Sir Thomas Browne

Sir Thomas Browne was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. Browne's writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural world, influenced by the scientific revolution of Baconian enquiry. Browne's literary works are permeated by references to Classical and Biblical sources as well as the idiosyncrasies of his own personality. Although often described as suffused with melancholia, his writings are also characterised by wit and subtle humour, while his literary style is varied, according to genre, resulting in a rich, unique prose which ranges from rough notebook observations to polished Baroque eloquence.

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Born 19 October 1605 London Died 19 October 1682(1682-10-19) (aged 77) Norwich Nationality English Fields medicine Alma mater Pembroke College, Oxford Known for

Religio Medici, Urne-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus Influences

Francis Bacon Paracelsus

Montaigne Athanasius Kircher Influenced

Jorge Luis Borges W.G. Sebald

Sir Thomas Browne (19 October 1605 – 19 October 1682) was an English author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric.

Browne's writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural world, influenced by the scientific revolution of Baconian enquiry. A consummate literary craftsman, Browne's works are permeated by frequent reference to Classical and Biblical sources and to his own highly idiosyncratic personality. His literary style varies according to genre resulting in a rich, unusual prose that ranges from rough notebook observations to the highest baroque eloquence. Autobiography

On 14 March 1673, Browne sent a short autobiography to the antiquarian John Aubrey, presumably for Aubrey's collection of Brief Lives, which provides an introduction to his life and writings.

   ...I was born in St Michael’s Cheap in London, went to school at Winchester College, then went to Oxford, spent some years in foreign parts, was admitted to be a Socius Honorarius of the College of Physicians in London, Knighted September, 1671, when the King Charles II, the Queen and Court came to Norwich. Writ Religio Medici in English, which was since translated into Latin, French, Italian, High and Low Dutch.

   Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Enquiries into Common and Vulgar Errors translated into Dutch four or five years ago.

   Hydriotaphia, or Urn Buriall.

   Hortus Cyri, or de Quincunce.

   Have some miscellaneous tracts which may be published...

(Letters 376)[1] Literary works

       * Religio Medici (1643)

       * Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646–72)

       * Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial (1658)

       * The Garden of Cyrus (1658)

       * A Letter to a Friend (1656; pub. post. 1690)

       * Christian Morals (1670s; pub. post. 1716)

       * Musaeum Clausum Tract 13 from Miscellaneous Tracts first pub. post. 1684

       * See also Library of Sir Thomas Browne

Literary influence

Browne has a paradoxical place in the history of ideas, being both a promoter of the new inductive science, and an adherent of ancient esoteric learning as well as a devout Christian. These allegiances have greatly contributed to his ambiguity in the history of ideas. The complexity of his labyrinthine thought, ornate language, along with his many allusions to the Bible, Classical learning and to a variety of esoteric authors are contributing factors why he remains little-read and much-misunderstood. However, the influence of his literary style and the originality of his thought has ensured him a perennial place in English literature for almost four centuries. Portraits of Sir Thomas Browne Enlarge picture Thomas Browne with his wife Dorothy, by Joan Carlile, circa 1641-1650. From the National Portrait Gallery, London collection.

The National Portrait Gallery in London has a fine contemporary portrait of Sir Thomas Browne and his wife Dorothy (née Mileham). More recent sculptural portraits include Henry Albert Pegram's statue of Sir Thomas contemplating with urn in Norwich. This statue occupies the central position in the Haymarket beside St Peter Mancroft, not far from the site of his house. It was erected in 1905 and moved from its original position in 1973. References

  1. ^ Preston, Claire (1995). Sir Thomas Browne: Selected Writings. Manchester: Carcanet. pp. i. ISBN 1857546903.

* Reid Barbour and Claire Preston (eds), Sir Thomas Browne: The World Proposed (Oxford, OUP, 2008).

   * Breathnach, CS (January 2005). "Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 98 (1): 33–6. doi:10.1258/jrsm.98.1.33. PMID 15632239.

   * Mellick, Sam (June 2003). "Sir Thomas Browne: physician 1605-1682 and the Religio Medici". ANZ journal of surgery 73 (6): 431–7. doi:10.1046/j.1445-2197.2003.t01-1-02646.x. PMID 12801344.

   * Hughes, J T (May. 2001). "The medical education of Sir Thomas Browne, a seventeenth-century student at Montpellier, Padua, and Leiden". Journal of Medical Biography 9 (2): 70–6. PMID 11304631.

   * Böttiger, L E (January 1995). "[From Thomas Browne to Dannie Abse. English physicians-writers over four centuries]". Lakartidningen 92 (3): 176–80. PMID 7837855.

   * Hookman, P (. 1995). "A comparison of the writings of Sir William Osler and his exemplar, Sir Thomas Browne". Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 72 (1): 136–50. PMID 7581308.

   * Dunn, P M (January 1994). "Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) and life before birth". Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. 70 (1): F75–6. doi:10.1136/fn.70.1.F75. PMID 8117135.

   * Martens, P (. 1992). "The faiths of two doctors: Thomas Browne and William Osler". Perspect. Biol. Med. 36 (1): 120–8. PMID 1475152.

   * White, H (. 1988). "An introduction to Thomas Browne (1605-1682) and his connections with Winchester College". Journal of Medical Biography 6 (2): 120–2. PMID 11620012.

