Fludd, Robert (1574 -1637)

Robert Fludd was the fifth son of Sir Thomas Fludd and Elizabeth, daughter of Philip Andros of Taunton in Somerset. Born in 1574, he became a commoner of St John’s College Oxford in 1591, took his B.A. in 1596 and his M.A. in 1598. As a student of Medicine he travelled widely on the continent of Europe, and returning with a reputation for proficiency in chemistry, he became a member of Christ Church Oxford, where he took his M.B. and M.D. in 1605. The following year he was examined twice by the College of Physicians and was licenced to practice medicine, and in 1609 was elected a Fellow He practiced medicine in London, and wrote extensively about medicine from a Christian point of view. He is better known now as a leading Rosicrucian. He died unmarried on 8 September 1637.