Notker Physicus ( c. 900 – 12 November 975) was a monk at the Abbey of Saint Gall, active as a physician, painter, composer and poet. He is best known for his medical prowess, and may have been physician to the Holy Roman Emperors Otto I and Otto II.
Besides physicus ( lit. 'the physician'), he was also nicknamed piperis granum ( lit. 'pepper grain') on account of his monastic dedication. He is sometimes called Notker II, living after St. Gall's Notker the Stammerer and before Notker Labeo.
Notker's birth year is unknown; the philologist Udo Kühne estimated it around 900. [1]
His life was spent at the Abbey of Saint Gall, although only two specific dates can be connected with Notker. By 956 or 957, he had obtained the cellarius ( lit. 'cellarer') position as an administrator, and by 965 the hospitarius ( lit. 'hospitaller') position as a physician. [2] [1] Notker is probably identifiable with a Notker notarius, indicating that he was a notary. [2] His medical expertise probably led him to be physician of the Holy Roman Emperors Otto I and Otto II at some point. [3] Among his students was Balther von Säckingen , who dedicated his Vita sancti Fridolin to Notker. [1] He died on 12 November 975. [1]
Sometimes called "Notker II", he was the second in a line of Notkers at St. Gall; proceeded by Notker the Stammerer and followed by Notker Labeo. [3] [4] Another Notker, who died on 15 December 975, was abbot of Saint Gall from 971 to 975 and nephew of Notker Physicus. [2]
He made several paintings, which were lauded by Ekkehard IV, particularly during a restoration effort for the Abbey's fire in 937. [1] Ekkehard also indicates that Notker authored now lost-poems and at least two musical compositions: an office for Saint Othmar, the "Rector aeterni metuende saecli", and a hymn, the "Hymnum beatae virgini". [1]