Sir Thomas Browne

The son of a silk merchant, Sir Thomas Brown was born in London in 1605. Brown attended Oxford University, graduating in 1623, and received his medical degree from Leiden University in 1633. In 1637, Brown settled in Norwich, where he wrote and practiced medicine until his death. Major literary works of Brown’s include the confessional Religio Medici; the encyclopedia-like Pseudodoxia Epidemica; and two philosophical discourses, Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, or a Brief Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk and The Garden of Cyrus, or, The Quincunciall Lozenge, or Network Plantations of the Ancients, Artificially, Naturally, and Mystically Considered. Brown was knighted by Charles I in 1671. He is considered one of the original authors of the English language.