GEORGE SCHARPE, c.1581-1637: A SCOTS DOCTOR AT MONTPELLIER

In the fifteenth century, three universities were founded in Scotland: St Andrew’s (1413), Glasgow (1451), and Aberdeen (1494).1 All were church foundations initiated by scholars and senior clerics of these towns, and authorised by the Pope. One or more Papal Bulls directed the King of Scotland to pass the required statutes. Enterprising Scots students still sought tuition in the universities of France, Italy,2 Germany and sometimes further afield, but gradually higher education was established locally.3  Then came the reformation in Scotland. In 1559-1560, the Scots Parliament abolished Papal authority and adopted the Protestant ‘Confession of Faith’. The three universities were forced to comply, Aberdeen with reluctance, St. Andrew’s and Glasgow with more enthusiasm.4

The reformation saved the older universities, which were failing mainly from confining their teaching to theology. There were few pupils: the English Ambassador in Scotland, writing in 1562, described only ‘fifteen or sixteen scollers’ at Aberdeen.5

Thus came the foundation of a protestant university in the capital, encouraged, amongst others by James Lawson, a local minister, who, in 1578, presented a petition to James VI. A charter to found the University was granted in 1580.6 Though only fourteen years of age, the King, well taught in Latin and Greek, and versed in Calvinist theology, welcomed the University in the words ‘I will be godfather to the College of Edinburgh and will have it called the College of King James’.7 The official title was Academi Jacobi Sexti.

Whilst students could now study in Scotland, many subsequently visited the continent, where they were welcome, and some remained to teach. Of Bordeaux University, Vinetus wrote ‘This school is rarely without a Scotsman ; it has two at present one of whom is a professor of philosophy, the other of the Greek language and mathematics . . .‘.8 These two professors were William Hegate and Robert Balfour. John Cameron, 1580-1625, was described as a ‘. . .vagrant Scottish scholar, filling successively a chair in half the universities of western Europe’.9

In medicine, although Paris attracted pupils, the Universities of Montpellier, Padua, and Leiden were successively famous. Montpellier, the oldest surviving medical school in Europe, attracted scholars in the sixteenth century and earlier; by 1600 Padua was more favoured; and by the end of the seventeenth century, tuition at Leiden was the most coveted.10

A notable example of a Scots doctor abroad was George Scharpe (Fig. 1) , who, coming to Montpellier for his medical studies, remained there for almost the whole of his career.11

Scharpe was a product of the University of Edinburgh where he began his studies in the autumn of 1596. He graduated among 32 in the 13th class on 29 July, 1600, under John Adamson, Regent.12 Mr Robert Rollack, a Minister in the City, had been Principal of the new College for 15 years — almost from its foundation — but died in February 1599, to be succeeded the following year by Mr Henry Charteris. Other teachers in Scharpe's time included Charles Ferme (to 1598), George Robertson (to 1598), William Crage, John Roy, and Robert Scot.13

The curriculum for attaining the Master of Arts degree had been designed in 1583.14 There were four years or classes, the first being the ‘Bajan’ class15 in which Latin and Greek predominated, texts being Cicero, Clenardus (a Greek grammar), the New Testament, and Homer etc. The second, or Semi-Bajan year, studied further classics, particularly Aristotle, but were also instructed in Rhetoric and Arithmetic. Disputation now formed a common mode of instruction. In the third or Bachelor year, Hebrew, Dialectics, and Human Anatomy were added. The final, or Magistrand year, repeated previous work but added Practical Astronomy, Meteorology, and Cosmography (geography).

Edinburgh was experiencing changes during this period.16 The King came to reside in the City, and there was interest in his marriage to Anne of Denmark. Anne was stormbound in Oslo, whither James sailed in November 1589, to marry his Queen, and bring her to Edinburgh in May 1590.

Edinburgh University was not to develop a medical school until the last quarter of the seventeenth century. To pursue his medical studies, Scharpe proceeded to the University of Montpellier, the oldest medical school in Europe, and whose history has been much researched.17,18,19,20

Montpellier was favoured by the friendship of the king, Henry IV, whose early life was spent in this area. Henry (of Navarre) was brought up by his mother as a Calvinist, and was the leader in the third Huguenot war, in which, however, he lost the battle of Jarnac in 1569. The murder of Henry, Duke of Guise, by Henry III, who himself was murdered, brought the crown to Henry of Navarre, now Henry IV. Evidence of the King’s interest in the university and the medical school was his founding, in 1593, of the Jardin des Plantes, the first academic botanical garden in France, with two supportive chairs of anatomy and botany. 21

Scharpe22 arrived in Montpellier in 1601 to study ‘belleslettres’ in the faculty of arts under the Protestant Chair of Philosophy.23 His medical studies began with his matriculation on October 30th 1603.24 Pierre Richer de Bellaval25 (Fig.2), 1564-1632, was the senior physician, first Director of the Botanic Garden, and Professor of Anatomy and of Botany, a frequent combination.26 Pierre’s colleagues in teaching Scharpe were Jean Varanda, Professor of Medicine27 and Pierre Dortoman, Professor of Surgery and Pharmacy. 28 After 1605, Surgery and Pharmacy were separated: Francois Ranchin became professor of surgery29 whilst Dortoman remained Professor of Pharmacy.

