him to the Universities of Ingolstadt and Paris. Having finished his philosophical and classical studies he returned to Germany, and in 1503 he taught eloquence and poetry in Vienna. In 1507 he went to Poland, gave public instruction in Greek grammar at Cracow, and perfected himself in mathematics. He returned soon after, and in 1509 he expounded at the University of Ingolstadt Cicero's "Somnium Scipionis" and the "Rhetorica ad Herennium," with so much success that his name reached the ducal court at Munich. He was invited to Munich, in 1512, to instruct Ludwig and Ernest, the two younger sons of Duke Albert the Wise, who had died in 1508, and whose place was occupied by his eldest son Wilhelm IV. Aventinus gained the good-will of the duke and the affection of his pupils, with the younger of whom, Ernest, he travelled through the south of Germany and the whole of Italy during 1515 and 1516, and thus he had an opportunity of making himself personally acquainted with the great scholars of Italy. On his return, in 1517, he began to prepare materials for the history of his native country, in which undertaking he was chiefly assisted by the duke and his pupils, who not only opened to him all the archives, but, in order to free him from all pecuniary cares, gave him a pension, and the means of travelling and consulting the public records of the various German states. Aventinus devoted himself entirely to his great work. He rarely left his study, saw his friends seldom, and allowed himself little rest even during the greater part of the night. In 1522, after six years' labour, his " Annales Bojorum" were in substance completed, but he employed the next ten years in enlarging and improving, and in translating them from Latin into German. In 1529, he was carried by force from the house of his sister in Abensberg, and put in prison, for reasons unknown, according to some of his biographers; but according to others, on a suspicion of heresy, and especially for his attachment to the Reformation. However, at the intercession of his patron, the Duke, he was set at liberty; but it seems that the high-minded scholar could not brook such an insult. From that time he fell into a state of melancholy. He tried, at last, to arouse himself from his grief by marrying, an extraordinary step at his time of life, for he was then sixty-four years of age. His melancholy was not cured by marriage, for his wife was of a quarrelsome temper. In 1533 he was called to Ingolstadt as tutor to the sons of a Bavarian counsellor. Upon this he went to Ratisbon in order to fetch his wife; but being taken ill he died in that town in 1534. He had two children, a boy, who died before him, and a girl, who survived him. 66 The "Annales Bojorum," by which he gained so great a reputation, and which procured for him from Leibnitz the honourable title of the "Father of Bavarian Historiography," had a strange fate. They were dedicated to the Duke Wilhelm IV. and his two brothers, but these patrons withheld the work from the public. Their successor Albert V. permitted Hieronymus Ziegler, professor of poetry at the University of Ingolstadt, to publish it. The Annales Bojorum" appeared in 1554. But the same reason which might have induced the princely patrons to stop the publication, led Ziegler to omit in his edition all those passages which were directed against the popes, several ecclesiastical persons, and the Romish Church. Ziegler states in his preface that these omissions excited the curiosity of the Lutherans, who exerted themselves to procure a complete copy. This was accomplished by Nicholaus Cisner in his edition under the title "Joannis Aventini Annalium Bojorum Lib. vii., ex autenticis manuscriptis codicibus recogniti, restituti, aucti diligentia Nicolai Cisneri," Basil, 1580, fol., 1615; Frankfort, 1627; and by H. N. Grundling, Leipzig, 1710. Four different editions of the German translation are mentioned: 1. the oldest under the title "Chronica von Ursprung und taten der uhralten Teutschen durch Joh. Aventinum, und yetzt erstmals durch Cesp. Bruschium in truck verfertigt," Nürnberg, 4to., 1541. 