Sudhoffs Archiv 104, 2020/2, 152–173 DOI 10.25162/sar-2020-0006 Frank Ursin / Maximilian Schochow / Florian Steger Heinrich Steinhöwel (1410/11–1479) as a town physician and pharmacist in the free imperial city of Ulm Heinrich Steinhöwel (1410/11–1479) als Stadtarzt und Apotheker in der Freien Reichsstadt Ulm Abstract: Heinrich Steinhöwel (1410/11–1479) was a successful author and translator in the period of the early Humanism. Although occupied with multiple duties as a town physician of the free imperial city of Ulm for over 20 years, there are hardly any traces of medicine in his works, as the medical historian Karl Sudhof (1853–1938) already noted. So far, litle is known about Steinhöwel’s medical practice. Te objective of the article is to ascertain Steinhöwel’s duties as a town physician and to identify his multiple roles in the medical system of his time: the beginnings as a practicing physician, the ofce of a town physician, and as a pharmacist. In order to fnd regulations for the medical system of Ulm as well as employment contracts of Steinhöwel and contemporaneous town physicians for comparative purposes, extensive archive investigation was conducted in south-western Germany, especially in the municipal archives of Ulm. New results are the specifc content of Steinhöwel’s contracts as an early-modern town physician, chronological issues in respect to his withdrawal from this ofce, the ownership of a pharmacy, and his double-role as a pharmacist and supervisor of pharmacies. Keywords: Heinrich Steinhöwel (1410/11–1479) – early-modern medicine – town physician – 15th century – Renaissance – humanism As measured by his output and infuence on later writers, the Ulm town physician Hein- rich Steinhöwel (1410/11–1479) was a successful early humanistic author, translator and historian. 1 Steinhöwel is considered a classical author in the feld of literary studies due to his seven elaborate incunables with costly woodcuts. Te renderings of Aesop’s fa- bles, Giovanni Boccaccio’s (1313–1375) “De claris mulieribus”, and Francesco Petrarca’s (1304–1374) “Griseldis” were widely received in Renaissance Europe. 2 Despite of this, researchers in the feld of history of medicine have shown litle interest for him since 1 Dicke (1991), p. 157. 2 Dicke (1995), pp. 276–278 with the older literature; recently appeared Terrahe (2017); Woesler (2015); Terrahe (2013a). This material is under copyright. Any use outside of the narrow boundaries of copyright law is illegal and may be prosecuted. This applies in particular to copies, translations, microfilming as well as storage and processing in electronic systems. © Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2021