Another important position, occupied by Jacques d’Estienne de Pradilles30 was that of physician to the poor hospital, L’Hotel-Dieu Saint-Eloi. Jacques was succeeded in 1604 by Pierre Dortoman, who in 1606 was replaced by Jacques de L’Hostallier.31 All these academics were practising physicians and formed a strong academic team. The buildings in which they taught in the seventeenth century (Fig.3) were researched by Bonnet.32

Scharpe graduated bachelor of medicine on January 13th, 1606, and on April 8th was licensed in medicine.33 During 1607, 1608, and 1609, he was the physician in charge of the poor at 1’Hotel-Dieu Saint-Eloi, displacing de L’Hostallier. On February 8th 1607, Scharpe obtained his doctorate in medicine, examined by Pierre Dortoman.34

He presented a thesis entitled ‘Questiones Medicae’.35 This was one of eight medical theses published in Montpellier in 1617; unfortunately no copy is known to have survived.36,37 Another, on carcinoma of the breast, was by a compatriot, Adam Abernethy.38 In 1613, Scharpe taught in the botanic garden as a demonstrator of ‘simples’.39 By now his work was respected and, in 1619, he was made ‘Regence IV’.40 He was appointed in 1619 to the chair of medicine, made vacant by the death of Jean Varanda in 1617. There was strong competition, one unsuccessful applicant being Lazarre Riviere, later to prove an outstanding physician at Montpellier.41

In 1618 and 1619 Scharpe taught Pharmacy to apprentice apothecaries.42 He was now married to Francoise de la Combe, a Protestant lady of Montpellier, and, of several children, the sons, Claude, Jacques, and Jules-Georges, were destined for medicine in Montpellier. Scharpe’s seniority in the Faculty was now evident. He was made Proctor in 1631, and Vice-Chancellor in 1632, in the absence of Francois Ranchin. He seems to have been difficult with colleagues, and as Proctor was quarrelsome

Scharpe departed for Bologna in 1634.43 He left the Faculty in confusion, as he nominated Jacques Duranc as his successor. This irregular appointment appalled the seniors of the medical school, who wished to appoint a candidate of their own choice. It seemed their right, but Scharpe proved wily and obstinate, arguing that the King had appointed him in Montpellier, and, as his move to Bologna might be temporary, he could appoint Duranc as his locum tenens. This unlikely liberty provoked legal challenge. An influential friend — M. de Fenouillet, Eveque of Montpellier — supported Scharpe, affirming that he had gone to Bologna, Animo Redeundi, with the permission of the King. The case was sent to Toulouse for trial, which promised not only controversy but scandal: it was alleged that Duranc had paid Scharpe for his appointment.44 The Parliament at Toulouse declared the chair vacant but the legal wrangle continued, only ending with the death of Scharpe (Fig. 4) in Bologna in 1637, on 24 August, the anniversary of his birth.45 It seems that he died having embraced the Catholic Church.

Scharpe’s son, Claude returned to medical studies at Montpellier and in September 1638 obtained his doctorate.46 In the same year he published the lecture notes of his father under the title ‘Institutiones Medicae’.47 The book is rare even in France — there is no copy in Montpellier, but there are two copies in North America.48 These lectures are the main evidence of Scharpe’s medical standing, which did not approach the fame of Ranchin49 or Rivierre in medicine or of Pierre Richer de Bellaval50 in botany. But Guy Patin, 1601-1672, in Paris, never one to praise the physicians of Montpellier, considered Scharpe a very learned man and an able logician.51

During Scharpe’s career in Montpellier — 1601 to 1634 —, much of the South of France was disturbed by a series of religious wars, the cause being the reformation as expressed by the Protestants or Hugenots.52 The Hugenots were considered a threat to national unity. They formed only five to six per cent of the population of France, in the South but were numerous in some towns, notably, La Rochelle, but also Castres, Clairac, Millau, Montabaun, and Nerac which were wholly protestant. Henri IV had been a friend of the locality, and kindly disposed to Protestants, whose rights were recognised in 1598 by the Edict of Nantes, by which, in addition to religious freedom, Protestants had access to schools, universities, and hospitals. In Montpellier, they were in the majority, occupied most of the civic positions and the chairs in the University. Henry’s assassination in 1610 ended this forbearance. There was an indecisive period when Marie de Medici, the mother of the child Louis XIII, was Regent, but when Louis assumed control in 1617, later aided, and almost supplanted by Cardinal Richelieu, war was declared on the Hugenots.

