Jacques Coitier

Jacques Coitier was a French physician who lived from about 1430 until his death in Paris on 22 October 1506. Born at Poligny in Franche-Comté, he rose to become chief physician to King Louis XI and also served as president of the Chambre des comptes. His surname is recorded in many spellings, including Coictier, Coittier, Cotier, Coytier and Coctier. Coictier is the form Victor Hugo used for the character modelled on him in his novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, while the spelling Coitier became standard after the nineteenth century scholar Achille Chereau compared his surviving signatures. Medical annals most often cite him under that standard form. Philippe de Commines left memoirs touching on him, and later French authors wrote studies of his life, among them an 1865 discussion of where he was truly born. The source article records little of his actual medical practice.