2. "Die Annales Bojorum, deutsch herausgegeben von Hier. Ziegler," Ingolstadt, fol. 1664 (the original, according to Adelung in his Supplement to Jöcher's "Allg. Gelehrten Lexicon," is in this edition much disfigured). 3. Bayerische Chronik, herausgegeben von Simon Schard," Frankfort, 1566, printed from an incomplete copy; and 4. 66 Bayerische Chronik, herausgegeben von Nic. Cisner," Basil and Frankfort, 1580, 1622, from the genuine manuscript of Aventinus. 66 Both the Latin original and the German translation bear the marks of indefatigable industry, love of truth, and reverence for all the great interests of mankind. The spirit which animated the “humanists" of the sixteenth century is felt as we peruse these books. The Latin is pure and flowing; the German is powerful, and bears a great similarity to the language of Luther. Besides these two works Aventinus left many manuscripts, the greater part of which treat of historical subjects, and some of grammar, music, and poetry; a complete list of all, both the printed and those in manuscript, is in Adelung's "Supplement" to Jöcher. | several scholars, all of whom have borrowed from one source, the "Vita Joannis Aventini Boji a Hieronymo Zieglero enarrata et Annalibus Bojorum præfixa," Ingolstadt, 1556. (Dan. Wilh. Moller, Diss. de Jo. Aventino, Altorf, 4to., 1698; Vita Aventini, auct. G. H. A. (Hier. Aug. Groschuf), prefixed to the Annales Bojorum, Leipzig, 1710; Bayle, Dictionnaire; Leben des Johann Thürmayers, insgemein Aventin genant, in the Annalen der Baierischen Literatur vom Jahr 1778; C. W. F. v. Breyer, Ueber Aventin, den Vater der Baierischen Geschichte, in Erster öffentlicher Sitzung der Königlichen Academie der Wissenschaften nach ihrer Ernennung ; Ersch and Gruber, Allgem. Encyclopädie.) A. H. AVENZŎAR, one of the corrupt forms of the Arabic name Ibn Zohr, or (as it is sometimes, but probably less correctly, written) Ibn Zahr, Zohar, or Zohir. The word has been corrupted in the same way, and for the same reasons, as the name Avempace, and is sometimes written Aben Zohar, Abinzohar, Abyçohar, Abynzoahar, Aven Zohar, &c. It is generally applied to one very celebrated Arabic physician of the sixth century of the Hijra, or twelfth of the Christian æra; but as this has arisen from confounding several persons of the same family, it will be necessary here to distinguish them, for which purpose the following genealogical table will be useful : The life of Aventinus has been written by A.H. 336-422 (A.D. 947-8—1031). 4. Abú Merwán 'Abdu-l-malek. 5. Abú-l-'ala Zohr. Died A.H. 525 (A.D. 1130-1). 6. Abú Merwán 'Abdu-l-malek. Died A.H. 595 (A.D. 1199). A daughter. A.H. 465?-557 (A.D. 1072-3-1161–2). * 7. Abú Bekr Mohammed. A.H. 507-595 (A.D. 1113-4-1199). 8. Abú Mohammed 'Abdullah. A.H. 577-602 (A.H. 1181-2-1205-6). 9. Abú Merwán 'Abdu-l-malek. The Bení Zohr, or family of Zohr, were distinguished citizens of Seville in Andalusia, belonging to the tribe of the 'Ayádites (or 'Iyádites), who formed part of the great family of 'Adnán, and settled in Spain in the eighth century of the Christian æra, shortly after the conquest. There are certainly very few families that can boast so many illustrious members in direct succession. They are sometimes said in modern works to have been Jews, but this is not mentioned by ancient authors, nor is it likely that persons belonging to that religion would have given 10. Abú-l-'ala Mohammed to their children the name of Mohammed. It is, however, very possible that one or two individual members of the family may have been converted from the religion of Islam. (Wüstenfeld, Geschichte der Arabischen Aerzte und Naturforscher, Leipzig, 1840; Al-makkarí, History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, translated by Gayangos, vol. i. p. 336, vol. ii. p. 24.) 1, 2. Of ZOHR and his son MERWA'N nothing is known worth recording, except that the former is said to have been a Jew, who was converted to the Mohammedan religion. They both lived in the tenth century of the Christian æra. (Gayangos, Notes to Al-makkarí, i. 336.) 