   * Segall, H N (. 1985). "William Osler and Thomas Browne, a friendship of fifty-two years; Sir Thomas pervades Sir William's library". Korot 8 (11-12): 150–65. PMID 11614038.

   * Webster, A (. 1982). "Threefold cord of religion, science, and literature in the character of Sir Thomas Browne". British medical journal (Clinical research ed.) 285 (6357): 1801–2. doi:10.1136/bmj.285.6357.1801. PMID 6816374.

   * Dirckx, J H (October 1982). "Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682). A model for medical humanists". JAMA 248 (15): 1845–7. doi:10.1001/jama.248.15.1845. PMID 6750160.

   * Huntley, F L (July 1982). ""Well Sir Thomas?": oration to commemorate the tercentenary of the death of Sir Thomas Browne". British medical journal (Clinical research ed.) 285 (6334): 43–7. doi:10.1136/bmj.285.6334.43. PMID 6805807.

   * Shaw, A B (July 1982). "Sir Thomas Browne: the man and the physician". British medical journal (Clinical research ed.) 285 (6334): 40–2. doi:10.1136/bmj.285.6334.40. PMID 6805806.

   * Schoeck, R J (. 1982). "Sir Thomas Browne and the Republic of Letters: Introduction". English language notes 19 (4): 299–312. PMID 11616938.

   * Geis, G; Bunn I (. 1981). "Sir Thomas Browne and witchcraft: a cautionary tale for contemporary law and psychiatry". International journal of law and psychiatry 4 (1-2): 1–11. doi:10.1016/0160-2527(81)90017-0. PMID 7035381.

   * Shaw, A B (July 1978). "Vicary Lecture, 1977. Sir Thomas Browne: the man and the physician". Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England 60 (4): 336–44. PMID 352233.

   * Martin, D C (May. 1976). "Sir Thomas Browne 1605-1682". Investigative urology 13 (6): 449. PMID 773893.

   * Buxton, R W (December 1970). "Sir Thomas Browne and the Religio Medici". Surgery, gynecology & obstetrics 131 (6): 1164–70. PMID 4920856.

   * Huston, K G (July 1970). "Sir Thomas Browne, Thomas le Gros, and the first edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 1646". Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences 25 (3): 347–8. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XXV.3.347. PMID 4912887.

   * Merton, S (. 1966). "Old and new physiology in Sir Thomas Browne: digestion and some other functions". Isis; an international review devoted to the history of science and its cultural influences 57 (2): 249–59. PMID 5335398.

   * Keynes, G (December 1965). "Sir Thomas Browne". British medical journal 2 (5477): 1505–10. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.5477.1505. PMID 5321828.

   * DOYLE, B R (October 1963). "Sir Thomas Browne, Physician And Humanist". McGill medical journal 32: 79–83. PMID 14074523.

   * SCHNECK, J M (April 1961). "Psychiatric aspects of Sir Thomas BROWNE with a new evaluation of his work". Medical history 5: 157–66. PMID 13748180.

   * FINCH, J S (August 1956). "The lasting influence of Sir Thomas Browne". Transactions & studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia 24 (2): 59–69. PMID 13360999.

   * MACKINNON, M (. 1953). "An unpublished consultation letter of Sir Thomas Browne". Bulletin of the history of medicine 27 (6): 503–11. PMID 13115796.

   * VIETS, H R (September 1953). "A fragment from Sir Thomas Browne". N. Engl. J. Med. 249 (11): 455. doi:10.1056/NEJM195309102491107. PMID 13087622.

I found this online that may be of interest:

https://the1642goodwyfe.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/unidentified-famil...

Unidentified Family Portrait Traditionally thought to be that of Sir Thomas Browne by William Dobson. If you look at the picture of Thomas and his wife Dorothy painted by John Souch, there is a resemblance, so there is some reason to think this is John and his family, but no conclusive proof. He could have been in Oxford at the same time as Dobson, though as he was native to Norwich, would he have transported a young family across war torn England to Oxford to have a portrait painted?

Anyway, this is a lovely family group and their clothes put them firmly in the 1640s. They all look unerringly at the viewer, daring us to stare back. John (or whoever) is wearing a brown, (or what most people would have thought of as black) coat with a plain falling band and a simple black day cap. His wife is wearing a smart wide brimmed hat and what looks like a cream bodice under a dark mantle or wrap. The children are all in petticoats, though I suspect that the two on the right hand side are boys wearing red petticoats with linen aprons, bands and matching caps. The boy on the left has a small sword suspended from a blue ribbon, whilst the lad on the right is more interested in his pet rabbit. The two girls on the right, (they look old enough to have been breeched were they boys) are wearing russet coloured waistcoats with plain linen kerchiefs and black hoods over their coifs possibly indicating that they have lost siblings. John Browne lost several children at an early age (five out of eleven) so that fits with the Thomas Browne theory, though losing small children was by no means unusual.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne

Sir Thomas Browne (/braʊn/; 19 October 1605 – 19 October 1682) was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. Browne's writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural world, influenced by the scientific revolution of Baconian enquiry. Browne's literary works are permeated by references to Classical and Biblical sources as well as the idiosyncrasies of his own personality. Although often described as suffused with melancholia, his writings are also characterised by wit and subtle humour, while his literary style is varied, according to genre, resulting in a rich, unique prose which ranges from rough notebook observations to polished Baroque eloquence.