Henrik Harpestræng

Henrik Harpestræng (died April 2, 1244) was a Danish botanical and medical author. He was a canon at the Roskilde Cathedral. His name litterally mean "harp string".His greatest work was a "urtebog" (book of herbs), written in Danish. The book consists of 150 chapters dealing with plants and plant parts. The main body of text is probably translations from two Latin works, "De viribus herbarum" by a person who calls himself Aemilius Macer, but is rather Odo Magdunensis, and "De gradibus liber" by Constantinus Africanus. However, there is a good deal of sections of which Henrik Harpestræng is undoubtedly the original author. In addition, the book is an invaluable source to Danish Medieval plant names.The best preserved copy of this manuscript dates from the 13th Century - now kept in Stockholm.

Henrik Harpestræng is by all likelihood identical to the "Henricus Dacus" or "Henricus de Dacia", who authored a Latin essay on plants, "Liber de simplicibus medicinis laxativis", and to the "Maistre Henry de Danemarche", of 1181, whon a manuscript in the National Library in Paris designates as "excellent medecin à Orleans et grant astrologicien". This probably witnesses that Henrik studied in France.

ources

*Hauberg, Poul (1932) Henrik Harpestræng, pp. 9-11 in: Meisen, V. Prominent Danish Scientists through the Ages. University Library of Copenhagen 450th Anniversary. Levin & Munksgaard, Copenhagen.