Richard Forster (c.1546–1616) was an English physician.

Life

He was son of Laurence Forster, and was born at

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

about 1546, and was educated at

All Souls' College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

. He graduated at Oxford, M.B. and M.D., both in 1573. He became
fellow
of the

College of Physicians A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary school ...

of London about 1575, but his admission is not mentioned in the ''Annals.'' In 1583, he was elected one of the censors, in 1600, treasurer, and Lumleian lecturer in 1602. He was president of the college from 1601 to 1604, and was again elected in 1615 and held office till his death on 27 March 1616. He had considerable medical practice, and was also esteemed as a mathematician, as reported by

William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that relates la ...

, when recording his death, William Clowes, the surgeon, praises him, and in 1591, writes of Forster as 'a worthie reader of the surgerie lector in the Phisition's college,' showing that he gave lectures before the Lumleian lectures were formally instituted in 1602. He was a practicing

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 it was through Forster that

Christopher Heydon Sir Christopher Heydon (14 August 1561 – 1 January 1623) was an English soldier, politician, and writer on astrology, who was a Member of Parliament for Norfolk from 1588 to 1589. He quarrelled with his family over its estates in Norfolk. Ba ...

's manuscript ''An Astrological Discourse with Mathematical Demonstrations'', defending astrology, passed to

Nicholas Fiske Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In turn, the name ...

. Astrologer Richard Harvey indicated him as a leader of the astrologer-physicians. In 1582, he was appointed Consul of the English nation in Ottoman Syria, in "the parts of Alepo, Damasco, Aman, Tripolis, Jerusalem, and all other ports whatsoever in the provinces of Syria, Palestina, and Jurie"

Works

In 1567, he dedicated to

Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel (23 April 151224 February 1580) was an English nobleman, who over his long life assumed a prominent place at the court of all the later Tudor sovereigns. Court career under Henry VIII He was the only s ...

an astrological work. Forster had been introduced to

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years. Dudley's youth was ove ...

, by

Sir Henry Sidney Sir Henry Sidney (20 July 1529 – 5 May 1586) was an English soldier, politician and Lord Deputy of Ireland. Background He was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst (1482 – 11 February 1553) and Anne Pakenham (1511 – 22 Oc ...

, and dedicated to the earl in 1575 his

ephemerides In astronomy and celestial navigation, an ephemeris (; ; , ) is a book with tables that gives the trajectory of naturally occurring astronomical objects and artificial satellites in the sky, i.e., the position (and possibly velocity) over time. ...

.''Ephemerides Meteorologicae Richardi Fosteri artium ac medicinae doctoris ad annum 1575 et positum finitoris Londini emporii totius Angliae nobilissimi diligenter examinatae.'' Besides the prose dedication, in which astronomy is said to be the handmaid of medicine, twenty lines of Latin verse on Leicester's cognisance, the bear, precede the tables of which the book is made up.

Notes

References

External links

''British History Online'' pageInspiring physicians biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Richard 1540s births 1616 deaths 16th-century English medical doctors 17th-century English medical doctors English astrologers 16th-century astrologers 17th-century astrologers People from Coventry Alumni of All Souls College, Oxford 16th-century English diplomats Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians