Peter Turner M.D. (1542–1614) was an English physician, known as a follower of

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. He w ...

. He also was a Member of Parliament, during the 1580s.

Early life

He was the son of William Turner the churchman,

Marian exile The Marian exiles were English Protestants who fled to Continental Europe during the 1553–1558 reign of the Catholic monarchs Queen Mary I and King Philip.Christina Hallowell Garrett (1938) ''Marian Exiles: A Study in the Origins of Elizabeth ...

and botanist, and his wife Jane Auder. He was instructed by his father in both a religious and a scientific outlook. After his father's death his mother remarried Richard Cox,

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nort ...

. He graduated M.A. at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

. He then proceeded M.D. at Heidelberg in 1571, where his medical contacts included Thomas Erastus and Sigismund Melanchthon. He was incorporated M.D. at Cambridge in 1575, and on 10 July 1599 at Oxford.historyofparliamentonline.org, ''Turner, Peter (c.1542-1614), of London.''
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Professional associations

Turner practised his profession in London, where, on 4 December 1582, he was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians. He was promised on 4 May 1580 the reversion to the office of physician to St Bartholomew's Hospital. There he succeeded Roderigo Lopez, and was in 1584 succeeded by Timothy Bright. Turner knew

Thomas Penny Thomas Penny (1532 – January 1589) was an English physician and early entomologist. His solo works have not survived and he is primarily known through quotations from other sixteenth-century biologists. It is believed that he broke with Aris ...

at Heidelberg; and accompanied him on trips as a naturalist. Thomas Muffet, another associate, later mentioned Turner's work on Penny's entomological notes. Turner is one of the "Lime Street naturalists" for Harkness, who also notes his reputation for chemical treatments that killed his patients. Among those he treated were Roger North, 2nd Baron North and Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham. Muffet's correspondence with

Petrus Severinus Peder Sørensen (1542–1602), widely known by his Latinized name, ''Petrus Severinus'', was a Danish physician, and one of the most significant followers of Paracelsus. His works include the major treatise ''Idea medicinae philosophicae'' (Ideal o ...

indicates that Turner was part of the same network. Muffet was the effective leader of the group of physicians including Bright and Penny as well as Turner: they were humanist followers of Paracelsus, at arm's length from the London College of Physicians. When the German Valentine Russwurin, a Paracelsian with a worked-out system of treatment, was active in London, Turner accompanied him to observe his methods.

In parliament

In politics, Turner represented Bridport in Dorset in the parliaments of 1584 and 1586. His patron is thought to have been

Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, KG ( – 28 July 1585) of Chenies in Buckinghamshire and of Bedford House in Exeter, Devon, was an English nobleman, soldier, and politician. He was a godfather to the Devon-born sailor Sir Francis Drake ...

. He was an advocate of the Puritans in the House of Commons. In the 1584–5 session he introduced a bill for a presbyterian polity, and a

Reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

liturgy following

John Knox John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgat ...

, though with no outcome; Christopher Hatton spoke against it.

Later life

In 1606 Turner attended Sir Walter Ralegh in the Tower of London. He died in London on 27 May 1614. He was buried near his father in the church of

St. Olave's, Hart Street St Olave's Church, Hart Street, is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on the corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane near Fenchurch Street railway station. John Betjeman described St Olave's as "a country church in the wo ...

, London, in a coloured tomb of the Jacobean style, on which his effigy knelt in a scarlet gown.

Works

Turner was the author of a medical pamphlet, ''The Opinion of Peter Turner, Doct. in Physicke, concerning Amulets, or Plague Cakes'', London, E. Blount, 1603. It responded to a work of

Francis Herring Francis Herring M.D. (died 1628) was an English physician, known as a medical and religious writer. Life A native of Nottinghamshire, Herring was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge (B.A. 1585, M.A. 1589). On 3 July 1599, then a doctor of me ...

, ''Certaine Rules, Directions or Advertisements for this time of Pestilentiall Contagion: with a Caveat to those that weare about their Neckes impoisoned Amulets as a Preservative from the Plague'' (1603 first edition). Turner argued that the arsenic and orpiment in

amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...

s were active against certain diseases; Herring replied in 1604 for the College of Physicians.Richard K. Stensgaard, ''All's Well That Ends Well and the Galenico-Paracelsian Controversy'', Renaissance Quarterly Vol. 25, No. 2 (Summer, 1972), pp. 173-188, at p. 175. Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2859235 ''A Spirituall Song of Praise'' appended to Oliver Pygge's ''Meditations concerning Prayer to Almighty God for the Safety of England when the Spaniards were come into the Narrow Seas, 1588'', 1589, has also been attributed to Turner.

Family

Turner married Pascha, daughter of Henry Parry, chancellor of Salisbury Cathedral, and sister of Henry Parry, the bishop of Worcester. The physician Samuel Turner and the mathematician Peter Turner were his sons.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Peter 16th-century English medical doctors 17th-century English medical doctors 1542 births 1614 deaths 16th-century Puritans English MPs 1584–1585 English MPs 1586–1587 Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge