According to his college records, Sinapius was born in
Bořenovice in
Moravia in a lower-class family. He initially worked as kitchen helper at the
Jesuit school at
Český Krumlov, and became a pharmacist himself. There he also worked in the college's
pharmacy, on topics involving chemistry and herbalism, under the overseeing of
Martin Schaffner (1564–1608). By 1598, he started studying
Aristotelian philosophy at the
Clementinum college in Prague (which was later merged with
Charles University), and at the same time oversaw the kitchen and pantry, but continued working in chemistry and pharmacy. However, Sinapius was not satisfied with the teachings there, musing over
Barbara Celarent, instead of studying physics and the origins of nature. Because his herbal skills to treat illness impressed, he was allowed gardening near the river
Vltava, under the Bräke. Here he grew herbs and set up a laboratory at
Smíchov (then a village behind Prague walls), the Clementinum's
botanical garden. There, or at the garden, he distilled a very popular
aqua sinapis (German:
sinapischen Wasser, both , perhaps in reference to his own name) whose sale made him a wealthy man. In 1600, he became the administrator of the Jesuit college in
Jindřichův Hradec, and in 1606 he became
capitaneus and administrator of the properties of the
St. George's Convent in the
Prague Castle. In 1607 he was named imperial chemist by Emperor
Rudolf II. In return for curing the emperor of a grave disease, he was ennobled with the title "de Tepenec", presumably after the medieval
Tepenec Castle (destroyed in 1391) near
Olomouc. He lent Rudolf II money and received from him in return an estate around town
Mělník. He also supported students of the studies of Catholic theology financially. In the religious disputes of the early 17th century, Sinapius strongly defended the
Catholic side. He became the administrator of the
Mělník Castle but was jailed in 1620, when the Protestants took charge of the town. Subsequently, was exchanged for another prisoner (the famous physician
Jesenius) and exiled, but later, after the failure of the
Bohemian Revolt, he returned to Mělník and lived there the rest of his life. He died in 1622, from a horse-fall that he had suffered a year before. Two days before his death he was moved to the Clementinum in the care of the Jesuits, and left them the sum of 50,000 gold coins and his Mělník estate. He is buried in the
Church of St. Salvator in the Clementinum. ==Writings==