Title:
Alternate names/spellings: Arnaud de Villeneuve, Arnau de Vilanova, Arnaldus Villanovanus, Arnaud de Ville-Neuve or Arnaldus de Villanueva
Dates: 1235 - 1311 (Dates are approximate. )
Arnaldus de Villa Nova was an alchemist, astrologer and physician. He was born in Valencia, and appears to have been of Catalan origin, and to have studied chemistry, medicine, physics, and also Arabic philosophy. After having lived at the court of Aragon and taught many years in Montpellier School of Medicine, he went to Paris, where he gained a considerable reputation; but he incurred the enmity of the ecclesiastics and was forced to flee, finally finding an asylum in Sicily. About 1313 he was summoned to Avignon by Pope Clement V, who was ill, but he died on the voyage off the coast of Genoa.