Simone Herde und Tilmann Walter: Neues zur Biographie des Augsburger Arztes und Orientreisenden
Leonhard Rauwolf (1535?–1596)

The Augsburg physician Leonhard Rauwolf is known to the history of Western sciences for describing the exotic flora of the Near East in his travelogue „Aigentliche Beschreibung der Raiß […] inn die Morgenländer“ (Lauingen 1582). It has been asserted that little is known about his life before and after this journey. This paper summarizes his biography from previous biographical sketches and adds new archival findings from sources at Augsburg and Linz: Leonhard Rauwolf was the son of the Augsburg iron trader and councilman Sixt Rauwolf († 1557) and his wife Agatha née Eggelhof († 1583). He had several surviving brothers, Hans (or Johann), Georg, Sixt the younger, Matthäus, Ulrich, and a sister, Agatha. Sixt and Leonhard Rauwolf’s “middle class” financial situation is analyzed by means of Augsburg tax records. Professional conditions of Leonhard Rauwolf in service of three cities in Germany and Austria are verified from the sources. Four letters, written to colleagues and friends are, along with two of his letters of approbation, edited here for the first time: they illustrate his lasting strong interest in botany and his attempts to build up a professional network. Further his political fate at Augsburg is examined that was shattered by the ongoing of religious conflicts in this biconfessional town and finally caused him to remove to Linz. At last, a look is taken at his later life at Linz and the circumstances of his death which he met in Hungary during the war against the Turks.

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