Editing Andreas Vesalius (section)

== Early life and education ==
Vesalius was born as Andries van Wesel to his father Anders van Wesel and mother Isabel Crabbe on 31 December 1514 in Brussels, which was then part of the [[Habsburg Netherlands]]. His great-grandfather, Jan van Wesel, probably born in [[Wesel]], received a medical degree from the [[University of Pavia]] and taught medicine at the [[Old University of Leuven|University of Leuven]]. His grandfather, Everard van Wesel, was the Royal Physician of [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Maximilian]], whilst his father, Anders van Wesel, served as [[apothecary]] to Maximilian and later [[valet de chambre]] to his successor, [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]. Anders encouraged his son to continue in the family tradition and enrolled him in the [[Brethren of the Common Life]] in Brussels to learn Greek and Latin prior to learning medicine, according to standards of the era.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, 1514–1564|last=O'Malley|first=Charles Donald|author-link=Charles Donald O'Malley|publisher=Berkeley : University of California Press|year=1964|pages=21–27}}</ref>

In 1528 Vesalius entered the University of Leuven (''Pedagogium Castrense'') taking arts, but when his father was appointed as the Valet de Chambre in 1532 he decided instead to pursue a career in medicine at the [[University of Paris]], where he moved in 1533. There he studied the theories of [[Galen]] under the auspices of [[Johann Winter von Andernach]], [[Jacques Dubois]] (Jacobus Sylvius) and [[Jean Fernel]]. It was during that time that he developed an interest in anatomy and was often found examining excavated bones in the [[charnel house]]s at the [[Cimetière des Innocents|Cemetery of the Innocents]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Gumpert |first=Martin |title=Vesalius |date=1948 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24945814 |journal=Scientific American |volume=178 |issue=5 |pages=24–31 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0548-24 |jstor=24945814 |issn=0036-8733}}</ref> He is said to have constructed his first skeleton by stealing from a [[Gibbeting|gibbet]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McRae |first=Charles |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24456/24456-h/24456-h.htm |title=Fathers of biology |publisher=Percival  & Co. |year=1890 |location=London}}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Andreas Vesalius and the Challenge to Galen {{!}} St John's College, University of Cambridge |url=https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/andreas-vesalius-and-challenge-galen |access-date=7 January 2023 |website=www.joh.cam.ac.uk}}</ref>

Vesalius was forced to leave Paris in 1536 owing to the opening of hostilities between the Holy Roman Empire and France and returned to the University of Leuven. He completed his studies there and graduated the following year. His [[doctoral thesis]], ''Paraphrasis in nonum librum Rhazae medici Arabis clarissimi ad regem Almansorem, de affectuum singularum corporis partium curatione'', was a commentary on the ninth book of [[Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi|Rhazes]].