As threatening as their religious incompability, was their wealth and power in those towns they controlled. In 1628 La Rochelle surrendered after a prolonged siege, and the King and Cardinal turned further South, totally destroying many of the towns of Languedoc.53Louis laid siege to Montpellier in 1622,54 destroying most of the buildings of the town and devastating the celebrated Jardin des Plantes. The town surrendered on October 18th, 1622, in which year the ‘Peace of Montpellier’ was signed.

Then followed a period of famine and epidemics, significant is the prevalence of Morgellons, an illness now forgotten by the medical profession but associated with extreme poverty.55 Plague came to Montpellier at the end of July, 1629, and, by November, 2000 inhabitants had died.56 The epidemic abated in December and had ceased by February, 1630, by which time the towns of Pui, Carcassone, Montauban, and Toulouse were affected. The destruction of the city and the plague profoundly affected tuition in the medical school. The University Registers show the intake of medical students, usually over 30, reduced in 1629, when only seven were matriculated. Numbers recovered the following year.

The physicians of the Montpellier medical school struggled through this disastrous period. First they were obliged to provide medical services to the protestant armies of Rohan.57 Then, as best they could, they sheltered from the destruction of the town during the siege, and offered what medical assistance was possible. After the surrender, they began the reconstruction of the city and worked to cope with famine and sickness, notably the plague of 1629-1630.

Prominent was Francois Ranchin, born and educated in Montpellier, Professor of Medicine since 1605, Chancellor in 1612, and author of many important texts.58 Ranchin was active in the rebuilding of the city, including the hospitals, the medical school, and the anatomy theatre of Guillaume Rondelet.59 Mayor of Montpellier during the plague of 1629-1630, Ranchin made great efforts to contain the epidemic and bring relief to the population.

The other senior administrator, active in reconstuction, was his colleague, Pierre Richter de Belleval. Pierre had scarcely finished creating his beloved botanic garden when it was almost totally destroyed. In happier times Henri IV had founded the garden. Now Pierre, without outside finance, set about its rebuilding and replanting, using his own fortune and that of his wife.60 Until he died in 1632, to be survived by his nephew, Martin Richer de Bellaval, all his resources were devoted to the garden and the building of a College of Botany.

In the records of the medical school there are references to Scharpe’s services during these troubled years.61 During the siege of 1622, he was directed to assist the soldiers of the Rohan, and later he visited those affected by the plague. But he did not see the full reconstruction of Montpellier and the recovery of the Medical School, as he left for Bologna in 1634.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I am grateful to the staffs of the Bodleian and British Libraries. the Library of the Malson Francaise, Oxford, and the Librarian and Archivist of the University of Montpellier. For the. reproduction of figures, I thank the authors, publishers, and primary sources stated in the legends.

R E F E R E N C E S

 1 Powicke FM. and Emden AB. Rashdall’s Medieval Universities: The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages. New edition in 3 volumes. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1936, 2, 301-324.

 2 Steuart AF. The Scottish ‘Nation’ at the University of Padua, Scot Hist Rev 1906; 3; 53-62.

 3 Dunlop AI. Scots Abroad in the Fifteenth Century, Historical Pamphlet No. 124, London, Historical Association, P.S. King & Staples, 1942.

 4 Grant A. The Story of the University of Edinburgh during its first Three Hundred Years. In two vols. London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1884, 1, 50-53.

 5 Grant, 1, 46.

 6 Craufurd T. History of the University of Edinburgh from 1580 to 1646, Edinburgh, A Neill & Co., 1808. Thomas Craufurd, Regent of Philosophy and Professor of Mathematics, died 1662, leaving the ms. published in 1808.

 7 Grant, 1, 131.

 8 Burton JH. The Scot Abroad, Vols 1 & 2, Edinburgh and London, W. Blackwood & Sons, 1864, 2, 103. Vinetus was Elie Vinet, 15091587.

 9 Irving J. The Book of Scotsmen, Paisley, Alex Gardner, 1881, 57.

10 Hughes JT. The medical education of Sir Thomas Browne, a seventeenth-century student at Montpellier, Padua, and Leiden. J Med Biog 2001; 9; 70-76.

