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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Thomas Linacre Biography LINACRE, lǐn'a-kẽr, or LYNAKER, Thomas (?1460–1524). An English humanist, physician, and divine, born at Canterbury. He studied at Oxford and became fellow of All Souls' College in 1484. Shortly afterward he went to Italy and devoted himself to the study of Latin, Greek, natural philosophy, and medicine under the famous teachers of the day, and translated some of Galen's treatises. Returning to England, he received the degree of D.D. and the appointment of professor of physic from Oxford University; was called to the court by Henry VII and made physician and tutor to Prince Arthur; was subsequently physician to Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Princess Mary. Later in life he gave up practice, took orders, and was made in 1509 rector of Mersham and prebend of Wells; in 1518 prebend and in 1519 precentor in York Cathedral. His most celebrated works are his Latin translations from Galen, among which are: De Temperamentis (1521);De Tuenda Sanitate (1517); De Methodo Medendi (1519). His other works are a translation of Proclus de Sphśra; De Emendata Structura Latini Sermonis (1524). He was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, where Dr. Caius erected a monument to his memory. He rendered important service in promoting the study of medicine and was instrumental in founding the College of Physicians (1518), of which he was the first president. But his main title to remembrance rests upon scholarship and his connection with Erasmus and the other learned men who fostered classical learning in England. With Grocyn and Latimer he was among the first to teach Greek at Oxford, where Erasmus and Sir Thomas More were among his pupils. Consult his Life by J. N. Johnson, ed. by Robert Graves (London, 1835). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XIV (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 159-160. |