Jacques de Béthencourt was a French physician who practiced medicine in Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

. He is remembered for coining the term venereal disease.

As a Frenchman, Béthencourt resented the term Morbus Gallicus (French disease), which was a popular name for sexually transmitted diseases at the time. He believed that since the disease originated from "illicit love" it should be named Morbus Venereus (Malady of Venus) or lues venerea (venereal disease). Béthencourt believed it to be a new disease that was unknown to the ancients.

In 1527, Béthencourt published a book called Nouveau Cartme de penitence or the "New Book of Penance". Here he uses medical and moral judgments regarding the disease. In this treatise he creates an argument as to whether guaiacum

Guaiacum

Guaiacum, sometimes spelled Guajacum, is a genus of flowering plants in the caltrop family Zygophyllaceae. It contains five species of slow-growing shrubs and trees, reaching a height of approximately but are usually less than half of that...

 or mercury

Mercury (element)

Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...

is the best cure, and to what level of suffering a patient should have to endure in order to "be taught a necessary lesson".