3. ABU BEKR MOHAMMED IBN MERWA'N IBN ZOHR was the first member of his family who practised medicine. He was born A.H. 336 (A.D. 947-8), lived at Seville, and died at Talavera in Toledo A.H. 422 (A.D. 1031), aged eighty-six lunar or eighty-three solar years. He was also eminent as a lawyer, and is praised for his piety, uprightness, and generosity. (Wüstenfeld, Gesch. der Arab. Aerzte, § 156; Gayangos, Notes to Al-makkarí, i. 336.) a translation; but there is a little work "De 4. ABU MERWA'N 'ABDU-L-MALEK IBN ABI' BEKR MOHAMMED IBN MERWA'N IBN ZOHR followed the profession of physic; and in order to improve himself in the science, he left Seville, his native city, and visited Baghdad, Cairo, and Cairwán, in all which places he practised as a physician, and gained great reputation. On his return to Spain he settled at Denia in Valencia, then the court of Abu-l-jiyúsh Mujahid, the Sclavonian. According to Ibn Khallikán, he died in this city; but Ibn Abí Ossaybi'ah places his death at Seville. Neither writer, however, mentions the date; but, as Mujahid died A.H. 436 (A.D. 1044-5), we may safely place it about the middle of the fifth century of the Hijra, or eleventh of the Christian æra. (Wüstenfeld, Gesch. der Arab. Aerzte, § 157; Gayan-he commanded a collection to be made of his gos, Notes to Al-makkarí, i. 336, 337.) most approved medical formulæ. His son, 5. ABU-L-'ALA ZOHR IBN ABI' MERWA'N Abú Merwán 'Abdu-l-malek, several times 'ABDI-L-MALEK IBN ABI' BEKR MOHAMMED mentions him in his work entitled "Teysir,” IBN MERWA'N IBN ZOHR was instructed at and always in terms of the highest admiraSeville by his father and by Abu-l-'aina of tion. In one place he tells a story of himself, Egypt in medicine and philology, and ac- and says, that in a particular case, where he quired great reputation both as a physician was at a loss how to proceed, and had asked and a philosopher. He was raised to the the opinion of several other physicians to no rank of vizír either under Abú 'Amru 'Ab- purpose, at last he took a journey to the town bád Al-mu'tadhed-billah, second King of where his father lived, and desired his advice. Seville of the dynasty of the Bení 'Abbád, The old man would give him no direct answer, A.H. 433-461 (A.D. 1042-1069), or under but showed him a place in Galen, and told him one of the kings of the succeeding dynasty to read that: if he could find out the cure of of the Almoravides. He died either at Seville the distemper by it, it was very well; if he or at Cordova, A.H. 525 (A.D. 1130-1), of an could not, he bade him never think of making abscess between his shoulders. One of his any proficiency in physic. The advice sucscholars was Abú 'A'mir Zanbuk, who after-ceeded, so that the patient was cured, to the wards attained the rank of vizír and was celebrated as a lyric poet. It was in the time of Abu-l-'ala Zohr that the first copy of the Kanun of Avicenna (who had died nearly a century earlier) was brought from Irak into Spain, and was presented to him as a most acceptable present. He did not, however, much value the work, which he considered to be unworthy of a place in his library, and is said to have cut off the large blank margins from his copy to write his prescriptions on. Several medical works that bear his name are still to be found in some of the European libraries: Wüstenfeld enumerates seven, one of which is a refutation of certain passages in Avicenna. None of these have ever been published either in the original Arabic or in satisfaction both of the father and the son. 6. ÁBU' MERWA'N 'ABDU-L-MALEK IBN ABI'-L-'ALA ZOHR IBN ABI' MERWA'N 'ABDI-L-MALEK IBN ABI BEKR MOHAMMED IBN MERWA'N IBN ZOHR, is the most celebrated member of the family, at least among Europeans, though by the Arabian biographers his son is considered to have surpassed him. His first name has been much corrupted, and is sometimes written in old books Abhomeron, Abhumeron, Abhymeron, | perhaps recover:" and Ibn Zohr answered Abimeron, Abumaruan, Abumeron, Abyn- him, "O my son, if God has decreed that what meron, Albumeron, &c. The exact date of is manifest (?) should be altered, I need not his birth is unknown, as it is not mentioned prepare medicines; since, whatever remedies I by any ancient author, nor is his age or the may employ, His decrees must be fulfilled, date of his death quite certain. It