Francis Coxe (also called Fraunces Cox; ) was an English

astrologer Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

and

quack Quack, The Quack or Quacks may refer to: People * Quack Davis, American baseball player * Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack (1834–1917), Dutch economist and historian * Joachim Friedrich Quack (born 1966), German Egyptologist * Johannes Quack ...

physician.Heron-Allen 1887, p. 418.Heron-Allen; Kassell 2004. He was tried for

sorcery Sorcery commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), the application of beliefs, rituals or actions employed to manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces ** Goetia, ''Goetia'', magic involving the evocation of spirits ** Witchcraft, the ...

in 1561 and severely punished, and his ''Unfained Retractation'' was published in a contemporary broadside. He then published a pamphlet against

necromancy Necromancy () is the practice of Magic (paranormal), magic involving communication with the Death, dead by Evocation, summoning their spirits as Ghost, apparitions or Vision (spirituality), visions for the purpose of divination; imparting the ...

, and, in 1575, ''A Treatise of the Making and Use of Diverse Oils, Unguents, Emplasters and Distilled Waters''.

Life

Francis Coxe, a quack physician, who attained some celebrity in the sixteenth century, is best known by a curious volume of receipts entitled ''De oleis, unguentis, emplastris, etc. conficiendis'' (), London, 1575,

8vo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

, which is missing. His practices having attracted considerable attention, he was summoned before the privy council on a charge of

, and, having been severely punished, made a public confession of his "employment of certayne sinistral and divelysh artes" at the

Pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. ...

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, England, which forms part of the A40 road, A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St Martin's Le Grand with Poultry, London, Poultry. Near its eas ...

on 25 June 1561. On 7 July following John Awdeley issued a broadside entitled ''The unfained Retractation of Fraunces Cox'', a copy of which later entered the library of the Society of Antiquaries.Lemon 1866, p. 19. Coxe subsequently published what

Edward Heron-Allen Edward Heron-Allen FRS (born ''Edward Heron Allen'') (17 December 1861 – 26 March 1943) was an English polymath, writer, scientist and Persian scholar who translated the works of Omar Khayyam. Life Heron-Allen was born in London, the young ...

calls "a grovelling and terror-stricken pamphlet",Heron-Allen 1887, p. 419. entitled ''A Short Treatise declaring the Detestable Wickednesse of Magicall Sciences, as Necromancie, Coniurations of Spirits, Curiouse Astrologie, and such lyke'' (London, Alde, n.d.,

black letter Blackletter (sometimes black letter or black-letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule or Gothic type, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for ...

12mo Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...

), written, as he says in the preface thereto, "for that I have myself been an offender in these most detestable sciences, against whome I have compilyd this worke". Coxe may also have written ''Prognostication'', n.d., an almanac, which survives in a single copy on the back of a ballad in the British Library. The dates of his birth and death are not known.

References

Sources

* * Lemon, Robert (1866).
Catalogue of a Collection of Printed Broadsides in the Possession of the Society of Antiquaries of London
'. Westminster: J. B. Nichols and Sons. p. 19. Attribution: *

External links

"Coxe, Francis, fl. 1560"
''

Online Books Page The Online Books Page is an index of e-text books available on the Internet. It is edited by John Mark Ockerbloom and is hosted by the library of the University of Pennsylvania. The Online Books Page lists over 2 million books and has several fe ...

''. Retrieved 25 May 2023. {{Authority control 16th-century English writers 16th-century astrologers

Life

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links