Lanfranc of Milan

Lanfranc of Milan
Born	Guido Lanfranchi c. 1250 Milan
Died	1306

The surgeon Lanfranc of Milan (c. 1250–1306), variously called Guido Lanfranchi, Lanfranco or Alanfrancus, was a student of Guglielmo da Saliceto. Involved in the struggles of Guelphs and Ghibellines, he was exiled from Milan by Matteo I Visconti in 1290. He moved first to Lyons, then on to Paris. There he became a popular professor of surgery at the Collège de St. Côme.

He has been credited with transferring the lead in surgical technique from Italy to France.

His Chirurgia Magna, completed 1296 and more often known as the Science of Chirgurie or Cirgurie to distinguish it from the Inventarium, has since been published in over seventy editions in multiple languages.

LANFRANC, a writer on surgery, who flourished in the thirteenth century, was a native of Milan. The troubles of his country drove him to France, where he first fixed his abode at Lyons. He removed to Paris in 1295, and was attended by a number of disciples; and at the request of the dean of the faculty he composed his great work on surgery in 1296. He entitled it, Practica quae dicitur Ars completa totius Chirurgiae. It is usually called his Chirurgia Magna. It was first printed at Venice in 1490, and has been several times reprinted. It has also been translated into French, German, and English. It is a verbose compilation from the Arabians, and also from his master, de Saliceto.

— Hugh James Rose, A New General Biographical Dictionary, 1853

References

• Tovar, Claude de (1985). "Les versions françaises de la Chirurgia Parva de Lanfranc de Milan. Étude de la tradition manuscrite". In: Revue d'histoire des textes, vol. 12, pp. 195–262