Christopher Johnson or Jonson (1536?–1597) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and

Neo-Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

Life

Born about 1536, at

Kedleston Kedleston is a village and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, approximately north-west of Derby. Nearby places include Quarndon, Weston Underwood, Derbyshire, Weston Underwood, Mugginton and Kirk Langley. The population a ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, he became a scholar at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

in 1549. He went on to

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, and was made perpetual fellow in 1555. He graduated B.A. in 1558, and M.A. in 1561. In 1560 Johnson was recommended to

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Matthew Parker Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575) was an English bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder (with a p ...

by Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon, and appointed to the headmastership of

. He remained there for ten years. Johnson, who had always intended to become a physician, practised in Winchester while he was still headmaster. He was granted the degree of

Bachelor of medicine Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

at Oxford, with licence to practise, 14 December 1569, and proceeded M.D. 23 June 1571. In 1570 he resigned his post at Winchester, and moved to London, where he practised within the parish of St. Dunstan-in-the-West. He was admitted a fellow of the

London College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

about 1580, and filled several of the college offices: as censor in 1581 and several subsequent years; elect, 28 May 1594; consiliarius, 1594–6; treasurer, 1594–6. Johnson died in July 1597 in London, leaving a fortune and several children.

Works

Johnson was considered among the best Latin poets of his time. He published ''Ranarum et murium pugna, Latina versione donata, ex Homero'', London, 1580, and wrote three poems in connection with Winchester, ''Ortus atque vita Gul. Wykehami Winton. Episcopi'', dated 14 December 1564, in elegiacs; ''Custodum sive Præsidum Coll. Winton. series''; and ''Didascalorum Coll. Wint. omnium Elenchus''. All these were published at the close of the ''Poemata'' (1573) by

Richard Willes Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

. In 1564 Johnson edited and had printed for the use of his scholars two orations delivered at

Louvain Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic c ...

Richard White of Basingstoke Richard White (1539–1611) was an English jurist and historian, in later life an expatriate scholar who became a Catholic priest. Life He was son of Henry White of Basingstoke, Hampshire, who died at the siege of Boulogne in 1544. His mother wa ...

, ''De circulo Artium et Philosophiæ'', and ''De Eloquentiâ et Cicerone''.’ In 1568 White dedicated to him a short Latin dissertation on an ancient epitaph (''Ælia Lælia Crispis. Epitaphium'', Padua). Johnson's only medical work was a ''Counsel against the Plague, or any other Infectious Disease'', with a ''Question, Whether a man for preservation may be purged in the Dog-days or No?'', London, 1577.

Notes

Sources

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Christopher 16th-century English medical doctors Headmasters of Winchester College 1536 births 1597 deaths People of the Elizabethan era Neo-Latin poets Schoolteachers from Derbyshire