Edwardes [Edgaurdus], David

1. Dates

Born: Northamptonshire, c. 1502

Died: England, c. 1542

Dateinfo: Both Dates Uncertain

Lifespan: 40 2. No information on father No information on financial status

2. Father

Occupation:

3. Nationality

Birth: English

Career: English

Death: English

4. Education

Schooling: Oxford, M.A.; Cam, M.D.

He was admitted in 1517 as a scholar to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and became B.A. in 1522 and M.A. in 1525, and also fellow of Corpus Christi. In all he had "seven years study of medicine" at Oxford. In 1528-1529 he continued his medical studies at Cambridge. He received his M.D. there.

5. Religion

Affiliation: He must have been Catholic.

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Medicine, Anatomy

He produced a small book of two treatises (London, 1532), the first entitled De indiciis et praecognitionibus, dealing with uroscopy and medical prognostication; the second, In anatomicen introductio luculenta et brevis, devoted to anatomy, the first work specifically on anatomy published in England. The reference to his dissection of a human body in 1531 in the latter treatise is the first record of a human dissection in England.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Medicine

Secondary: Academia

At some undetermined time he practiced medicine at Bristol. After 1529 he became a member of the medical faculty of the University of Cambridge, and retained the position until his death. The evidence suggests that the connection with Cambridge was rather loose, and that his primary support was the medical practice he maintained in Cambridge.

8. Patronage

Types: Aristrocrat, Court Official

There was no university appointment without patronage. The dedications of his two books to the son of Henry VIII and to the Earl of Surrey may help to explain the appointment.

9. Technological Involvement

Type: Medical Practice

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Sources

1. David Edwardes. Introduction to anatomy 1532, C.D. O'Malley and K.F. Russell, eds., (London, 1961).
2. Arthur Rock and Maurice Newbold, "David Edweardes: His Activities at Cambridge," Medical History, 19 (1975), 389-92.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

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