seems and His will finally executed." (Translated most probable, however, that he was born from Ibn Abí Ossaybi'ah by Gayangos.) about A.H. 465 (A.D. 1072-3), either at Se- He died at Seville, most probably A.H. 557 ville, or at Peñaflor near Seville. He was (A.D. 1161-2), and was buried outside the instructed in medical science by his father, gate called "Bábu-l-fatah," or "Gate of who is said to have made him swear, when Victory." His age is not quite certain. only ten years old, that he would never ad- Averroës says (Collig. lib. iv. cap. 40, p. minister any poisonous substance; but whe- 73, 0, ed. 1549) that he lived one hunther this was done on account of the fre- dred and thirty-five years, which statement quency of this crime among the Moors in has been adopted by Freind and others. This, Spain at that time, as some persons have however, is probably a clerical or typograsupposed, or whether his father merely ad- phical error, as, among other chronological ministered the Hippocratic oath, which do- difficulties, it would make his father, who cument was certainly known to the Arabians, died A.H. 525 (A.D. 1130-1), attain nearly does not appear. It is said that he did not the same extraordinary age as himself. In begin to practise till he was forty years old. the absence, therefore, of a better authority, Abú Merwán 'Abdu-l-malek was, like his we must be content to receive the testimony father Abu-l-'ala Zohr, employed in the ser- of Leo Africanus, who says that he lived to vice of the Almoravide sultáns, at whose the age of ninety-two lunar or eighty-nine hands he received both riches and honours. solar years. The names of several of his The "Hali filius Joseph," however, who is pupils are preserved, among whom some permentioned in his work, and by whose order sons reckon the celebrated Averroes, who he was thrown into prison, was not, as has certainly was one of his intimate friends, and been sometimes imagined, the Sultán 'Ali Ibn who mentions him in his "Kulliyyat" in Yusuf Ibn Táshefin, who reigned from A.H. terms of the greatest admiration and respect. 500 to 537 (A.D. 1106-1143), but merely Besides his son Abú Bekr Mohammed, who the governor of Seville (Contestabilis Regis succeeded him in his professional employSebilia), of whom he speaks in another placements, Abú Merwán had also a daughter, as being his enemy. After the death of Abu' Is'hák Ibrahim Ibn Táshefín, the last of the Almoravide sultáns, A.H. 541 (A.D. 1147), he entered into the service of 'Abdul-mumen, the first of the Almohades, by whom he was highly distinguished, and who appointed him his vizír. Several anecdotes of his piety, liberality, generosity, and medical skill are preserved in his own work and by his biographers. He is commonly said to have been a Jew, but this is not mentioned by any ancient authority, nor do the passages in his work which have been referred to as Avenzoar wrote several medical works, of intimating this necessarily lead to this con- which some are still in MS. in different clusion. Possibly the opinion may have been libraries of Europe. The most celebrated of partly occasioned by the fact of the Latin trans- these is entitled "Kitábu-t-teysír fí madáwáti lation of his work having been made, not from wa tadbiri," or "The Book of Assistance in the original Arabic, but from a Hebrew version, Healing and Regimen," commonly called and from the translator having been assisted simply "Theizir," or "Teisir;" which is inin his task by a Jew. He died of an abscess deed one of the most interesting and valuable in his side, as is said to have been predicted works of the Arabian physicians. It consists to him by a physician at Seville, who himself of three books, and is not meant to be a comdied of the disease that had been predicted to plete and systematic treatise on Medicine, but him by Avenzoar. On the first appearance seems to be chiefly derived from his own perof the disease which caused his death, he sonal experience, and is almost entirely of a began to take medicines, and to apply plasters practical nature. Freind, in his "History of and poultices to his side; but his son Abú Physic," considers Avenzoar to come