Ebook255 pages6 hours
The Notorious Astrological Physician of London: Works and Days of Simon Forman
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
Quack, conjurer, sex fiend, murderer—Simon Forman has been called all these things, and worse, ever since he was implicated (two years after his death) in the Overbury poisoning scandal that rocked the court of King James. But as Barbara Traister shows in this fascinating book, Forman's own unpublished manuscripts—considered here in their entirety for the first time—paint a quite different picture of the works and days of this notorious astrological physician of London.
Although he received no formal medical education, Forman built a thriving practice. His success rankled the College of Physicians of London, who hounded Forman with fines and jail terms for nearly two decades. In addition to detailing case histories of his medical practice—the first such records known from London—as well as his run-ins with the College, Forman's manuscripts cover a wide variety of other matters, from astrology and alchemy to gardening and the theater. His autobiographical writings are among the earliest English examples of their genre and display an abiding passion for reworking his personal history in the best possible light, even though they show little evidence that Forman ever intended to publish them.
Fantastic as many of Forman's manuscripts are, it is their more mundane aspects that make them such a priceless record of what daily life was like for ordinary inhabitants of Shakespeare's London. Forman's descriptions of the stench of a privy, the paralyzed limbs of a child, a lost bitch dog with a velvet collar all offer tantalizing glimpses of a world that seems at once very far away and intimately familiar. Anyone who wants to reclaim that world will enjoy this book.
Although he received no formal medical education, Forman built a thriving practice. His success rankled the College of Physicians of London, who hounded Forman with fines and jail terms for nearly two decades. In addition to detailing case histories of his medical practice—the first such records known from London—as well as his run-ins with the College, Forman's manuscripts cover a wide variety of other matters, from astrology and alchemy to gardening and the theater. His autobiographical writings are among the earliest English examples of their genre and display an abiding passion for reworking his personal history in the best possible light, even though they show little evidence that Forman ever intended to publish them.
Fantastic as many of Forman's manuscripts are, it is their more mundane aspects that make them such a priceless record of what daily life was like for ordinary inhabitants of Shakespeare's London. Forman's descriptions of the stench of a privy, the paralyzed limbs of a child, a lost bitch dog with a velvet collar all offer tantalizing glimpses of a world that seems at once very far away and intimately familiar. Anyone who wants to reclaim that world will enjoy this book.
Related to The Notorious Astrological Physician of London
Related ebooks
A Treatise on Medical Astrology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Precious Pachyderm: An Evangeline Adams Mystery, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Astrology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnima Astrologiae Or a Guide for Astrologers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSimply Now 2: Personality and Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForeseeing the Future: Evangeline Adams and Astrology in America: An Evangeline Adams Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAxis Of Interplanetary Vibrations: Clinical Studies Of Medical Astrology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAstrology and the Art of Healing Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Casanova's Guide to Medicine: 18th Century Medical Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Soul's Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGifts Of The Spirit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Future of Astrology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Astrology of Health: Physical and Psychological Health in the Natal and Progressed Chart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astrology and Your Health Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Science of Planetary Signatures in Medicine: Restoring the Cosmic Foundations of Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Astrology Zen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilliam Lilly's History of His Life and Times, from the Year 1602 to 1681 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlinded by Starlight: The Pineal Gland and Western Astronomia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Masha' Allah to Kepler: Theory and Practice in Medieval and Renaissance Astrology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Materiality of the Sky Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAstrology and Compassion the Convenient Truth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParadise Pending Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Influence of the Stars: A book of old world lore Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Tiny Universe: Astrology and the Thema Mundi Chart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Horoscope of the United States Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Astrologer’s Notes: Real-life stories on how the stars shape our lives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe primal horoscope of the modern stock exchange. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSimply Now 3: Our Individual Futures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Kingdom of Stargazers: Astrology and Authority in the Late Medieval Crown of Aragon Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Investigating Events with Astrology: Practical Astrology Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5
History For You
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History of the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whore Stories: A Revealing History of the World's Oldest Profession Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Secrets, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, and Absurdities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Richest Man in Babylon: The most inspiring book on wealth ever written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wise as Fu*k: Simple Truths to Guide You Through the Sh*tstorms of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Notorious Astrological Physician of London
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Notorious Astrological Physician of London - Barbara Howard Traister
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1