Doctor, Priest And Scholar Thomas Linacre, born around 1460, went to Catholic schools before spending 10 years in Italy studying medicine under a famous doctor of the time (Nicholas Leonicenus). When he returned home, he soon became the royal physician to Henry VIII. In 1518, two years before he resigned his post as the king’s doctor to become a Catholic priest, Linacre donated his medical earnings to create chairs in Greek medicine at Oxford and Cambridge. As founder of the Royal College of Physicians, it was said that Linacre “was one of the first English Men that brought polite learning into our Nation.” Linacre died on this date in 1524.
Copyright InteliHealth, Inc., 2011. All rights reserved.