Michael Servetus - Works

Works

Only the dates of the first editions are included.

• 1531 “On the Errors of the Trinity. De Trinitatis Erroribus” (Haguenau, Setzer). Without imprint mark or mark of printer, nor the city in which it was printed. Signed as Michael Serveto alias Revés, from Aragon, Spanish. Written in Latin, it also includes words in Greek and in Hebrew in the body of the text whenever he wanted to stress the original meaning of a word from Scripture.

• 1532 “Dialogues on the Trinity. Dialogorum de Trinitaty” (Haguenau, Setzer). Without imprint mark or mark of printer, nor the city which it was printed. Signed as Michael Serveto alias Revés, from Aragon, Spanish.

• 1535 “Geography of Claudius Ptolemy. Claudii Ptolemaeii Alexandrinii Geographicae.” Lyon, Trechsel. Signed as Michel De Villeneuve. Servetus dedicated this work to Hugues de la Porte. The second edition was dedicated to Pierre Palmier. Michel de Villeneuve states that the basis of his edition comes from the work of Bilibald Pirkheimer, who translated this work from Greek to Latin, but Michel also affirms that he also compared it to the primitive Greek texts. The 19th-century expert in Servetus, Henri Tollin (1833–1902), considered him to be “the father of comparative geography” due to the extension of his notes and commentaries.

• 1536 “The Apology against Leonard Fuchs. In Leonardum Fucsium Apologia.“ Lyon, printed by Gilles Hugetan, with Parisian prologue. Signed as Michel de Villeneuve. The physician Leonhart Fuchs and a friend of Michael Servetus, Symphorien Champier, got involved in an argument via written works, on their different Lutheran and Catholic beliefs. Servetus defends his friend in the first parts of the work. In the second part he talks of a medical plant and its properties. In the last part he writes on different topics, such as the defense of a pupil attacked by a teacher, and the origin of syphilis.

• 1537 “Complete Explanation of the Syrups. Syruporum universia ratio”. Paris, edited by Simon de Colines. Signed as Michael de Villeneuve. This work consists of a prologue "The Use of Syrups", and 5 chapters: I “What the concoction is and why it is unique and not multiple”, II "What the things that must be known are", III "That the concoction is always..", IV "Exposition of the aphorisms of Hippocrates" and V "On the composition of syrups". Michel de Villeneuve refers to experiences of using the treatments, and to pharmaceutical treatises and terms more deeply described in his later pharmacopeia Enquiridion or Dispensarium. Michel mentions two of his teachers, Sylvius and Andernach, but above all, Galen. This work had a strong impact in those times.

• 1538 “Apologetic discourse of Michel de Villeneuve in favour of Astrology and against a certain physician. Michaelis Villanovani in quedam medicum apologetica disceptatio pro Astrologia.” Servetus denounces Jean Tagault, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, for attacking astrology, while many great thinkers and physicians praised it. He lists reasonings of Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates and Galen, how the stars are related to some aspects of a patient's health, and how a good physician can predict effects by them: the effect of the moon and sun on the sea, the winds and rains, the period of women, the speed of the decomposition of the corpses of beasts, etc.

• 1542 “Holy Bible according to the translation of Santes Pagnino. Biblia sacra ex Santes Pagnini tralation, hebraist.” Lyon, edited by Delaporte and printed by Trechsel. The name Michel de Villeneuve appears in the prologue, the last time this name would appear in any of his works.

• 1542 "Biblia sacra ex postremis doctorum".(octavo) Vienne in Dauphiné, edited by Delaporte and printed by Trechsel. Anonymous.

• 1545 "Sacred Bible with commentaries. Biblia Sacra cum Glossis." Lyon, printed by Trechsel and Vincent. Called "Ghost Bible" by scholars who denied its existence. There is an anonymous work from this year that was edited in accordance with the contract that Miguel de Villeneuve made with the Company of Booksellers in 1540. The work consists of 7 volumes (6 volumes and an index) illustrated by Hans Holbein. This research was carried out by the scholar Julien Baudrier in the sixties. Recently scholar González Echeverría has graphically proved the existence of this work, and demonstrating that contrary to what experts Barón and Hillard thought, this work is also anonymous.

• “Manuscript of Paris”, (c1546). This document is a draft of the Christianismi Restitutio. Written in Latin, it includes a few quotes in Greek and Hebrew. This work has paleographically the same handwriting as the "Manuscript of the Complutense".

• 1553 "The Restoration of Christianity. Cristianismi Restitutio". Vienne, printed by Baltasar Arnoullet. Without imprint mark or mark of printer, nor the city in which it was printed. Signed as M.S.V. at the colophon though "Servetus" name is mentioned inside, in a fictional dialog. Servetus uses Biblical quotes in Greek and in Hebrew on its cover and in the body of the text whenever he wanted to stress the original meaning of a word from Scripture.