Mathias De Lobel

Mathias de l'Obel, Mathias de Lobel or Matthaeus Lobelius (1538 – 3 March 1616) was a Flemish physician and plant enthusiast who was born in Lille, Flanders, in what is now Hauts-de-France, France, and died at Highgate, London, England. He studied at the University of Montpellier and practiced medicine in the low countries and England, including positions as personal physicians to two monarchs. A member of the sixteenth-century Flemish School of Botany, he wrote a series of major treatises on plants in both Latin and Dutch. He was the first botanist to appreciate the distinction between monocotyledons and dicotyledons. The '' Lobelia'' plant is named after him.

Life

Mathias de l'Obel was born in Lille (Flemish ''Rijsel'') in the County of Flanders, Spanish Netherlands, now French Flanders in 1538, the son of Jean De l'Obel, a lawyer whose practice specialized in aristocrats in the army. Relatively little is known about his life. By the age of sixteen he had already developed an interest in both botany and medicine. He spent some time traveling and studying in Italy in 1551 and 1563–1564 before studying medicine in Leuven and at Montpellier in France. He sought out Montpellier due to the reputation of Guillaume Rondelet, as had his earlier contemporary, Carolus Clusius. It is said that l'Obel was Rondelet's favourite pupil, and on his death in 1566 l'Obel inherited all his manuscripts. His botanical field work was under the supervision of Rondelet's son-in-law, Jacques Salomon d'Assas. He matriculated at the University of Montpellier on 22 May 1565, at the age of twenty-seven. He remained in Montpellier for a further two years, furthering his studies, including botanical expeditions in the Languedoc region.

From 1566–1571, for about four years, he traveled and then he settled in Elizabethan England for about four years (1566–1571), together with his fellow student Pierre Pena (1535–1605), probably as a Protestant refugee. He lived on Lime Street, London in any area containing many Protestant refugees from the continent ("come for religion"), among fellow Flemings, like James Garrett the apothecary. There he also came to know the English botanist, John Gerard. He and Pena brought with them their botanical collection and carried out botanical exploration in England before returning to the Low Countries sometime between 1571 and 1574.

In 1596, age 58, L'Obel married Isabeau Laigniez (1576-1642) in Lille . Of their children, one daughter, Mary l'Obel, married Louis Le Myre (Ludovicus Myreus), who collaborated with him, the other, Anne l'Obel married John Wolfgang Rumler. Both sons-in-law, le Myre and Rumler were pharmacists, with good reputations in London society. He eventually moved permanently to England in 1596. Among the English botanists, his closest friend was Thomas Penny, whom he had first met in Montpellier, and to whom he pays tribute in his dedication of the ''Stirpium adversaria'' (1571). l'Obel died in Highgate in 1616 at the age of 78, and was buried in the churchyard of St Denis.

L’Obel’s coat of arms displayed on his books alludes to his name, with two poplar (abele) trees (French ''Aubel'').

Work

Following his studies in Montpellier l'Obel set up a medical practice in England (1566–1571), living initially in London, and then in Somerset, near Bristol at the home of his patron, Edward St. Loe. There he was joined in botanical expeditions by Clusius. On his return to continental Europe, he practised in Antwerp (1571–1581) and then Delft (1581–1584). The period from 1571 to 1596, after his return from England, was one of the most productive in his life, with two major publications. Delft had been the residence of William, Prince of Orange (William the Silent) since 1572, and became the capital of the newly independent Netherlands in 1581. In Delft l'Obel served as personal physician (''hofarts'') to the Protestant Prince William. The exact date of this appointment is uncertain, but his ''Kruydtboeck'' (1581) is dedicated to the Prince, and the title page describes l'Obel as ''Medecijn der Princ''. suggesting it was some time between returning to the Low Countries in 1571 and 1581. His name also appears on a list of court personnel dated 1578. William, however, was assassinated in 1584. Claims that after William's death, l'Obel was employed by the Estates General, the governing body of the Netherlands, have been disputed. Following the assassination l'Obel became a city physician in Middelburg, which was then a prosperous centre of trade and capital of the province of Zeeland. He was responsible for the establishment of a botanical herb garden there, and would have known Ambrosius Bosschaert

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