Archiater Caesarius: Johannes Crato as Philip Sidney’s Forgotten Mentor?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.21.1.299-309Keywords:
Philip Sidney, Johannes Crato, Elizabethan literature, Early Modern intellectual network, Sidney circleAbstract
Philip Sidney’s European sojourn (1572–1575) proved to be a formative experience, one that shaped his political and literary development. Unsurprisingly, it has received much commentary. However, one rather neglected sphere of influence on Sidney’s education that deserves fuller attention is the coterie of high-standing and learned figures based in Central Europe, many of whom Sidney either corresponded with or met in person. This paper will examine – using the example of the German humanist Johannes Crato von Krafftheim (1519–1585), personal physician to three Holy Roman Emperors, as a case study – how Sidney might have been inspired by the unique continental area of irenicism and the flourishing of new ways of understanding Man and Nature by means of medicine and botany.
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Manuscripts and Old Prints
Camerarius, Joachim. 1677. Joachimi Camerarii Symbolorum et emblematum centuriae quatuor: qvarvm prima Stirpivm, secvnda Animalivm qvadrupedium, tertia Volatilivm et insectium, quarta Aqvatilivm et reptilium; rariores proprietates historias ac sententias memorabiles non paucas breviter exponit. Mogvntiae: sumpt. Ludovici Bourgeat. Jagiellonian Library, Krakow, sign. BJ St. Dr. Neolat. 128.
Crato, Johannes. 1593. Consiliorum et epistolarum medicinalium Ioh. Cratonis a Kraftheim, archiatri caesarei, et aliorum praestantissimorum medicorum… Frankfurt.
—. 1630. Evporista Cratoniana Oder Hauß Artzneyer. Wroclaw: bey Abraham Lambergs Seel. Erben. Wroclaw University Library, sign. 411760.
Crato von Crafftheim, Johannes. 1577. Oratio funebris de Divo Maxaemiliano II. Imperatore Caesare Augusto. Vratislaviae: in officina typographica Crispini Scharffenbergii. Moravian Library, Brno, sign. ST1-0023.337.
Dubravius, Johannes – Jordanus, Thomas. 1575. Historia Boiemica. A Thoma Jordano, medico annotationibus ornata. Basileae: apud Petrum Pernam. Strahov Library, Prague, sign. AO I 12/a.
Eber, Paulus. 1571. Calendarium historicum. Vitebergae: Johannes Crato. Strahov Library, Prague, sign. EO XIII 2.
Sambucus Johannes – Iunius, Hadrianus. 1565. Emblemata. Antverpiae: apud Christophorum Plantinum. National Széchényi Library, Budapest, sign. Ant. 7101.
Correspondence and Belles-lettres
Kuin, Roger, ed. 2012. The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney. Volume I, II. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sidney, Philip. 2008. Sir Philip Sidney: The Major Works, ed. Katherine Duncan-Jones. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Holy Writ
Jacob 1:17 (B21)
Psalm 119: 105 (KJ21)
Other Books and Articles
Gillet, Johann F. A. 2015 (1860). Crato von Crafftheim und seine Freunde: Ein Beitrag zur Kirchengeschichte 1860. Delhi: Facsimile Publisher.
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Figures
Figure 1. Johannes Crato’s signature supralibros. Accessed August 18, 2020. http://files.provenio.net/PROVENIO/NOSTICKA/CRATO/IONB.jpg. [Public domain.]
Figure 2. 46th emblem by Johannes Sambucus. Emblema XLVI. Johannes Sambucus and Iunius Hadrianus, Emblemata (1564), 52. Accessed August 24, 2021. https://www.wdl.org/en/item/14211/view/1/7. [Public domain.]
Figure 3. Eber’s insignia in Paul Eber’s Calendarium Historicum (Vitebergae: Johannes Crato, 1571); Strahov Library, Prague, EO XIII 2.
Figure 4. Joachim Camerarius’ emblem Si Serenus Illuxerit. Accessed June 17, 2022. http://distichalatina.blogspot.com/2012/01/si-serenus-illuxerit.html. [Public domain.]
Figure 5. Crato’s introductory letter of dedication. Peter Perna’s edition of Dubravius’ Historia Bohemica in Johannes Dubravius and Thomas Jordanus, Historia Boiemica. A Thoma Jordano, medico annotationibus ornata (Basileae: apud Petrum Pernam, 1575); Strahov Library, Prague, AO I 12/a.
All figures (except for that from public domain) by kind permission of Strahov Library in Prague.
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