In August we were delighted to welcome a small team from the Korean television company EBS to the RCP. They were travelling the world to produce a documentary series about the history of western and eastern medicine, and came here to film the works of the ancient Greek physician Galen of Pergamon (129–c.200).
Galen’s works were one of the foundations of medical theory and practice for 1500 years, and is now well represented in our library. There is, though, a more specific connection between Galen and the RCP thanks to our founding fellow, Thomas Linacre (1460–1524).
Linacre is known today for being personal physician to King Henry VIII. It was at Linacre’s behest that Henry established the College of physicians in September 1518, with Linacre as its president. However, evidence of Linacre’s own medical practice is remarkably slight: his greatest contribution to the medical world of the 16th century might actually have been as a scholar and translator.
By the end of the 15th century some physicians had come to doubt the received medical doctrines of their age. They thought that the ancient classical authors – such as Galen and Hippocrates – were being misinterpreted and misunderstood. The ancient texts had, during the intervening centuries, been repeatedly edited and translated (often from Greek into Arabic, and then from Arabic into Latin). It’s easy to see how misinterpretations might have spread.
Concerned by this problem Thomas Linacre turned his attention to the works of Galen. He translated six of his Greek works into Latin, the common language of scholars in Europe at that time. Linacre worked from the best and most accurate sources he could find. The resulting books were praised for their clarity and style. An 1835 biography of Linacre goes so far as to say that:
For his accurate skill in the Greek and Latin tongues, in other sciences, and in his own profession, he was esteemed the ornament of his age. By his endeavours Galen speaks better Latin in the translation than he did Greek in the original.
For his accurate skill in the Greek and Latin tongues, in other sciences, and in his own profession, he was esteemed the ornament of his age. By his endeavours Galen speaks better Latin in the translation than he did Greek in the original.
Linacre continued translating up until the end of his life: the last book, De symptomatum causis (‘On the causes of symptoms’), was printed in the year of his death, 1524. The first was De sanitate tuenda – known in English as ‘On hygiene’ or ‘On the preservation of health’ – which was printed in Paris on 22 August 1517 and dedicated to Henry VIII. The copy now owned by the RCP was originally a gift from Linacre himself to Richard Fox (1448–1528), Bishop of Winchester, as is shown by the lengthy inscription from Linacre to Fox on the back of the title page.
Linacre’s translations are a milestone in the transmission of medical knowledge and the development of medical theory in Europe. It was a privilege to share these books with an international audience, and it’s a little bit exciting to know that it’s my hand turning the pages on screen!
Katie Birkwood
Rare books and special collections librarian
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