under Bekr, seeing that they produced no effect, the character of an original author more and that the disease did not abate, said to him justly than any other of the Arabian phyone day, "O father, if, instead of such me- sicians, and accordingly gives a very full dicament, thou wert to use so and so, and then analysis of his work, from which the followadd such a drug, and mixing it thou didsting account is chiefly abridged. He lays it prepare such a medicament, thou mightest down as a maxim, that experience chiefly who was well versed in medicine and pharmacy, and who in particular was so celebrated for her skill in midwifery and female diseases, that she was admitted into the harem of Almansúr; and no child of that sultán, or of any of his relations, was ever born within its walls without her assistance. She was poisoned at the same time as her brother Abú Bekr, A.H. 595 (A.D. 1199), and was succeeded in her office at the palace by her daughter, who was equally famous for her medical skill. is the right guide and standard of a warrantable practice, and must absolve or condemn him and every physician both in this life and the next. He describes an inflammation and abscess of the mediastinum which hap-editus in arabico a perfecto viro abumaruan pened to himself; but the symptoms mentioned are almost as applicable to an attack of pleurisy. He notices also an inflammation of the pericardium, and speaks of its coats being increased in thickness by the generation of some new substance, like cartilages or pellicles. In treating of consumption he takes notice how strongly Galen recommends asses' milk; but adds, that, because it was unlawful for the Saracens to eat the flesh or drink the milk of that animal, he substituted goats' milk in its room; in which respect he seems to be more scrupulous than Rhazes and Avicenna, neither of whom expresses any difficulty about recommending certain parts of the ass to be used by way of medicine. He speaks of certain filthy and abominable operations, as he calls them, in surgery, which he says are unfit for a man of character to perform, such as the extraction of the stone; and thinks that no religious man, according to the law, ought so much as to view the genitals. He had a good opinion of the operation of bronchotomy in the case of a desperate quinsey: though, as it was a difficult operation, and he had never seen it performed, he says he would not be the first person to recommend it. However, he thinks it practicable, from the experiment which he made himself with this view upon a goat: he made an incision through the rings of the trachea about the size of a lupine; dressed the wound every day with honey-water; when it began to incarn, applied powder of cypress nuts; and so perfected the cure. In the case of a relaxation or stoppage of the œsophagus, when there ensues an inability to swallow any nourishment, he proposes three ways of giving relief: 1, by putting down a tin or silver instrument like a pipe, and by that means throwing into the stomach some milk or other thin nourishment; 2, by placing the patient in a bath of milk, &c., that some of the nutricious particles may insinuate themselves through the pores; which method, however, he ridicules as frivolous; and 3, by means of clysters, which he says is the true method, and never fails. The work has never been published in Arabic, but there is a very indifferent Latin translation, which was several times reprinted in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The first edition was published at Venice in 1490, and is said to be scarce. The following is a description of the copy in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It is printed in black letter, with two columns in a page, and contains also the "Colliget" of Averroës. On the first page is the title "Abumeron. Auenzohar;" then follow three leaves containing a table of contents for both works; then begins Avenzoar's work thus:-"In is no * This date means the second day of Rabi' the second, A.H. 679; but there seems to be a slight clerical or typographical error, as the corresponding European date is the 31st of July, not the 1st of August, A.D. 1280. |