Around 1300, a surgeon named Ortolf – born in the duchy of Bavaria and settled in Wurzburg – wrote a textbook of medicine, which in brief covers all topics of medieval medicine – beginning with its theoretical background, then proceeding to dietetics, uroscopy, feeling of the pulse, bloodletting and nosology and at last concluding with surgery. In addition, Ortolf’s text is of outstanding quality in structure and style. The new edition is based upon the broad manuscript tradition. A detailed commentary makes this most interesting source accessible to an interdisciplinary public.