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Michael Villanovanus (1511-1553) was born in Aragon, Spain. Villanovanus is often referred to as Servetus. He worked for Trechsel and wrote many of the descriptions on the versos of the maps in Fries's Ptolemy. Servetus was also the editor for the 1541 edition of that Ptolemy, which was published at Vienne.
Servetus was burned at the stake for heresy in 1553. He was charged with 40 counts of heresy, many related to passages in works he had edited or written. One of the counts related to the verso text in the 1535 edition of the Holy Land map "Tab. Ter. Sanctae" number 41, which alleged that Palestine was not as fertile as was generally believed. This passage was removed from the 1541 edition, but had been present in earlier editions which Servetus had not overseen.