11 Short account, with errors, in : Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 17, 900-901.

12 A Cataloque of the Graduates in the Faculty of Arts, Divinty, and Law of the University of Edinburgh since its foundation, Edinburgh, Neill & Co, 1858, 17.

13 Craufurd, 38-53.

14 Grant, 1, 144-150.

15 The word ‘Bajan’ for a first year student comes from the University of Paris, Grant, 1, 145.

16 Wilson, D. Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time, Edinburgh, Adam & Charles Black, 1890-1891, 106-117.

17 Astruc MJ. Memoires pour servir a l’Histoire de La Faculte de Adecine de Montpellier, Paris, P.G. Cavelier, 1767.

18 Germain AC. L’Ecole de Medecine de Montpellier: Ses origenes, Sa Constitution, Son Enseignement, Montpellier, J. Martel aine, 1880.

19 Dulieu L. La Medecine a Montpellier, vols. 1-4, Avignon, Les Presses Universelles, V75-1990, the relevant volume, in two parts, being Tome 3, L’Epoque Classique (henceforth Dulieu).

20 Bonnet H. La Facul& de Apdecine de Montpellier, Montpellier, Sauramps Medical, 1992.

21 Rioux J-A. Ed. Le Jardin des Plantes de Montpellier, Graulhet Cedex, Editions Odyssee, 1994.

22 Astruc, 255-256.

23 Dulieu, 3, (2), 799.

24 University of Montpellier Registers (henceforth Registers), S. 20, f. 122 v. Reproduced in Dulieu, 3,(2), 745-755.

25 Astruc. 253-254.

26 Dulieu, 3, (2), 789-790.

27 Dulieu, 3, (1), 26, 130, 150, and 196.

28 Dulieu, 3, (2), 758-759.

29 Dulieu, 3, (2), 785-786.

30 Dulieu, 3, (2), 784.

31 Dulieu, 3, (1), 561.

32 Bonnet, 131.

33 Registers, S.7, f.20, r.; Dulieu, 3, (2), 798-799.

34 Registers, S.7, f.28, r-vl, Dulieu, 3, (2), 789-790.

35 Eloy NW. Dictionnaire Historique de la Medicine Ancienne et Moderne, Mons, H. Hoyois, 1778, 4, 201-202.

36 Germain AC. Les Anciennes Theses de 1’Ecole de Medecine de Montpellier, Memoires de 1’Academie des Sciences et des Lettres de Montpellier, 1886, le serie, 7.

37 Dulieu, 3, (2), 1027-1138.

38 von Haller, A. Bibliotheca Chirurgica, vols 1 & 2. Berne, E Haller & Basilea, and J Schweighauser, 1774, 1, 302.

39 Dulieu, 3, (1), 530.

40 Dulieu, 3, (1), 26.

41 Dulieu, 3, (2), 791-792.

42 Dulieu, 3, (1), 519.

43 Vogli GG. Tavole cronologische degli uomini illustri per lettere, e impieghi nudriti dall’Universita di Bologna, Bologna, Clemente Maria Sassi, 1726.

44 Astruc, 256.

45 1637 not 1638 as stated in the DNB, Dulieu, 3, (1), 798-799.

46 Dulieu, 3, (2), 989.

47 Scharpil G. Institutionum Medicarum pars prima a Claudio Fillo in Lucem Edita, Bononlae, apud Jacobum Montium, 1638.

48 National Library of Medicine, Bethesda and the Library of the New York Academy of Medicine.

49 Astruc, 257-258.

50 Rioux, 25-30.

51 DNB, 17, 900-901.

52 Michelet J. Histoire de France au dix-septieme Siecle, reproduced in Oeuvres Completes de Michelet. Paris, Flammarion, 1982, 9, 256-277.

53 Vic C de et Vaissete HG del. Histoire generale de Languedoc, Paris, Jacques Vincent, 1745, 5, 577.

54 Vic and Vaissete, 538-541.

55 French names were Les Crinons, Masclous, and Masquelons. Cases in poor children in London were described by Crocker R. Lancet 1884; 1, 70-71.

56 Vic and Vaissete, 577.

57 Henri, Duc de Rohan-Gie, 1579-1638, a favorite of Henry IV, became a Hugenot leader after the assassination of the King.

58 Dulieu, 3, (2), 786.

59 The anatomy theatre in Montpellier, built by Rondalet in 1556, was the first in France.

60 Dulieu, 3, (2), 790.

61 Dulieu, 3, (2), 799.

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